Reviews you can use: B-Movie - Hidden Treasures (2025, Wanderlust) & Chris Church - Obsolete Path (2025, Big Stir)

Considering Mansfield, Britain's B-Movie by and large "peaked" with a pair of low charting UK singles (1981's "Remembrance Day") and the slightly more renown "Nowhere Girl" a year later, you'd think that the quartet in question would have taken the inch they were accorded and attempt to stretch that out to a proper mile (or heck, maybe just a meter).  Truth be told it wasn't for lack of trying, and though a debut album, presumably to drop later in '82 by Phonogram Records, was never actually slated for public consumption (at least not in the first half of the decade) B-Movie nonetheless tracked enough quality tunes to make it a legitimate proposition.  Due to a band roster shakeup, and concerns from Phonogram over potential sales demand, said "album" was shelved - for some 40+ years in fact.  B-Movie eventually reemerged in reconstituted form, circa 1985, with a full length of predominantly fresh material landing on Sire in the guise of Forever Running, but much of the original hoopla surrounding the band had fizzled, and listeners on both sides of the Atlantic never quite took to the gussied-up, synth-pop penchant of this particular era.

Regrouping in the 'teens for 2012's The Age of Reason, and 2016's Climate of Fear, B-Movie were a going concern again, and have been an intermittent live presence ever since. Even with a successful reboot under their belts, the hunger to give the album-that-never-was a formal release never completely subsided.  It took some legwork, but upon finally obtaining the rights to these aforementioned vintage recordings they've finally arrived under the umbrella of the ten-song Hidden Treasures.  Despite a copious amount of New Romantic pigeonholing (both during and after their '80s halcyon era), B-Movie's nascent efforts in the studio revealed a quartet distinctly separate from the A Flock of Seagulls and Naked Eyes of the world, conceding much to the post-punk sphere, occasionally even wandering off further from the reservation than that.  Case in point, would be Treasures' opening salvo, "Citizen Kane," has more in tandem with the Psych Furs and the Teardrop Explodes than say, Depeche Mode.  Treasures... is bejeweled with no shortage of keyboards, rather moderation is the key watchword. 

Further in, the going gets even better, with the driving "Marilyn Dream," and the lusciously melodic "Crowds" weaving in plenty of deftly crafted panache. Naturally, signature B-Movie numbers "Nowhere Girl" and "Remembrance Day" make an appearance, without necessarily dominating the proceedings.  Treasures... bears no small semblance of diversity ensconced within it's ten proper  cuts, and furthermore there's a phalanx of supplemental material to be had, entailing remixes and some abandoned but promising song ideas.  B-Movie conjured up something aesthetically satisfying here without succumbing to the gratuitous extravagances their era was all too infamous for.  Absolutely no small feat in my book.  Hidden Treasures is available from Bandcamp, Rough Trade, and Amazon, and check out the band's official site here.

I've never been a huge mark for "singer-songwriters."  I'm not sure how/why my wet noodle has a tendency to differentiate, scrutinize, and perhaps even prejudice me to steer towards "bands" as opposed to solo-endeavors.  Ultimately several have broken through over the past few decades Laura Veirs, Mike Viola, Emm Gryner, and the dearly departed Nick Drake and Tommy Keene. Substantial as the catalogs of those go-it-alone troubadours are, I'm still naturally inclined to gravitate to full ensembles.  In 2023, I enthusiastically added Chris Church to my informal roster of reliable singer/scribes, thanks to his then-current sleeper LP Radio Transient.  Perhaps it was because that record not only bore the heft of a full-fledged 'combo,' so to speak, the compositions in themselves were resonant and thoroughly engaging.  

On Obsolete Path he's spun another web of twelve poignant songs, this time with an overarching sobering hue, albeit not the self-pitying variety.  I can't point to much in the way of convenient parallels to Church.  Faint glints of  Matthew Sweet, Tommy Keene, or pre-controversy Ken Stringfellow seep in, yet if there's any power-pop slant here it isn't purist so much as respectfully adjacent, a la Gin Blossoms.  The hooks are abundant and incisive, though they're rarely the centerpiece. Our protagonist gracefully applies the pinstripes of '80s modern-guitar rock on "Life on a Trampoline" and "I'm a Machine," summoning a transporting ambience in the process.  Bittersweet melancholia is tattooed over virtually every square inch of ...Path, evidenced on the vigorous "Sit Down," and later, this sentiment works just as effectively amidst the acoustic gestures of "Tell Me What You Really Are."  "Running Right Back to You" and "I Don't Wanna Be There" strike something of a middle ground, but this is hardly an album of extremes. Writ large, Obsolete Path is however persuasive, empathetic, and occasionally even visceral.  Bandcamp and Big Stir have you covered for physical and digital, and you can obtain it immediately. 

Layer under layer of now fanatical desire.

