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Avant-pop guitarist Adrian Belew has described the Bears as his concept of "the Beatles from an alternate universe." If the tightly crafted pop of 2001's Car Caught Fire was the Bears' Rubber Soul, the looser, muscular vibe of Eureka! is the band's version of the Fab Four's more experimental "Revolver." Belew's mystical "Doodle" even concludes the album as a nod to "Revolver's" final track, "Tomorrow Never Knows." Though Belew is well known for Hall of Fame-worthy stints with Frank Zappa and Talking Heads, along with an ongoing tenure as frontman for prog-rock giants King Crimson, he's first among equals here. His bandmates comprise Cincinnati's reigning pop kings, psychodots; all share a knack for filling out each other's shadows. When the Bears revisit "On," a psychedelic rocker from Belew's 1996 LP "Op Zop Too Wah," the song is elevated by Chris Arduser's textured, dizzying percussion and Bob Nyswonger's nimble fretless bass playing. The change in scope is reminiscent of Dorothy walking from Kansas' black and white palette into the Technicolor landscape of Oz. Additionally, each Bear is a gifted songwriter. There's no parallel to the Beatles' "Ringo gets a song" stigma; Arduser's own "Troubled Beauty" is the album's most restrained and tender moment, much as "Little Blue River" was on 1988's "Rise and Shine." The drummer's "Keep Your Own Counsel" is a rambunctious cautionary tale about avoiding sharks and devils within the music business.

Nyswonger slyly contemplates hypocrisy and greed during the insidiously catchy "Veneer." Belew borrows a riff from King Crimson's "Dinosaur," while Arduser pounds a menacing, tribal pattern on the tom-toms.

Guitarist Rob Fetters is a masterful player and the perfect foil for the Twang Bar King during "We Never Close," careening through gymnastic solos that remain uniquely tuneful. As a songwriter, Fetters' hooks dig deepest. "Idiot in the Sky" describes a spiritual seeker's frustrating attempts to comprehend the Man Upstairs, taking issue with the view of God as a cosmic heavy who deals out karmic retribution. "It's not your fault that you got hurt," he reassures a fellow traveler who has fallen upon hard times. Fetters' "Normal" visits fractured but ultimately typical family dynamics, remembering days when "Christmas felt like Halloween." Nonetheless, Fetters recognizes a refining process at home wherein "you go in dirty, but you come out clean."
   
Jeff Elbel  5/18/2007