Eleventh Dream Day - s/t ep (1987, Amoeba)

When it was announced in 2003 that Drag City Records were going to be reissuing Eleventh Dream Day's debut album, Prairie School Freakout, I was bummed to learn that the band's preceding 1987 self-titled ep would not be appended to it. At the time, I had an awareness of that six-cut record, but hadn't experienced it. A few years down the road when I was able to obtain an original copy (vinyl only) I understood why the two records weren't exactly a match made in heaven after all. When the legendary Chi-Town natives got around to cutting Prairie School in the summer of 1987 (allegedly in the span of six hours), they were well on their way to cultivating, the amped-out, Neil Young-inspired feedback sprawl they would become renown for (at least in some small circles). Eleventh Dream Day was a not-so-telling sonic precursor to their forthcoming albums like Beet, rather a slightly milder beast, packing a liberal dose of twang. Not entirely as memorable as their first couple of LPs it contains a few selections worthy of inclusion on any hypothetical EDD "best of," like "Not the Ballad of a Girl" and "Walking Though the Barrel of a Gun," the latter a taste of things to come on Prairie School's cult-clasique commencing number, "Watching the Candles Burn." You can also check out a promo-only EDD mini-album, Borscht, which I uploaded some time ago, as well as this Myspace fan page.

01. Walking Though the Barrel of a Gun
02. Vein of Gold
03. Not the Ballad of a Girl
04. Liz Beth
05. The Arsonist
06. Cascade

http://netkups.com/?d=143532623ac9e