From 1982, with a preceding EP included.  If Pylon is your bag dig into this.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Ten Tall Men - Find Your Saint (1988, Vacant Lot)

You were no doubt regaled by Ten Tall Men's 1986 ep, Nickelbrain, back when I posted it some eight years ago.  If that was the appetizer, get ready to feast on the main course.  Find Your Saint extrapolates on the same sonic aptitude of the aforementioned ep - staccato syncopation, palm-muted guitar fills, and abrupt, halting pauses/false endings, with ample deference given to the templates laid out by Gang of Four and especially the Minutemen.  TTM were sticklers for quality control, but that doesn't mean the going here gets a bit samey, especially when FYS is absorbed as a whole.  Ironically, a song dubbed "Dull Moment" is something of a pleasant anomaly here, thanks to Winthrop Eliot Jordan's heightened, melodic chord wrangling.  This piece of wax was a minefield of clicks and snaps, and edited out the more egregious ones as best I could.

01. Dominoes

02. If I Was a Beefy Guy

03. Honor

04. Dull Moment

05. My Last Life

06. Wheels Spin Round

07. This Responsible Life

08. Get Back to Work

09. Mr. Fist

10. Double Heaven

11. Not

12. The Westheads

13. Trust

14. Anxious

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It's nearly impossible. Highly improbable. But not hopeless.

From 1999, and I think I've shared this before.  It's not Pet Sounds, nor in the same genre, but thematically there's some significant crossover with this one.  Eye of the beholder I guess. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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The Effigies - live WZRD, Chicago 1981

How is it that I've neglected The Effigies for so long?  For as long as I've been acquainted with the late John Kezdy and Co, they've never been an obsession.  In some respects that's been a convenient proposition, since so much of their back catalog has been long unavailable.  And while there have been the occasional Effigies reunion gigs, and even albums, including last year's Burned, nothing engendered me to super-fan status.  Nonetheless, I'm sure at least a few of you are, thusly this post will have your name written all over it.  Broadcast live for WZRD's "Sunday Morning Nightmare" program, this seven song set finds Chi-town's hardcore heroes bracing, hungry and in sheer take-no-prisoners mode.  Still three years away from unleashing their debut LP, 1984's For Ever Grounded, the songs from this performance were culled largely from their Haunted ep, and songs that would appear on subsequent short-form releases, including '82's classic "Bodybag" 7" and their debut release for Engima Records, We're Da the Machine.  I certainly wasn't the one who had the notion or wherewithal to tape this off the radio (much less digitize) it, so a hearty thanks to whomever did.  Btw, along with the aforementioned Burned, a fortieth anniversary remaster of For Ever Grounded dropped just last year. 

01 Below the Drop
02 Blank Slate
03 Quota
04 Strongbox
05 Techno's Gone
06 Bodybag
07 Guns or Ballots

Band lineup:
John Kezdy - vocals
Earl Letiecq - guitar
Paul Zamost - bass
Steve Economou - drums

MP3  or   FLAC

GhostShirts 7" (1992, Cypher)

Yet another casualty of the pre-internet era, and I'll be damned if i can shed much relevant info on this bunch who boast a Brooklyn correspondence address.  GhostShirts were produced by Kramer, at his fabled Noise New Jersey studio, yet these guys weren't particularly avant/weird.  Definitely more Homestead Records than say, SST, although the faint fIREHOSE-ism's I'm picking up are likely more coincidental than anything else. The turbulent "Here is a Compass" wins this two song contest with a compelling rhythm guitar line and wily dynamics.  Not unlike what Agitpop gave us a couple years prior.  The flip, "...(Song X) sports fuzzy bass and jazzy juxtapositions, and is indicative of GhostShirts' jammier proclivities.  

A. Here is a Compass

B. 38th Subjective Rant (Song X)

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...twist and rearrange, the spaces always show.

A debut from 2006.  Not dissimilar to the grand gestures Interpol gave us, but with even more flexibility and nuance.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Shrubs - Somebody's Watching tape (1996)

It's been yet another bummer of a week, and I know I haven't provided you with much since MM, but hopefully this lil' reel will tide you over until tomorrow. Not sure where I acquired this Shrubs cassette, but clocking in at a half hour with a solid ten (or arguably eleven) tunes, it's definitely more in line with an album than a demo.  Hailing from downstate New York, or thereabouts this trio had a jones for no frills riff-pop, settling on a mid-tempo clip, not overtly resembling anyone in particular.  The aptitude is pedestrian, but earnest and occasionally a tad wry.  The two-minute, "Never Go Back" possesses plenty of punch, and while little else on Somebody's Watching can compete with it's pace this tape bears at least a few repeated listenings.  Said affair closes out with an unlisted, insurgent 46-second hardcore-punk throwdown, out of character with everything preceding it.

01. Hail Mary

02. Never Go Back

03. Memorial Day Poppies

04. Things We Could Have Been

05. Space Threat

06. Lover

07. Time Fades

08. Born Too Soon

09. Underground

10. I Don't Know

11. unlisted mock hardcore song

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I ain't run out of track...

