Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Opossums - (marsupial eruptus) (1989, Picnic Horn)

Your basic four-guys, rock and roll setup here.  Bought this on a whim, and largely got what I bargained for.  Very strong similarities to Mercyland (likely a coincidence), and to a lesser extent the Smithereens and Nova Mob.  I so wanted to draw a Replacements comparison, if only for the fact that the chap on the left side of the album jacket looks suspiciously like Paul Westerberg, circa 1985.  The closest the Opossums come to mimicking the Mats might be "Alphabet Roadway," easily marsupial eruptus' most aggressive moment, and perhaps finest.  A satisfying experience overall.  No relevant details to be had on these boys, save for an Ann Arbor, MI correspondence address on the back cover.  Apparently, the Picnic Horn Records label was also associated with the marginally more popular Holy Cows, if that's worth anything.

01. 14 Reasons Why
02. (We Would) Break Down
03. Hearts Run Wild
04. My Thing
05. Saturday
06. Roll River
07. In and Out
08. Alphabet Roadway
09. Something's Here
10. Disappearing Waves
11. Farmtown Rita

Hear

10 comments:

Jeff Shelton said...

Thanks Neal!!!

I had the song "My Thing" on a radio tape from '89. I only knew the band name but was never able to track the song down...until now.

Consider yourself the God of the Woefully Obscure.

This made my week!!

Unknown said...

I was the drummer for this band. We are all active musicians and good friends to this day. The Guitar player and I were also members of The Folkminers and Frank Allison and the Odd Sox prior to the Opposums. Holy Cows gained some national exposure back in the day and all of their former members are active musicians as well.

spavid said...

Hi Randy. Thanks for commenting. I liked this record a lot. I actually have a Frank Allison and the Odd Sox reissue CD, but didn't realize the connection. Was this the only Opossums release, and were you based in Ann Arbor?

Unknown said...

I'm Marty, the guitarist who wrote with these guys. We are all good friends and still jam together. Randy and I were in the first Odd Sox along with Mike Feeney from the Holy Cows.

Brendon Hart said...

This is one of my favorite albums. I bought from a bargain bin and connected with it right away. I really dig it and have been trying to track down more details about it for years. Tell the rest of the boys that your music in this album has really been appreciated by some one.

Guypinot said...

One of the guys who commented many years ago posted a song from this album today. Love it...maybe the album could make one of your magnum reposts?

Guypinot said...

Since I asked, and you posted, it would only be polite to thank you. Also...I'm thrilled!!!!

Amy- Al said...

This record made it all the way to Australia.
Currently listening. Picked up up at Omeba, SAN Fran back in 2013.
Don’t get it out much but really enjoying it tonight.

Dan said...

I love this record. My older brother gave it to me when I was in middle school in Kalamazoo. I think his college roommate’s brother was in the band. Can’t remember exactly how he got ahold of it but I still have it.

Unknown said...

@Dan - likely that was my brother Steve who went to Western!

Glad you liked it:)

Tom Dunham (bass)