Knowing what comes next (the brilliant Diorama) it is easy to see this
as a stepping stone from the Silverchair of old to a more varied body of
work that eventually saw Daniel Johns disband his own group and walk
his own path. Diorama is a complex and layered
album. It has strings and keyboards and unusual song structures. It
is a million miles away from Frogstomp and Freak Show. Diorama was
released in 2002 so is out of scope of these reviews. Neon Ballroom
has songs like
Emotional Sickness and
Paint Pastel Princess which point
in the direction that Daniel Johns was about to head in. These songs
are layered and feature lush production, which are at odds with the loud
guitars of the other tracks.
Perhaps the most revealing song on the album is
Ana’s Song. A
song about anorexia. Daniel Johns has admitted that there were so many
things in his life that he couldn’t control, what he ate (or didn’t eat)
was something he could. Of course, no one
really took this seriously at the time. What more could he do? He
wrote a freaking song about it!!! But I think the pressure of him being a
Cash Cow for so many people made them ignore that he really needed
help. Looking back now, you can’t help but feel
for him. No wonder he retreated into his own world for the next album.
And created a masterpiece.
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