toyboat - s/t lp (1996, What Else)

While I have yet to post any bona fide Wynona Riders music, a few months ago I shared a fabolous slab of one of lead singer Skip's other project's The Latter Day Saints. While the two bodacious songs that were enshrined on that single were of a more modest bent in comparison to the barn-burning pop-punk of the Riders, Skip's next outfit, toyboat was even more of a departure. Quietly released on the Columbus, OH-based What Else Records imprint, toyboat's eponymous album was a one-off, vinyl-only affair limited to a mere 1100 copies. "N. Judah" and "Apartment D" suggested that some of the Riders fervor (and brevity) was still indeed intact, however the tenor on toyboat boasted a more contemplative, singer-songwriter aesthetic, which in fact, that's exactly what it was. Occasional splashes of harmonica, organ, and Flamenco rhythms serve as a a surprising subtext on various cuts, but no particular facet dominates. There's little if anything of seismic magnitude here, and if in fact toyboat was designed to appeal to non-Rider/Skip fans I'd be stunned. It's an enjoyable, varied record, and well worth listening to if you've read this far, but it helps to have an appreciation of it's creator's earlier endeavors.

There's more than a few pops and whatnot on this analog-to-digital transfer, so if I come across a cleaner copy (or that damn bottle of vinyl cleaning solution I misplaced) it shall be re-ripped.

01. pal
02. lion in winter
03. whirlgig
04. stomach hurts
05. n judah
06. gold
07. sleeping dogs
08. hold
09. judgement
10. moment of glory
11. apartment d
12. windmill traincrash
13. raven flies
14. sunate

Hear