Quarter Century Classix is perhaps the quintessential Ben Lee project: an album that amounts to the Great Gen-X Songbook, a collection of 13 covers of alt/indie classics from the first half of the '90s. Lee was raised on these tunes and with his first group, Noise Addict, he wrote songs about Evan Dando, toured with Sebadoh, and recorded for the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label. He was in the thick of things as the alt-rock explosion crested, so he has romantic memories of the songs from his formative years, and now that he's in his early forties, he's ready to indulge in a bit of canonization and nostalgia. What he winds up with is the gentle, soothing Quarter Century Classix, an album where Sonic Youth and Fugazi songs are crooned gently. Clearly, Lee's intention is to illustrate how excellent songs existed underneath all the noise and hiss, a sentiment which is plainly true. That said, his earnest delivery may not be well-suited to songs as thorny as Pavement's "In the Mouth a Desert," where wry irony is embedded in the tune's DNA. He fares better when the songs are a bit more straightforward, such as Dinosaur Jr.'s "Get Me," the Breeders' "Divine Hammer," and "Speeding Motorcycle" by Daniel Johnston, who passed a few months prior to the release of this album. Lee gives these songs, along with their ten companions, sweet, loving readings that seem to be designed for a Sunday afternoon of reminiscing. While that may make for a pleasant dose of nostalgia, it's hard to say whether it's an accurate tribute to Gen-X indie rock.
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