This band's parting shot from '93.  Maybe not as glorious as the albums that preceded it, but in terms of the alterna-rock era it's still well above average. I've also tacked on a b-side, a cover no less. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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The Passions- Sanctuary (1982)

You'd almost think "I'm in a Love With a German Film Star," was the only song The Passions ever committed to tape - and regrettably for about 98% of listeners who were fortunate to encounter them at some point that might as well have been the case.  Virtually no other tune in their repertoire has garnered anywhere near equal facetime, despite the Barbara Gogan-helmed London conglomeration having released three near-incendiary albums: Michael & Miranda (1980), Thirty Thousand Feet Over China (1981), and Sanctuary (1982), and roughly half a dozen singles.  However, those that delved beyond their aforementioned 1981 hit were privy to an intoxicating body of work. 

The loss of Passions guitar-chitect Clive Timperley, whose crisp, crystalline chords colored so much of "I'm in Love's..."  atmospheric persuasion, prior to the recording of Sanctuary, did virtually nothing to stifle the newly whittled down core-trio's ability to devise memorable, moving vistas.  Not as allegiant to the noir post-punk air of relatively close sonic contemporaries Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Passions didn't make a play for mystique, so much as depth - and they were all the better for, even if long-term success eluded them.  Sanctuary found them leaning into the nuances of the New Romantic movement with subtlety being the key watchword.  No, this wasn't quite your little sister's garden-variety "pop" setup, The Passions were considerably more advanced than that, yet they boasted a melodic allure and sophistication that should have roped in devotees by the millions.  Instead, they settled for a few thousand hangers-on, who were no doubt dazzled by plush, sublime propositions, "Small Talk," "Into Night," and Sanctuary's title piece.  Though not necessarily flawless, you won't encounter any filler amongst these grooves, and it's almost startling to realize the band would be defunct in merely another year.

And speaking of defunct, so is the label that curated the first digital release of Sanctuary, Rubellan Remasters.  In addition to a bright, resonant remastering of the album in question, this reissue boasts all surrounding singles and b-sides, as well as appending the contents of a four-song live ep that was bundled with certain original pressings of the LP.  Rubellan's somewhat tortured and occasionally heartbreaking saga has recently been laid out in nearly six-hours worth of narratives on YouTube, which you're encouraged to partake in, that is if you have any interest in learning how the sausage is made before it's submitted to the marketplace. It's quite an enlightening tale.   

01. Jump For Joy
02. The Letter
03. Into Night
04. Small Talk
05. White Lies
06. Cars Driven Fast
07. Love is Essential
08. Your Friend
09. Hold on Don't Go
10. Sanctuary

bonus:
11. Africa Mine
12. I Feel Cheap
13. The Story
14. Tempting Fate
15. Stop That Man
16. The Square (live)
17. Why Me (live)
18. Snow (live) 
19. I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Live)

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The Texas Instruments - ¡More Texas Instruments! (1985, Longhead)

Austin's Texas Instruments are no strangers to this site, and tonight I'm dropping what appears to be their debut release.  At this stage in the game our protagonists were functioning as an economical trio, but were soon to expand to a foursome.  And they were twangy youngsters at that, doling out fine rootsy traipses like "1000s of Things," a saucy mélange of mid 80's indie smarts a la a more pedestrian Minutemen with a pinch of southern rock snarl. "Checkered Flag or Crash" fares almost as effectively and presumably entails something of a narrative, albeit the Instruments' delivery is so rapid fire, you'd be forgiven for missing the plot. I can take or leave the cheeky "Queen of Chiba," and the lackadaisical "Last Lie" draws ¡More Texas... to a relatively lamentable conclusion.

01. 1000s of Things

02. Checkered Flag or Crash

03. Queen of Chiba

04. Last Lie

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...they play shadow games, I play with the light

From 2020. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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The Loch Ness Mouse - From the Countryside ep (1993, Perfect Pop)

Here's one of many records that I'm just not sure how it found it's way into my collection.  What's more surprising is that some 30+ years later Norway's Loch Ness Mouse still have something of a presence, though this early 7" is all I know them by. That being said, I can't really extol on what they're up to these days or how/if they progressed, but Countryside's leadoff salvo, "A Picture in My Grandmother's Book," is a driving, twee-adjacent slice of punk-pop.  "My Old Coat" is notably calmer, a la something that might have been conjured up by the BMX Bandits or Teenage Fanclub.  Comparatively speaking, "Goodbye Helena," bleeds a distinct downer ballad lilt, while the concluding "Vespa 50" is a jangly, strummy delight bearing a prize-winning hook, any likeminded pop combo would crave to take credit for. 

01. A Picture in My Grandmother's Book

02. My Old Coat

03. Goodbye Helena

04. Vespa 50

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I've got a manual instructing my brain.

This weeks it's disc 3 of a deluxe reissue, featuring radio sessions and a handful of live tracks, all originating from 1981-82.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Richard Barone and James Mastro - Nuts and Bolts (1983) ...plus my thoughts on the Bongos new/old live album The Shroud of Touring.

