Second Story

Jennifer Kimball goes solo

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

There are two sides to every story. And a lot of people forgot that there were two sides to the Story, a duo who were, for a time, among the most popular acoustic acts in Boston. To the untrained eye, it seemed that singing partners Jonatha Brooke and Jennifer Kimball had one of those Hall & Oates, not-quite-equal partnerships: Brooke wrote all the songs, sang most of the leads, did most of the interviews, took most of the spotlight on stage, and eventually ran off with the Story name (which she's since dropped). Kimball . . . well, she sang harmony. And probably kept her ego in check.

"I would have become an absolutely crazy person if we'd stayed together, even crazier than I am now," she notes when we speak at Harvard Square's Algiers Coffeehouse. She's just played a well-attended lunchtime show next door at HMV to promote her new Veering from the Wave (Imaginary Road/PolyGram).

"I was living a big lie in the Story. People would assume I was part of a duo, half of a partnership. But you could look at the album credits and see that I wasn't writing songs or singing lead -- though we did have a strong presence on stage, and I did make up a lot of the harmonies. I still have a huge respect for Jonatha's sound. People are criticizing me for writing Story-type songs now, as though I learned everything from Jonatha. Part of which is true, but then, you don't learn everything by osmosis."

Both Story members have claimed responsibility for the break-up. Neither has denied that it was a bit rocky. "I was the one who quit," Kimball now says. "And I didn't quit to go solo, I just quit to quit. I was never physically locked out of writing songs, but Jonatha's not the most encouraging person in the world. She's very focused on her own career. And we had a friendship, which was hard to walk away from. We were successful commercially and critically, so it wasn't a good time to leave. But I wouldn't be here now, with this album, if I hadn't."

Do she and Brooke still talk?

"Everybody asks me about that," she says, leaving a long silence. "We've had some nice conversations, but they've been few, considering it's been four years. Let's say that it's my turn to step out and beat my chest and say, `Hear me roar.' I do have luggage. I have baggage. And I have an enormous amount to prove."

She proves it on Veering from the Wave, which is very much a Story-type album, maintaining the eclectic quirks that endeared them to a not-necessarily-folkie audience. She and producer Ben Wittman, the ex-Story drummer, stay close to the pop/jazz inflections of the old band, though without the Story's over-reliance on keyboards. Like her former partner, Kimball deals with personal matters in oblique, often literary terms. And she has the craftsmanship to pull it off. "Gagna's Song" and "The Revelations" are as ambitious as anything Brooke wrote for the Story: the first deals with family history, the second is inspired by that familiar rock-and-roll topic The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (with a bit of "Penny Lane" thrown in).

But the album's best tracks strike off in a more streamlined, even commercial direction. "Meet Me in the Twilight" and "Kissing in the Car" sound like superior Nashville material, showing the influence of progressive tunesmiths like Rosanne Cash and Mary Chapin Carpenter. In a purer pop vein, the disc's one cover is a faithful version of Crowded House's "Fall at Your Feet." Although "Kiss Me in the Car" may be too risqué for Music Row, it evokes the same kind of steaminess as Lucinda Williams's recent "Right in Time." And Kimball's vocal here, ecstatic gasps and all, reminds you how much she brought to the Story, where she was always the more fiery singer.

Unless you count a few early attempts in college, the songs on Veering from the Wave are the first she has written. True, the past four years have given her plenty of material. In addition to the Story's break-up, she had the end of a marriage to deal with. She actually left music for the better part of a year to go back to graphic design, and she meant to stay away until old friends started calling her to sing back-up. Eventually she sang on about 30 CDs, including albums by Barbara Kessler, Dennis Brennan, Patty Larkin, and Carrie Newcomer, who gave her part of the solo spotlight when they toured together two years ago. Kimball didn't start writing in earnest until she had a show booked at Club Passim and needed something to sing. Five of her current songs were written for that gig.

"Part of me always wants to bop around the room doing catchy pop stuff, and part of me wants to get weird, distant and aching. I'm not a craftsman yet, so I'm most successful writing about what I know; and my life was full of loss at the time. I don't like doing confessional songs, but I don't mind making people uncomfortable."

With the new album in the stores, Kimball is doing the major-label go-round for the first time since the Story's The Angel in the House was released, in 1993. "It doesn't feel much different; I know how this game works. But this time I'm happy to be playing it on my own terms."

