Tamer than their moniker might suggest, Wilde & Reckless were an Aussie five piece that sported a decidedly pedestrian power-pop tack that would have been in league with Tommy Tutone, Donnie Iris and the A's. Short on innovation, taut execution and adequate hooks were Wilde's saving graces, and helped get them by on "Young Girls," "Why Won't You" and "What's Your Name." Enjoy (or not).
01. Young Girl
02. She's Good to Me
03. What's Your Name
04. Radio
05. Little White Lies
06. Why Won't You.
I'd be flatly deceiving if I were to inform you that Well Wishers henchman, Jeff Shelton had something on his agenda other than power pop, so deceive you I shan't. While he doesn't futz with his linear recipe too much on WW's eighth outing, Comes and Goes, there are moderate tangents at play here, operating in a framework just malleable enough to keep things interesting. A pair of true blue keepers bookend the album, "Impossible to Blame" and "Nature's Son," neither of which will allay the bevy of Posies comparisons that have been leveled at Shelton. As I've recently noted, The Posies aren't sounding much like themselves these days, so dare I say these riff-addled pearls serve as inadvertent equalizers?
As for what falls between the two "bookends," Comes and Goes rewards sublimely with the resonant, harmonic sway of "Comes Around" (featuring Lisa Mychols on backing vox) and Shelton's patented, plaintive jangly persuasion imbuing "Tomorrow," and "In Love With." The album isn't without it's rawer flirtations with tension and cynical frustration, as only a forty-something could engender, on the crankin' ''Somebody Lied" and "Three Nights in Bristol." Par for the course with any Well Wishers album, Comes... conversely counters said moments of constructive angst with sobering comedowns, specifically in the guise of "Nobody's Dancing Alone" and the aforementioned "Comes Around."
Have and hold Comes and Goes for yourself today through CD Baby, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, or purchase a hard copy straight from the band, with a bonus CD of your choice no less...for a limited time.
From 1996 and '97. The first two albums from a distortion-spiked power pop trio who hovered around
the outer reaches of Los Angeles. Produced by Earle Mankey no less.
The vendor who sold me this wax affixed a post-it-note stating, in so many words, that this record fit's the band's moniker. Bit of an exaggeration there, as was the Echo and the Bunnymen comparison also mentioned on the note. If anything, Grey Parade's vaguely noir pastiche of wave and post-punk was less than radical, often culminating in what a fusion of the Lucy Show and Modern English would amount to. The melancholia factor isn't as prominent as you might anticipate on The Reason, albeit the themes and prose populating the LP are intelligent and considered without getting too heady. "Flags are Burning" and "Impressions of Africa" are great jumping off points for the unacquainted. This was ostensibly the quartet's lone full length, and a seemingly difficult record to track down at that.
01. Crocodile Tears
02. Flags are Burning
03. Each Time We Touch
04. The Empty Room
05. The Reason
06. Winter
07. Exteriors
08. The Chosen Few
09. Impressions of Africa
10. Heaven and Hell Hear
Was able to get up and running again to provide you with a slightly belated Mystery Monday. This band has been a featured act on more than one occasion here. These eleven recordings date from 1981-83.
If it seems I've been posting on an already sporadic basis it's about to get worse. Folks, both of my computers aren't functioning properly, and it appears my main system will need to be replaced altogether. The site isn't going anywhere, but I'm going to be posting on a very infrequent basis for the remainder of this week and next. In short, if you tend to make Wilfully Obscure a daily destination feel free to hold off for a week or so. Otherwise, a lot of the archived links are active again. Apologies for all the recent re-up requests that I haven't been able to attend to, and ditto for all those comments and emails I've neglected. Keep it lit.
The second bonus disk from the deluxe edition of a 1989, seminal modern rock album. I guess this is where my head is at right now. BTW, the bulk of these tracks are instrumentals, but I wouldn't let that stop you.
Just a mere two years ago, Eagulls eponymous debut hurled down like a sonic thunderbolt, igniting a sustained, careening blaze by way of George Mitchell's sung/barked timbre, inextricably fused to a raft of stabbing guitar salvos more fearsome than just about any of the band's twentieth century inspirations. The term "post-punk" gets wielded around more than a ferris wheel at a county fair, but I'll be damned if the second half of that quotient didn't actualize it's meaning on Eagulls. If anyone espoused the notion that this Leeds, UK quintet's visceral, power chord surge was their only angle, the comparatively tempered Ullages (pronounced eulogies?) is going to throw them for a very abrupt loop. As it's come about, Eagulls have opted to jump someone else's train...and they've put on their pout to prove it.