Call it a sheer coincidence, or musical synergy, or whatever you wish, but it didn't dawn on me until just an hour or so ago that tandem with my post this week of the long-neglected Richard Barone/James Mastro collaborative LP from 1983, a band that both gents made a more than significant contribution to, The Bongos are set to release a very belated but terrific live album next week, which I'll address a little later.  

For the uninitiated, Richard Barone was the front-man and bona fide fulcrum for the aforementioned Bongos, a guitar-pop, mini-maelstrom based in Hoboken, NJ who circa the early '80s released a blush of inspired singles and eps, that were consistently critically lauded.  As if 1983 wasn't an eventful year enough with the Bongos making a leap to a major label via the Numbers With Wings ep, Barone's creative juices were loaded for bear, so much so that a small body of songs were set aside from his meal primary ticket and dedicated to another endeavor Nuts and Bolts.  His partner in rhyme, James Mastro had only jumped aboard the Bongos express midway through the band's career, but had already served as a backing guitarist on Richard Lloyd's excellent solo debut, 1979's Alchemy.  

The premise for Nuts and Bolts was democratic with each singer/strummer compiling their respective songs on one side apiece of the record.  Furthermore, it was a logical choice for Barone to put his six numbers here under a separate umbrella from the relatively rambunctious Bongos, given the more contemplative tenor of  acoustic-enhanced pieces "Lost Like Me" and "I Threw a Falcon."  Elsewhere on his side of this proposition, "I've Got a Secret" would have slotted in nicely with what the dB's were finagling with around the same time.  As for the other side of the coin, Mastro's contributions are considerable, yielding the bouncy "In My Pocket" and the driving power-pop aplomb of "Jamais." If he wasn't already a consummate songwriter in his own right at this point, Mastro would in the near-future lend his talents to the likes of Marti Jones, Tim Lee (Windbreakers) and Jill Sobule, among other pursuits like the Health and Happiness Show whom I extoled about just a few months ago.     

As for the more current release I mentioned, read on - although it entails music that's not particularly "current."  1985 was a good year, and if you were The Bongos it was even better.  That’s when the release of the quartet’s first bona-fide album of unique material, Beat Hotel, landed on the heels of half a decade’s worth of lauded singles and eps (not to mention the crucial compilation thereof, Drums Along the Hudson).  The overdue live document The Shroud of Touring captures them at the peak of their collective powers, churning out a generous amount of what was then newer material, yet still attacking the mic and their respective instruments hungry-as-all-get-out on established setlist faves “In the Congo,” “Telephoto Lens,” and their renown remake of T. Rex’s “Mambo Sun.”  The Bongos wouldn’t be long for the world after this tour, but Shroud… stands as a compelling testament to their indigenous stripe of deftly crafted power pop that hasn’t traversed the Earth since.  Ironically, it's seeing the light of day on the the revived Jem Records imprint, who were also responsible for the aforementioned Nuts and Bolts way back when. It's available this coming week on Amazon.    

Nuts and Bolts

Richard's side

01. I've Got a Secret

02. I Threw a Falcon

03. My Side

04. Fie Years Old

05. Lost Like Me

06. Jacob's Ladder

James' side

07. Time Will Tell

08. Dizzy

09. Angel in My Pocket

10. Jamais

11. No One Has to Know

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I've been ten days in overdrive...

Perhaps not the most popular opinion, but I was utterly disappointed with the direction this band took on their third album.  Though it did entail a significant lineup alteration, they corrected course with this overlooked 1981 follow-up. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Zeke Fiddler - 1/2 Baked, 1/2 Inflated 7" (1993, Chunk)

I remember Zeke Fiddler's one-and-done LP, Waterproof being pretty ubiquitous in the mid-90s, so much so that I was armed with a promo copy myself.  Nonetheless I never quite caught the Z/F bug, simply due to the sheer glut of competition me and my CD player were overwhelmed with at the time.  Truth is, this Beantown-area trio deserved more of my attention, not to mention something resembling a concerted national audience, given Zeke's gnarly distorto-guitar splay that fit solidly in the realm of Archers of Loaf, Treepeople, and even SST-era Dino Jr.  Maybe not as searingly white-hot as any of the aforementioned, what these boys had was still impressive.  What I wasn't conscious of at the time was that preceding Waterproof, was this 45 rpm delight circa 1993, making a concise case for the band's aforementioned m.o., one which has held up pretty effectively over the ensuing decades.  Aficionados of Clinton-era indie rock take note!