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Popular local bands can usually be counted on to play some of their best-ever sets just when they're about to go through major changes. Such was the case when Trona performed their final show with singer/guitarist Mary Ellen Leahy at the Middle East. They treated it like a normal gig, not pulling any major surprises out of the repertoire. Since a couple of bands ran late, they didn't even get to do an encore. But their roots/pop mix has seldom been sharper, and a careering "Slow Down Train" was a perfect note to go out on. Afterward, Leahy soaked up congratulations and dodged requests to join other bands.

Opening the show was ex-Lemonheads bassist/songwriter Nic Dalton's current band Sneeze -- actually a re-formation of his pre-Lemonheads outfit. You might expect Dalton to do a straightforward pop thing, but you'd be wrong. His set proved without doubt that Evan Dando wasn't the only character in the Lemonheads. Dalton and company thrashed their way through quirky little tunes on the oddest of topics, including strip clubs and skiing. (Dando didn't show up on stage as rumored, but Fuzzy's Hilken Mancini did.) Song title of the week: "1-800-BILLY RUANE."

Two nights later found the Titanics playing the latest of their umpteen reunion shows at Charlie's Tap, in a benefit for former Middle East employee Greg Pascucci. Although they packed it in years ago, the Titanics seem to play nearly as often as frontman Nat Freedberg's current band Upper Crust. And score one for the old school: they still sound great, with the usual mix of guitar snarl and clever/snotty tunes (some of which have been covered lately by the likes of Fuzzy and Dash Rip Rock). No major surprises in the set (they stuck with the original Titanics repertoire instead of the later Satanics incarnation). But if you'd written classics like the socially irresponsible "Rock Hard Cock" and "Going Out of My Way To Be Nice to You," you'd still be playing them too.

And another partial break-up is coming this week: jagged rockers Chelsea on Fire play the Lizard Lounge Wednesday in their last gig with original drummer Adam Simha. The band will then break for a time while singer/guitarist Josey Packard and bassist Amy work in a replacement.

MORE SKA

Bim Skala Bim's label DVS Media continues to produce some of the classier ska compilations around, largely because compiler and Bim singer Dan Vitale has an ear for a good song and chooses the right tracks by the bands he features. Mashin' Up the Nation, Vols. III and IV represent an overdue sequel to a pair of 1988 compilations. This time the two "volumes" are on one CD, with half going to established bands and half going to up-and-comers. And since Vitale had more ska to pick from than he did in 1988, this is an especially diverse batch. There's punk ska (Connecticut's Spring Heeled Jack), traditional ska (Strangways' "Mango Man" is a Skatalites-styled instrumental), serious ska (Mero Stylee's equality anthem "Evil Eyes"), and goofy ska (Johnny Socko's "Hasselhoff," which rhymes "Baywatch" with "bulging crotch"). It's good to hear a couple of female singers in the mix, and anyone who skanks up a song from the Kinks' classic Something Else album (Magadog, with "Situation Vacant") is all right by us. By combining swing with ska, Gangster Fun's "Blue Siege Suit" even rides two fun trends at once.

COMING UP

Various shades of pop at T.T. the Bear's Place tonight (Thursday) with Scarlet Haven, Super 400, and Kipper Tin. Also tonight, Clarence Gatemouth Brown does a blues cruise on the Harbor, Dem Brooklyn Bums do the swing thing at Bill's Bar, and 8 to the Bar, who were swing before swing was cool, are at Johnny D's . . . On Friday it's long-running popsters the Connells at the Middle East with the Pernice Brothers and Merrie Amsterburg, the Ray Corvair Trio at the Lizard Lounge, and Popgun at Bill's Bar . . . Saturday brings a reunited Tubes (including singer Fee Waybill) to Mama Kin, Jack Drag and Dishwalla to Karma Club, Vic Firecracker to Bill's, country hipsters Big Sandy & the Fly Rite Boys to the Middle East, and Star Ghost Dog to the Lizard Lounge . . . Sunday it's Braid and the Wicked Farleys at the Middle East, and the Coots (with former Treat Her Right/The The member Jim Fitting) and Eric Martin's Illyrians at Charlie's Tap . . . Mama Kin's "Monsta Monday" features a big loud bill including Scissorfight, Honkyball, Demon Seed, and free burritos.