Be it sheer influence, homage to a graying Robert Smith, or merely the necessity to scratch a Seventeen Second-long itch, Ullages is steeped in all things Cure. To deny this proposition would be the equivalent of denying that airline food lacks quality, or that OJ did the dastardly deed in the summer of 1994. In fact, it's not a matter of whom Eagulls are trying to portray themselves as prodigies of, so much as the specific era they're heartstrings are tethered to. Said era can squarely be designated to 1989's Disintegration, the second module in the Cure's "gloom" trifecta, bookended by '82s Pornography, and the third installment, Bloodflowers which arrived in 2000. The dirty little secret about the latter Bloodflowers is that while it fit Smith & Co's moody mold, the tunes weren't particularly memorable or endearing. In more than one respect the 'gull's sophomore offering picks up smack dab where the line was cut on Disintegration a quarter century ago.
A good 70% of thisphenomenon is anchored in Mitchell's telltale croon, which by the way is disciplined enough not to encroach into the more maudlin and exaggerated realms Smith so frequently breached. Remarkably, you won't encounter much in the way of prolonged naval gazing or gratuitous gotharama here, as whatever toil or anguish ensuesis part and parcel of the ambiance, not so much a despondent agenda. Ullages reaches it's melodic and inspired apex on "Velvet" and "Lemontrees," with the Eagulls attaching just enough of their own signature handiwork to differentiate themselves from their otherwise obvious pioneers, and to their credit, the pounding "Aisles" is well outside the Cure's wheelhouse altogether. In spite of it's overriding derivative tendencies, Ullages could be the most gratifying (and unintentionally nostalgic) album of the year. It is available now straight from Partisan Records, Amazon and iTunes. Take in the video for "Skipping" below
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
On Volt, a band I kinda like covers a batch of songs I really like. So what's the problem? Still trying to conjure up a definitive answer to that, but a lot of Trip's remakes don't quite jibe with me. Maybe it's the glossy production, or the soulful vocal inflections (deliberate or not) that put me off. Still "What's So Funny..." and Neil Young's "Helpless" sound halfway decent in about anyone's hands. And if you're anything like me, Husker Du and Big Star tunes are hardly anything to complain about.
01. What's So Funny About Peace, Love And Understanding?
02. Something In The Air
03. The Ballad Of El Goodo
04. Time Of The Season
05. Dead Set on Destruction
06. Helpless
Two bands from Greece, of all places, both of whom were under the rapturous spell of Anglo indie pop, say circa 1987. The Next Time Passions seemed to enjoy a slightly higher profile than their counterparts, (whom I'll attend to in a moment). Spilling over with homage to the stables of Sarah and Postcard Records, NTP bring a pair of stunners to table, coupling a jangly aesthetic with a touch of romantic angst. "She" and "Bats 25" both border on the sublime. What's more, the Passions have additional releases to plunder.
The Impossible Tymes were actually an outgrowth of the NTP, though I don't have much of a clue as to whom in the group the lineage applies to. This was the band's only commercial release, and considerably more chilled out than their record-mates. Per the blurb inside the sharp gatefold sleeve: A '60, '80s & '90s cocktail full of drum machine, new wave guitars, psychedelic organ and poppy, flower power vocals. Indeed that's where this trio stands, but the question now is where do you stand? Download and find out for yourself. BTW, both bands sing in English, but you'll pick up on the Greek accidents faster than you can say Field Mice.
Impossible Tymes
01. The Things You Love
02. Dream Brush Paint
There's nil biographical data to be obtained regarding the co-ed Out of the Fire, so I suppose that this quartet's thinly sardonic yet otherwise nondescript spin on late '80s wave/indie rock is wholly fitting. I was expecting this to be on the noir/goth wavelength, but instead Into the Frying Pan amounts to a relatively straitlaced affair. Keys and organ are present, albeit not dominant. As for text, OotF were of plaintive and pedestrian stock with the writing veering towards the redundant. That leaves the music itself to compensate, and it does so capably on the swirling "Boys & the Girls" and the driving hoedown "Feel no Pain." The whole eight-song affair closes out with the campy horror spoof, "Shopping Cart Murders." Murder by shopping cart? Must have been an '80s thang. Enjoy (or not).