A. Half Baked

B1. Half Inflated

B2. Brave Doorman

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The Montanas - s/t ep (1988, Lucy)

Well shucks, I don't have much to tell you about this crew, nor does the internet. There's not a tremendous amount to go by on The Montanas first and ostensibly last 12" record save for the fact that this quartet has a management/correspondence addy of Atlanta.  Going by the band's garb on the back sleeve I was expecting something along the lines of the Long Ryders, but instead was treated to something more akin to the Cavedogs or late '80s Dreams So Real.  Not an exact fit for the more jangly environs of say, the Strum and Thrum subset, but they come flirtatiously close on "It's Alright," and the driving "Chains."  A Montanas' 45 preceded this spotless slice of wax that I just might have to get my mitts on it.  If anyone has any pertinent deets on these guys please consider leaving a comment.  

01. It's Alright

02. New Way to the Sun

03. Should've Known

04. Sirens

05. Chains

06. Daddy Sold the Farm

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I was staring at your eyes in my wall...

An almost complete discography from these sardonic, San Diego outliers, circa 1979-89.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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URL, interrupted.

Am taking the week off.  Will see you back here for Mystery Monday next week.  Cheers.

Supermarket lights burn in the darkness...

Im spoiling you this week.  This is a two CD set compiling a healthy number of this UK band's b-sides, neglected album tracks, and alternate versions of more renown singles and such.  Have at it. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Victorian Parents - Silence Follows (1981)

I usually save most of my revelatory finds for the end of the year, but what the hell.  And a major label release (Polydor) no less, but unless you snatched up Victorian Parents' Silence Follows as as an assumedly pricy import, this would have flown well below your proverbial radar.  Not only has it not been reissued since it's 1981 release, so far as I can tell this band has yet to be anthologized on any of the myriad of Cherry Red Records post-punk compilations that have cropped up in the last decade or so. Save for a YouTube digitization, Silence Follows hasn't made a showing on any of the usual streaming outlets, nor have any of it's songs made it into the sharity blogosphere.  Whomever saw the need to kill off the memory of this band was a bit too thorough, if you don't mind me venting.

Hailing from Lichfield, England, V/P's modus operandi was very much in league with contemporaries, The Sound, Modern Eon and Comsat Angels, especially the latter.  The quartet boasted both depth and artful tangents, while remaining almost wholly approachable, albeit there weren't many obvious hits or singles here - even for the one track that actually was appointed for 45 status, "All American Hero." At the end of the day, Silence Follows is still unmistakably steeped in post-punk affectations, minus any excessively droney ambience. C.S. Angels comparisons are inevitable on this album's most proficient offerings, "Uncommunique" and "No Response," but again, that band was a contemporary to V/P, so it's not very logical to cite them as a legit "influence," per se. Perhaps not through-and-through brilliant, Silence... is considerably effective, not to mention well above average, and far more deserving of the dim spotlight it enjoyed when the Parents were extant.  Yes, there were surrounding singles, but I'm not in possession of anything else by them.  I am however making this available in both MP3 and FLAC.

01. All American Hero

02. On the Border

03. Self-indulgence

04. Dead Red Grass of Home

05. Uncommunique

06. No Response

07. Wasteland

08. My Advantage

09. Endless Wire

MP3  or  FLAC

An unpredicted ends to a means...

From 2004.  Picking up on morsels of everyone from Nada Surf to Creeper Lagoon and even Mercury Rev. Enjoy

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!*

Medelicious - Miss N 7" (1994, Lucky)

Not as egregiously grungy as many of their counterparts due south in Seattle, Bellingham, WA's Medelicious were still a mightily noisy aggregation wielding copious amounts of angsty amperage and distortion.  This 45's A-side "Miss N" isn't far removed from Up In It-era Afghan Whigs, but I'm more partial to the flip, "Hands," which mines a vaguely more tuneful indie-rock vein. Not Sebadoh or Superchunk mind you, Medelicious nonetheless bore a considerable quotient of potential...and regrettably never got around to issuing a full length. 

A. Miss N

B. Hands

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Autumn Teen Sound - demo (1995)

Just as I was about to drop the "cold case" tag on this Phoenix-area foursome I discovered they have a Facebook page.  Sounding heavily indebted to another band they shared the same area code with (Gin Blossoms), Autumn Teen Sound may not have been the stuff of innovation, but in terms of sheer songcraft they really had something. "My Star" goes down delightfully easy, coincidentally not unlike the tune of the same moniker by Gameface, and the remaining cuts easily slot between the Blossoms and what Michael Penn was dishing out around the same time.  ATS shared bills with the Plimsouls and Joey's Molland's Badfinger before rechristening themselves as Sugar High.

01. My Star

02. 100 Years to Love You

03. Juliana No

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Too many holes in your story, jeans alright.

This week it's four eps spanning three decades.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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The Charlottes - Lovehappy+ (1989/2020, Radiation)

Typically on Record Store Day I share something released on a prior RSD, but I'm quickly run out of "safe" items to post, simply because most titles released on the most agonizing Saturday morning of every April are alternate pressings of records still in print. Either that or a lot of "new" titles subsequently get a proper release outside of RSD.  The Charlottes' Lovehappy saw the light of day in 2020 in a limited pressing of 500 pieces, and I don't believe it's been available since.  

