Various - The Water Music Compilation Album (1988)

It was the dB's wonderfully clangy, ever-so-slightly angular "Visible Man" that lured me to this compilation, but as it turned out, there were a bevy of unsuspecting treasures that lay within it's grooves . The compilation was produced by one Lane Holland, a prime-mover for The Wind, who contribute an exquisite slice of blue-eyed pop here, "Tremendous Mistake"), but the actual "premise" for this album is that all of it's participants, at one time or another, recorded at Water Music studios in Hoboken, NJ, commandeered by Rob Grenoble of the Cries, who kick this whole shebang off with the durable, harmony-laden "Moving Day." Speaking of the dB's, Chris Stamey appears here with an exclusive track, "Hey Mr. Brown," and to keep that "New South" vibe going, it's quickly followed up by a solo Faye Hunter cut, "Blinded," nearly as impressive as anything she did in later-era Let's Active. Tall Lonesome Pines whip up a cow-punk hoedown a la the Meat Puppets, while Rage to Live offer the lush and serene "Deep Blue Sea." Only complaint here is that Water Music closes things out with a clunker, courtesy of four blokes operating under the moniker of Mrs. Whitehead. BTW, the aforementioned dB's song eventually made it onto their Paris Avenue album.

01. Cries - Moving Day
02. The Wind - Tremendous Mistake
03. The dB's - Visible Man
04. Who's Your Daddy - Like a Shadow
05. Myra Holder - Blue Moon
06. Original Sins - Help Yourself
07. Crazy Not To - There's One In Every Crowd
08. Chris Stamey - Hey Mr. Brown
09. Tall Lonesome Pines - Good Girl Gone Bad
10. Rage to Live - Deep Blue Sea
11. Faye Hunter - Blinded
12. Mrs. Whitehead - JFK

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