01. Take it on a Ride
02. Merry Go Round
03. Cold in the Room
04. Boys & the Girl
05. Round & Round
06. Feel No Pain
07. Flowers in Your Hair
08. Shopping Cart Murders
Thought this would be a suitable follow-up to my Raymond Brake post from the other night. I first became conscious of the fact that I was a record collector somewhere in the mid-90s, and this split single was one of the first "rare" records I couldn't track down. Thing was, it never was particularly rare, just a bit hard to find. Eventually I just forgot about it until I ran into a copy of it at a recent record show. So here you have it, two of the most left-of-center bands to ever bear the Merge Records trademark. I've yammered on about Polvobefore, a band whose crooked, Sebadoh meets Sonic Youth pastiche was mildly addictive back in the day, especially on their earlier releases. "In The Hand, In The Sieve" appears here in a lengthier iteration than the version that landed on their debut, Cor Crane Secret. Erectus Monotone had more of a scuzzy art punk thing going for them, boasting a co-ed lineup to boot. Never investigated them too extensively. "Fragment (Pam)" appears to be exclusive to this record. Both bands crossbreed on the the altogether avant and warped b-side "Anything's Fine." Consider yourselves warned. A1. Erectus Monotone - Fragment (Pam) A2. Polvo - In the Hand, in the Sieve B. Erectus Polvotone - Anything's Fine Hear
Nineties indie rock in North Carolina. On one hand you had the "kingpins" like Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, and technically (though they stuck out like a sore thumb) Ben Folds Five. On the other were a bevy of striving hopefuls including, but not limited to Polvo, Spatula, Minerva Strain and The Raymond Brake. I was pretty wowed with Piles of Dirty Winters when it dropped some twenty-one years ago. More recently, my adherence to this one has wavered. Back then I picked up on RB's pop overtones which were somehow more evident at the time, but in retrospect it's obvious this Greensboro quartet took Polvo's fractured ball o' dissonance and ran with it big time. That being said, Raymond Brake had a heightened awareness of melody embedded within the noisy. tone-bending confines of "New Wave Dream," "Dolley Madison" and "Philistine" - I just wish that same magic had reared it's head on a more consistent basis. Midway trough Piles... we're offered a bit of a respite from RB's copious feedback-laden angularities via the lo-fi acoustic "The Long Sleep." There were singles surrounding the album as well as a subsequent ep, Never Work Ever. In addition to Polvo, if Edsel and Half Hour to Go did the trick for you, check this out.
01. Philistine
02. Filthy Lucre
03. Shooting in the Dark
04. New Wave Dream
05. Funeral Bride
06. Laying Down
07. The Long Sleep
08. Dolley Madison
09. Slink Moss
10. Never Felt Better
11. Whistler
12. Visit to Bdlam
As if ordering hard to find CD titles from the now sadly departed Not Lame Records wasn't enough of a treat back in the '90s and '00s, the kind proprietor of that power pop label and distro would incentivize those who made an online purchase by tossing in a handmade and self-curated cd-r compilation of impossibly rare songs that never made their way into the digital era proper. God knows how many volumes existed in the Lost in the Haze series alone (at least 14, obviously). Accompanied only by a tray card track list with no other pertinent details about the music presented, these compilations were stuffed into paper cd envelopes, and would tend to accumulate in various piles in my house. With a veritable absence of artwork they went out of sight and out of mind for years, until a few months ago when I organized the roughly twenty Not Lame freebies I had gradually piled up. I'm presenting one of these to you today.
The Lost in the Haze series was focused on the arcanest of the arcane independent and privately pressed records in the lofty collection of the Not Lame archivist and music obsessive that for now shall go unnamed. Volume 14 features eleven songs by uber-obscure acts, none of whom to my knowledge I've shared on Wilfully Obscure. All I can tell you is that the songs originate from the late '70s with many of the participants skewing towards the Nick Lowe, Paul Collins Beat end of the power pop spectrum. There are some phenomenal moments here by the Features, Treble Boys, Fans and a host of others, but I don't have a lick of info to impart on them, not even so much as the label and years they originate fun. The point with these comps was to get the music out there in no frills fashion, and with that in mind that's how they're presented here. Enjoy, set your browser to Discogs.com, and get ready to plunder your savings account if you wish to own the original wax these songs were derived from.