For the longest time my only familiarity with the Petra Roddis-fronted quartet from Cambridgeshire, England was the single "Liar," but oh what an utterly phenomenal tune! The Charlottes stitched the scuzzy distortion of the Jesus and Mary Chain and early Primal Scream together with the immediacy of the Primitives, and increasingly laced their concoction in a woozy dream-pop gauze. They didn't consistently live up to this lofty proposition on their debut mini-ep, the hit or miss Lovehappy, which often resembles shambolic demos, though there are genuine glints of potential on "Keep Me Down" and "See the Danger Shine."  Radiation Record's reissue tacks on two Charlottes' follow-up eps from 1990, the aforementioned Liar and Love in the Emptiness, which finds them leaning into the fainter semblances of shoegaze hinted at on Lovehappy, yielding inspired downer indie-rock in the guise of "Blue" and "Could There Ever Be."  Their spin on Shocking Blue's "Venus" is faithful to the original yet more stimulating than I had imagined. The hype sticker on the sleeve states all of the material presented has been remastered, but the audio here strikes me as a bit muddy, and quite frankly mono, measured up to the original records they're derived from. Who knows.  At any rate, enjoy.  

01. Are You Happy

02. Cold

03. Keep Me Down

04. Stubborn

05. See the Danger Shine

06. Everything to Me

07. In My Hair

08. Love Happy

09. Liar

10. Blue

11. Venus

12. Love in the Emptiness

13. Be My Release

14. Could There Ever Be

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I'm not here if someone calls, unless it's from apartment 3...

From 1998.  I remember being thoroughly immersed and invested in this when it came out.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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That Hope - Beating the Dumb Guy (1987, FOT)

I had high hopes for That Hope, given the impression they left me with on their debut, Eight Dollar Hat, which I shared way back in '11. I recall it garnering a considerable number of downloads as well, so taken all this into consideration I was ready to be dazzled by this Bloomington, IL quartet's follow up.  The first three songs comprising Beating... certainly don't disappoint, exuding tinctures from the likes of artful, post-punk sophisticates Gang of Four to Pylon, with T/H depositing a spot of their indigenous seasoning into the affair.  Things go downhill soon after with the aimlessly, embarrassing throwaway "Big Sex" clogging up the proceedings for a painful seven minutes.  From there's it's a tossed salad with a somewhat sloppy retread of "I Am the Walrus," to the bouncy and redemptive Pylon-goes-pop shtick of "Comfort Never Looked So Big."  Though not listed on the sleeve or record label, there's a useless segue of a 75-second piece falling between "Space Boys and Love" and "Go About Your Business" that I'm not sure if it's supposed to be it's own individual "song" or rather the outro/intro of the aforementioned tracks. 

01. Looking To Get Their Fill

02. Lounge Lagoon

03. Jeff Matt Joey

04. Big Sex

05. I am the Walrus

06. Space Boys in Love

07. untitled

08. Go About Your Business

09. Cow Gang

10. Comfort Never Looked So Big

11. Love, Need, Attention

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Did your nervous laugh meet mine when I gave a sign?

From 2016.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Bob Beland 7" (1980, Deli Platters)

Here's a sweet turn-of-the-decade slice of power pop, from an artist I've had minimal acquaintance with but am anxious to hear more from. Bob Beland, got his start in a mid '70s L.A. combo, Southpaw that also featured the soon-to-be higher profile Jules Shear, though I wasn't able to confirm if anything was recorded.  Beland's first bona fide album, Amnesia Lane, wouldn't drop until 1994, but the early '80s saw the release of an ep in 1982, and this 45 two years prior.  The urgent "Stealin' Cars" shifts into punky gear, with a dash of keyboards, and more substantially, an irrepressible hook. "I Can Walk Away" turns a linear power-pop corner, not far removed from Dwight Twilley, or god knows dozens of contemporary unknowns, the kind compiled on ace fan-compiled compilations like Teen Line, etc.  Quality stuff.   

Stealin' Cars

I Can Walk Away

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Bel-Fires - Fall For the Sky ep (1985, Birdcage)

Here's one of my better browsing-in-the-wild finds, though I have little in terms of pertinent details to disclose about the Cynthia Isabella-fronted Bel-Fires.  Sort of what Let's Active might have come up with if they were aiming for the middle of the radio dial.  Melodic as all-get-out too, with this record's bookends "Fame For a Dime" and "Letter" wafting sky-high into the atmosphere.  Fall for the Sky ever so vaguely suggests what likeminded combos the Hummingbirds and the Millions would have in store for us in just a few years.  Looking forward to checking out the Bel-Airs subsequent '88 platter, What You Need, sometime in the not-too-distant future. 

01. Fame For a Dime

02. Anonymous

03. Fall For the Sky

04. Not For Me

05. Letter

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Taking time, writing out the dates all our friends die.

