Year in Rock 2012 Nominee: Big Wreck

BIG WRECK

Control

From: Albatross

Released: March 6

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, imagine what the combination of absence and stubbornly underwhelming side projects does. When Ian Thornley's post-Big Wreck outfit dumbed it all down, I shook my head in disbelief and mourned his former band (even if their second album was a bloated and joyless mess); I coudn't fathom that the same guy who blew my mind with The Oaf in 1997 was trying to get in with the Nickelbackian jock-rock crowd. Even if Thornley never stooped quite that low, it was a letdown to see such a talented musician stifle his own abilities. Well, it seems as though he'd finally seen the error of his ways by 2012; Big Wreck lives again. Albatross may not be a seamless return to form (although, after a dozen years or so between albums, what does one expect?), but when it shines, it shines incredibly bright. Check out the Knopflerian flourishes that colour the last two and half minutes of Control, and you might realize just how much you missed this band too.

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