Full Fathom Five - 4 A.M. (1988, Link)

Going back close to four years, I shared two records by one of Iowa's most overlooked exports, Full Fathom Five.  The albums in question were Cry of a Falling Nation (1987) and Multinational Pop Conglomerate (1989).  There was actually another album sandwiched between them that I didn't have at the time, and now that it's in my clutches I have seen fit to do the obvious.  FFF took a page (or make that a chapter) from a certain contemporary power trio in Minneapolis that had just cashed in their collective pink slip upon arrival of 4 A.M.   And although the Five never quite harnessed the charisma of the Husker's, they carved an amped-out swath of their own.  There's plenty of buzzsaw riff-ola here, with almost nothing expendable.  So far as I know, FFF don't have any official web presence, but Trouser Press as usual provides a nice chunk of text distilling the virtues of their discography.

01. The Firing Line
02. The Western Light
03. Paingiver
04. World War Three
05. Paula's First Piano Recital
06. Madeline
07. Things Will Never Be the Same
08. 4 A.M.
09. $7.99 an Hour
10. C Song
11. Mrs. Rony's Problem
12. Smoke Screen
13. Andy's Digital Delay

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