From 2010. Springtime is upon us, but this is truly a band for all seasons.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Paper Route - Go Get It (1997, SSG)

Was under the weather this week, and was unable to digitize any analogue goodies for you, bur in lieu of that I have this sterling nugget.  A friend tipped me off to the Paper Route well over a decade ago, but after much sleuthing I only found their cd in recent years.  Hailing from either Ontario or Quebec (big difference to be honest), this trio stick to the basics - guitar, bass and drums but how they wield them is their secret sauce.  Frontman (Simon Nixon) whose timbre slots somewhere between Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf/Crooked Fingers) and Elvis Costello guides his threesome through a relentless passel of bratty, power-pop zingers, bearing a scuzzy indie rock underbite, not to mention more sophistication than I was ever expecting.  Virtually nothing useful about Paper Route exists online, so if any of you have any basic details, fire away in the comments.  Cheers.

01. Where Will it Go

02. Can't Be Satisfied

03. Clean Me Soapy

04. Reservoir/Altamont Speedway Revisited

05. Children of the Revolution 

06. Come Around

07. Countdown/Jeanine

08. Saved by Video

09. Dead Horse

10. No Life

11. Polaroid

12. TV Screens/Want to Get High

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Remember, competition is necessity...

An archival trove of recordings from a neglected Ohio power pop outfit that only released a single in the mid '80s.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Big Home Orchestra - Fairytale ep (1989, BHP)

Employing a full-time violinist, this Aussie bunch exude heavy pastoral vibes if anything else.  I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into when I encountered Big Home Orchestra, just not quite what Fairytale had in store. It's about as "folk" as say, the Proclaimers, but thankfully not nearly as precious or aggravating.  They're adept and polished performers for sure, it's merely a matter if you're game for the lilt they opt to finagle with.  One striking anomaly is the concluding "Goodbye," structured around a more guitar-centric motif, that's not terribly far removed from the Go-Betweens, and is stimulating enough to beg repeat listening.  

01. Kingdom of Rain

02. As Long as a Heart

03. New Horizons

04. Poison and Thunder

05. Dark Star

06. Goodbye

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half string - oval 7" -

At some point in 1992 I summoned up the misguided notion I could count all of the shoegazer/dream pop bands in the world on my fingers and toes.  Turns out I was off by several extremities. Deeper into the '90s as the movement seemed to wane I was stunned by the sheer depth and breadth of what still existed, and of course, the number of bands that had passed that I was belatedly becoming acquainted with.  Arizona's half string were one such later discovery.  Not necessarily bringing anything out of whole cloth to the table, h/s took a more subtle approach, mirroring the melancholic, contemplative hues of Springhouse and early Moose, never nailing you over the head with anything too sonically dense of engulfing.  This is ripped straight from my 45 with plenty of surface noise intact.  Unblemished versions of these songs can be had easily enough on the 2012 reissue compendium, Maps for Sleep.  

a. oval

b. sun less sea

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We're just two deep space lovers and this feels alright...

Chilled out grooves from 2012.  A recent favorite of mine.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Dark Side - Rumors in Our Own Time, Legends in Our Own Room (1980, Gohog)

Though they were once the pride of Towson, MD, I'm not sure if Dark Side were exactly my bag.  Not precisely power pop or punk, this combo definitely strode on the sardonic and livelier side of the moon.  Intermittently peppered with surges of organ and sax, Rumours In Our Own Time, in my opinion satisfies optimally when the fellas flex melodic guitar chops on "Lamented Love" and "Down the Tubes."  Dark Side also sport no shortage of personality, with a highly animated mouthpiece in the guise of David Jarkowski.  The overall effect bears mild resemblances to the Tuff Darts, New York Dolls, The Sweet, and I'm sure you'll be motivated to draw your own conclusions.  This album and a host of additional numbers made it into the digital era in 2005. 

01. #1 Man

02. Lamented Love

03. Good Boy

04. Scared Straight

05. Bondage

06. Nobody's Girl

07. Can't Get Used to It

08. Fun in Nicaragua

09. Back on the Streets

10. Blow it Up!

11. You Should Envy Me

12. Rendezvous

13. Down the Tubes

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We were shaking off the shade from the Missiles of October...

A lo-fi masterclass recorded in 2010, but released two years later after multiple, painstaking revisions.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Yazoo Beach - Binge (1993, N-Beat)

Not only have I already introduced you to Yazoo Beach (over a decade ago in fact), I've also enlightened and entertained you with phenomenal music from guitarist Scott Coopwood's prior two bands, The Square Root of Now and Perfect Strangers.  Binge was Yazoo's somewhat belated follow-up to their inviting 1988 debut, The Solace and the Blaze, and is demonstrably more mature. Playing it right down the middle, a la fellow deep south contemporaries Dreams So Real and the Windbreakers, this is guitar pop of the collegiate, "new south" variety offering a bevy of pretty persuasions.  Generally, the R.E.M,-isms are on the downlow, but glints are lovingly apparent on "By the Hand" and "Shades of Solitude," amidst other scattered offerings.  Binge's acoustic traipses, specifically "Islands" and "Heaven Coming Down," fall loosely between the confines of The Moody Blues and Workbook-era Bob Mould, albeit not as engrossing.  Though said to be available on CD, I was only fortunate enough to happen upon a cassette, which is where his rip is derived from.  