01. The Features - Don't Let Them Know
02. The Shout - I Wanna Be There
03. Treble Boys - Julie-Ann
04. The Fans - You Don't Live Here
05. Modest Proposal - Nobody Says No
06. The RPM's - Don't Wanna Be Young
07. News - It Doesn't Matter
08. Loose Lips - Kyle
09. Kids - You're My Baby
10. The Frenchmen - No Surprise
11. Orbits - You Make the Rules
Recently had a request for this, although I don't own a physical copy myself. It's apparently impossible to locate from what little nosing around I've been able to do. The Press were four Sydney, Australia based lads who had the benefit of absorbing the gamut of punk and pub rock in the handful of years preceding their lone LP, Fodder for the Critics. Their Anglophile bent was unmistakable, albeit eschewing the rebellious tenor of the Sex Pistols, Clash, etc, while retaining the driving power chords. Sonically, the Press had more in common with Pistols spinoffs the Rich Kids and Professionals than the antecedent band itself, not to mention the Stranglers, and perhaps a smidge of Eddie and the Hotrods to boot. Fodder... was a damn intelligent and spirited record that clearly deserved a better fate. Considerably more info (with band commentary tucked in the comments) can be found at Wallaby Beat.
01. Someone New Somewhere
02. I Think I'm Gonna Go Right Out
03. Night
04. Out of View
05. Rock Capital
06. She Wants it All
07. Walking in the Heat
08. Trapped in the Wreckage
09. Alcoholic Hear
Not exactly the biggest revelation I've pitched in your direction, but a nice follow-up to my Posies review last night. Submitted for your approval, the four song bonus disc which accompanied the Australian tour edition of the band's fourth album Amazing Disgrace. It kicks off with the fairly common b-side, "Going, Going, Gone" and continues with covers of Zombies, Hollies and the Bee Gees tunes in that order. A nice, concise roundup of non-LP goodies from the era, and would have certainly incentive-ied me to buy the album. Some of these songs have cropped up elsewhere, so this may be a limited engagement. Enjoy while you can.
01. Going, Going, Gone
02. Leave Me Be
03. King Midas In Reverse
04. Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You
Ok, suppose your favorite band zigs when you expected them to zag. And suppose that grouped penned a significant chapter for the genre they had left a sizable footprint on. True, Solid States is technically a post-reunion album (their third, following up on 2005's Every Kind of Light and '10s Blood Candy), and as such, expectations aren't quite as lofty for a new Posiesrecord to begin with. Then again, this is after all the work of Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, and given their collective resumes and reputations, there's bound to be sizable scrutiny. To cut to the chase, Solid States is palpably distinct from any other Posies release in that it (gulp) tamps down on the guitars, of all things - dramatically in some cases.
If you've encountered any hype surrounding this record, it no doubt concerns the reconvened band's embrace of electronic textures and other implements and innovations once foreign to their palette. States has it's share of synthesized tangents and diversions to be sure, specifically on the syncopated "M Doll," and "The Definition," not to mention the commanding opener "We R Power." It hardly sounds like a typical day at the Posies office, but if that strikes you as too much of a quantum leap consider how advanced Frosting on the Beater was held up to the witty acousti-folk of their debut, Failure. And speaking of wit, the Posies old school charm isn't exactly in abundance here, an aspect that to one extent or another has plagued the so called "reunion" records. In fairness, Solid States does occasionally concede to the Posies aesthetic of yore, indulging in telltale Auer/Stringfellow harmonies on "March Climes" and the quite excellent "Scattered," while the shuffling "Titanic" strikes a middle ground. And it may be something of a guilty pleasure, but I'm getting a charge out of "Rollercoaster Zen's" cosmopolitan stride.
