Lovers Under Pressure - The Elvis Years (1988, Stand Up)

I'm grateful I picked this one up, even though I didn't know a stitch about Lovers Under Pressure at the time.  And so it remains, as there isn't a shred to be rustled up regarding this cold case.  A trio, presumably from the Minneapolis/St. Paul vicinity, LUP would have been a perfect fit for the more pop addled end of the Homestead Records roster, nudging elbows with the likes of Big Dipper and Agitpop.  The Elvis Years is quintessential left-of-the-dial fare with jangly, hard strummed tendencies a la Peter Buck and a pinch of D. Boon and Johnny Marr.  The album's most sophisticated and prodigious moment arrives at the end of side one via "Epitaph," a Yankee distillation of five years worth of Smiths records...minus the pout thank you very much.  Hot damn.  The other side of the coin yields additional treasures, specifically "The Plans Went Wrong" and "Something Stayed."  Apparently a second Lovers Under Pressure album followed.

01. No Train
02. Leather Glove
03. The Collision
04. Epitaph
05. The Plans Went Wrong
06. Naked Fields
07. Dear Saturday
08. Something Stayed

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