Review: The Baseball Project Takes Its Turn at Bat

The Baseball Project/Grand Salami Time!/Omnivore
Four out of Five Stars

A decided supergroup of sorts, The Baseball Project affirms the fact that they’re more than an occasional ensemble. That becomes clear courtesy of their fourth studio album, the somewhat oddly titled Grand Salami Time! Made up of former R.E.M. members Peter Buck (guitars, keyboards) and Mike Mills (bass), along with Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate (guitars, vocals), Scott McCaughey, a member of The Minus 5 and Young Fresh Fellows (guitars, keyboards, vocals), and Linda Pitmon from Filthy Friends and the Miracle 3 (drums), the band belatedly opts for their first new release in nine years. 

It’s a reunion in every sense, given that the album’s co-producer, Mitch Easter, also oversaw the seminal efforts by R.E.M. and was also part of the same early Athens, Georgia scene, having had membership in two similarly influential outfits, Let’s Active and The dBs. Recorded live in the same room, Grand Salami Time! is, as one might expect, a joyful and jubilant example of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s power pop, added and enhanced by Easter’s guitar work and additional contributions from fellow travelers, Stephen McCarthy of The Long Ryders and Steve Berlin from Los Lobos. 

The irrepressible nature of this outing is evident early on with songs such as “The Yips,” “Journeyman,” “Erasable Man,” the title track, and, for that matter, nearly every other song in the set. It makes for a celebratory sound that ricochets throughout. There’s an unceasing exuberance and enjoyment emitted from these grooves as if that near-decade spent in hibernation created pent-up agitation that was waiting to be unleashed at the earliest opportunity. 

There are occasional exceptions, however. “Stuff” is an ominous attempt at injecting a cerebral sensibility within the proceedings. “That’s Living” comes across as light-hearted folksy ramble shared from a pleasant perspective, just as the ambling “64 and 64” slows the proceedings to allow for a hint of circumspect. 

Regardless of those few exceptions, the energy really never wavers. Certain songs—“The All Or Nothings,” “Widow” and “Having Fun” in particular—bring to mind the unbridled energy of certain role models, particularly The Who, the Kinks, and other arbiters of mid-’60s Brit rock. Their roots may be showing, but that’s to be expected. In the end, Grand Salami Time! provides The Baseball Project with a certified home run. 

Photo by R. Diamond/Getty Images