In the net-net of things, it's hard to sum up this disk with any overarching generalities. Is it a transitional record of merely a detour? It's not their Kid A,New Adventures in Hi-Fi,Smiley Smile or even their Turbo (God forbid). Not quite amazing, but light years from a disgrace, Solid States is where the Posies stand today, idiosyncratic as that stance may be. For the life of me, I still can't tell Ken's and Jon's voices apart, so maybe not as much has changed as I thought. Solid States is available from all the usual suspects, including Amazon, iTunes, and hopefully a shop near you.
This ep is a scant fourteen minutes, but hard as it may be to believe Philly's Wishniaks don't waste a nanosecond. The quartet's winsome power pop formula was partially derived from the Stones rough-hewn nonchalance (albeit presented in a much more modest context here) and lusciously paired with deftly crafted jangle-tones, populating so many left-of-the-dial outlets of the day. Aesthetically, this may not scream "cutting edge" but the Wishniaks arrangements are forward thinking and the band exude chemistry for miles, foreshadowing the like-minded pastiche that would eventually be thrown down by the Figgs and Sloan. Nauseous and Cranky my ass, more like visceral and inspired. Expect more Wishniaks to come on these pages.
01. Point of No Return
02. Distraction
03. Double Takin'
04. 6 AM
05. Marianne Faithful
Back in the twentieth century it was all too easy and convenient to ignore import releases. Even fans that flocked to TPOH's 1988 magnum opus Love Junk had either long moved on, or were entirely unaware of ...Wonderful World when it landed in the band's Canadian home turf circa '96/'97. Indeed, by the time this fifth LP quickly came and went, Moe Berg & Co's. prominence had waned, but living so close to the border of Ontario didn't give me as much of an excuse perhaps. At any rate, TPOH fans who passed on this one did so to their own detriment, as Wonderful World follows a close third to Love Junk and One Sided Story (1990) in terms of out-and-out quality and gratification. Their third salvo, Downward Road was no slouch, nor was the less spoken of independently released follow-up Where's The Bone in '95, but in virtually all respects TWW of TPOH is the clear cut winner in the band's post-Rundgren era, as it were.
Though I can't confirm it's a concept piece, TWW sure operates like one, both thematically and in continuity. There are multiple references to a love interest dubbed Tara, and the songs generally pertain to lovesick reveries, countered with some occasional flashing yellow lights on Moe's otherwise utopian love train. The album's brief manic moments of tension arise in two rock 'em, sock 'em surges. "She's the Devil" is a riff-roaring punk-cum-Aerosmith romp that rocks harder and more fervently than anything TPOH ever committed to tape. That snarling as-all-get-out blast is paralleled in "Hate Engine" where again, Berg channels his inner Tyler/Perry more effectively than the graying, real McCoy were capable of at the time. But surrounding these thunderous slammers were a bevy of thoughtful ballads illustrating the intoxicating spell of romance that the man of hour (Moe Berg) was evidently under. It's within this strata that Pursuit really shine, especially on harmony-enhanced numbers "What You Did to My Girl," and "I'm Just Happy to Be Here," proving those years under the wing of Todd Rundgren paid off. I'd be remiss if I neglected to mention a few of the exemplary songs that fall between the two extremes namely "I Like You" and "Carmalina."
Just one note of caution you'll no doubt notice the song-to-song transitions were hastily edited, so jarringly notable at times they frustratingly divert your attention from the music at hand. These segues aren't as distracting when listening to the CD uninterrupted, but of course you'll likely be partaking of this on your phone or iPod. Fair warning, but the material itself is by and large excellent. I've also updated the links to the previously posted TPOH demos and the I'm an Adult Now ep, as well as Moe's early '80s endeavors facecrime and Modern Minds.
01. The Wonderful World Of
02. Tara
03. I Like You
04. Carmalina
05. Metaphor
06. She's the Devil
07. She Kiss Away
08. I'm Just Happy to be Here
09. Tara's Theme
10. What You Did to my Girl
11. Let's Not Play
12. Hate Engine
13. Back of my Mind
14. The Truth
Tamer than their moniker might suggest, Wilde & Reckless were an Aussie five piece that sported a decidedly pedestrian power-pop tack that would have been in league with Tommy Tutone, Donnie Iris and the A's. Short on innovation, taut execution and adequate hooks were Wilde's saving graces, and helped get them by on "Young Girls," "Why Won't You" and "What's Your Name." Enjoy (or not).