01. Last Until Tomorrow

02. By the Hand

03. So Much is Love

04. Caroline

05. Heart So Heavy

06. Heaven Coming Down

07. Shades of Solitude

08. Wooden Horse

09. Piece of Her Mind

10. World Inside Your Heart

11. Islands 

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I’d rather talk some more than look into your eyes.

A compilation capturing the brunt (but not everything) this overlooked C86 proposition put out into the world.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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Surgery - Souleater ep (1989, Glitterhouse)

Realistically, I could have shared this one eons ago, but I just kept putting it off.  If someone else out there in blogland got to Souleater before me, I didn't mean to step on you.  Surgery ended just as the internet was about to go mainstream, so details on this New York by-way-of Syracuse foursome aren't exactly plentiful.  Most of their tenure was spent on the noise-mongering Amphetamine Reptile label, which suited the band, who had their collective tentacles steeped in a combustible grunge/punk aesthetic, with trace elements of the soon to be burgeoning stoner rock movement.  Unruly salvos "Dance" and "Brazier" pack a sumptuous degree of sway alongside righteous heaviness, and alone make Souleater veritable required listening.  Not much in the way of pop sensibilities here, but five years in from this ep, Atlantic Records scooped these fellows up, and by then they had an incorporated an often infectious groove-rock slant, outdoing their more renown, albeit lame-o contemporaries the Chili Peppers...however the mainstream was regrettably oblivious.  Surgery called it a day in early '95 upon the sudden illness and passing of frontman Sean McDonnell.   

01. Dance

02. Brazier

03. Goodtime

04. Stupid Chile'

05. Slap

06. Souleater

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Dragstrip - The Heliocentric World of... 7" (1997, American Pop Project)

In what might be the first time I've featured music from a strictly instrumental combo, my working knowledge of Bloomington, IN's Dragstrip largely begins and ends with this single, and not a bad intro at that. Known for their surf bona fides, the band's spin through BÖC's "Don't Fear the Reaper" does traverse through said motif, just not as doggedly as you might assume. There probably isn't one of you reading this that isn't at least partially burned out on this overplayed tune, but it's arpeggiated allure still calls to me on occasion, and I enjoy the context here. The flip, "Sun Ra" a supposed tribute to the jazz titan, could instead pass for the bed of a really enticing Dinosaur Jr. track.  Go figure.

A. Don't Fear the Reaper

B. Sun Ra

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All of the elements are present and tense.

From 2006. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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A Few - It's a Wonderful Life (Gark, 1985)

I'm sharing a record titled It's a Wonderful Life, and it ain't even Christmas.  This one did come out forty years ago however, and moreover it was a request that I'm happy to fulfill.  Conducting a web query on A Few was practically a fool's errand, but from what I'm able to glean they hailed from Minneapolis and have one other elusive record to their credit.  This one starts off splendidly enough with a trio of keepers to please the halcyon-era collegiate rock crowd, bleeding hues of everyone from Aztec Camera to R.E.M.  Further in, A Few's footing is less steady, with the rather aimless shouter "Hang Tough," and heck, by the time they kick into "Gas is Gold," they may as well have mutated into a different band altogether. Luckily they recover on the jangly "Best Around," and close things out on a contemplative note by way of the decent enough ballad, "Wandering."   

01. Every World is Hot

02. Ride Halley's Comet

03. Something Wonderful

04. Do You Remember

05. Things Change

06. Hang Tough

07. Gas is Gold

08. You and Me

09. Sail Up to the Moon

10. Best Around

11. My Own Mayhem

12. Wandering

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...and you can make it baby, until you've made you're bed.

 A killer, not to mention concussive, sophomore effort from 1992.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

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The Social Act - Little Sally "O" ep (1988

*Sigh.* Just a damn black and white sticker?  Really? The cherry red colored wax was a sharp move, but I still think a picture sleeve of some sort was warranted.  At any rate, The Social Act features Ellis Clark from Chicago power-pop mavens Epicycle, a band which can trace it's roots to the late '70s.  Though devoid of graphics, the music is a wholly different ball of wax, with the ace A-side, "Little Sally "O" pulling off something akin to Flesh For Lulu with a respectable AOR inflection.  Thoroughly rockin' stuff, with Ellis sporting a vocal aplomb that negotiates a fusion of Robyn Hitchcock and Mick Blood of the Lime Spiders.  The two flip sides, albeit not as crucial are at minimum satisfactory. The band appears to be a going concern, with a statement on their website purporting to them having recorded seven albums, but I'm not certain if all of them saw the light of day.  

A. Little Sally ''O''

B1. Boog-A-Loo

B2. In Your Arms

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