Guided by Voices - Kit Kat Acoustic Break session, 1997

For better or worse (most likely the latter) we're right smack dab in the middle of the week where I have little or nothing on the burner ready to fire.  Hopefully I'll have my act together in a few days, but until then, here's another selection from my dwindling folder of Guided by Voices rarities and curios.  This is the band's installment in the Kit Kat Acoustic Break series.  These live, in-studio sessions originated from the mid-90s and were pressed up on CD and sent to college radio stations for weekly airplay.  You'll no doubt recognize host, Pat Dinizio from Smithereens renown.  His approach was anti-climactic at best, but he was at least hip to GBV.  I don't have an original copy of the disk, but I was able to find a digitized version of the set, presumably taped from an FM radio broadcast.  It's the Mag Earwig lineup of GBV (Doug Gillard, etc), nipping on the heels of the "classic" lineup (Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, etc).  And yes, Pollard and Co. managed to maintain their sobriety for the entirety of the set.  Am not quite sure if that's a plus or a minus, but anyway.

Seven songs: Quicksilver, Not Behind the Fighter Jet, Bulldog Skin, Choking Tara, My Impression Now, Now to War and Teenage FBI.

Hear

A crush too much for pen and paper.

An album of deftly crafted, textured indie pop from 2012.

Here

Intra Muros - Why Not More Parmesan? (1985, Glass o' Milk)

Here's yet another slab of vintage wax that I honestly can't recall acquiring - not that I'm complaining.  I do have some modest complaints with the music enshrined within however, 99% of which I can attribute to Intra Muros' primary mouthpiece, Julie Willing, whose attempted Siouxsie Sioux impersonation frequently escalates to those pesky operatic trills that really grate on my nerves.  Thankfully she functions at a more modest keel on a decent portion of Parmesan, alongside her three male compatriots.  The Muros were through-and-through post punk, Anglo-indebted as all-get-out, with signposts pointing squarely not only to Siouxsie but early Cure.  Furthermore, I'll be darned if guitarist John Broderick and bass plucker Mark Romero didn't purloin a morsel or two from New Order focal points Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook.  In spite of Parmesan's, not so cheesy goth-y aplomb, a few anomalies like "President Jim" and "The Future" sidestep this motif revealing that this Huntington Beach, CA crew had some insight into what was transpiring on their own side of the pond.  Cool.

01. 33 RPM
02. Manifest Destiny
03. 269 Birds
04. Flag
05. Within the Walls
06. Fear
07. President Jim
08. Too Much Sun
09. The Future

Hear

Incognito Rockers - s/t ep (1984, Mystic)

I usually don't gravitate anywhere near a record with an "olides" or "swing" bent regardless of how conservatively those m.o.'s might be employed, but I suppose I'll make an exception for this one.  Incognito Rockers were a lively co-ed six-piece, presumably from southern Cali, who dish out a couple beauts on here that are precisely in said vein.  "Kiss It" is a risque throwback that's one milkshake short of a sock hop.  "Just As Much Charm" is another malt shop slammer, doubly as catchy as the aforementioned.  Elsewhere, "Cat and Mouse"is a Blondie-ish snyth rocker that would have also fit nicely on one of X's mid-80s platters.  Some intermittent saxophone is fittingly wielded on this record, adding that much more to the fun quotient.  This one's damn near a blast.   

01. Kiss It
02. Cat and Mouse
03. Attention
04. Just As Much Charm

Hear

Raspberries - Pop Art Live (2017, Omnivore) - A brief overview.

It was touted as a reunion that was likely to never happen, but occasionally hell apparently does indeed freeze over every now and then.  November 26, 2004, The House of Blues in Cleveland, OH.  That was the date and locale for the reunion of one of the foremost prototypical power pop conglomerations ever to grace a stage.  The Raspberries.  I'm not sure what accounted for the avoidance of a Raspberries pre-20004 was all about.  Perhaps it was rooted in inter-band conflicts, disinterest in the four gentleman involved, or merely the passage of three decades, and the gradual eroding of relevance an epoch like that can levy.  Thing is, to fans of the Raspberries the band in question never became irrelevant.  Despite the indifference of radio (save for two or three signature songs), the intermittent availability of the quartet's complete catalog (even on their own home turf) or the gradually diminishing profiles of it's alumni, the Raspberries were one of the go-to bands that turn-of-the-millenium adopters of power pop gravitated to after having their minds blown from their posthumous discovery of the first two Big Star albums.  Not that the 'berries were the obvious intersecting link between Big Star, and say, The Posies, but you get the idea.  By the way, if you're going to plunder inspiration from a trifecta of outfits whose monikers start with a "B" (Beatles, Bafinger, and the Beach Boys) you better make them count.  Crica 1970-75, The Raspberries certainly did.

So low and behold. it happened.  A Black Friday evening in the so-called Mistake on the Lake saw Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, David Smalley and Jim Bonfanti gracing the big HOB stage to deliver a two-hour, early Christmas gift to a sold out and anxious audience.   On that night, even if the Raspberries decided to pull the plug after ten or eleven songs the crowd would have gotten their money's worth.  Or let's say, the four men in question were a bit rusty and worse for the wear.  I bet that would've been A-ok for most attendees.  And for a final hypothetical, imagine if the group merely ran through their setlist with nary an anecdote or thoughtful gesture to impart on the audience.  I'm 99.99% certain their constituency that night would've gladly let it fly.

But imagine if none of those pessimistic scenarios came to pass.  As miraculous as it sounds that's exactly the way things went down, and a double CD live document of the gig is captured marvelously on Pop Art Live.  Imagine if you will a dream setlist featuring not only every key Raspberries tune (including but not limited to "Overnight Sensation," "I Wanna Be With You," 'Play On," and "Let's Go all the Way") but a teaming slew of deeper cuts from all four albums.  There's no less than half a dozen "fits-right-in" covers on top of that, including the fab four's "Baby's in Black," "Ticket to Ride" "No Reply," The Who's reliable "I Can't Explain" and two songs from The Choir, a Raspberries precursor outfit who penned the oft-covered "Cold Outside."

Performance-wise you couldn't hope to encounter a band that was tighter and more on-point than this one, with all four guys sounding more aligned and at the peak of their game than perhaps even the Raspberries heyday.  And dig the harmonies, from gentleman who were doing this in their fifties at time of this recording!  An inexplicable phenomenon, but if you want the proof it was all captured on tape.  Finally, there's a bit of a Storytellers thing evidencing itself on more than a few songs, with Eric and Wally sharing the lion's share of the observations.

Technically, the Cleveland House of Blues show wasn't exactly a one-time event (select shows in other mondo American markets followed) but it was so thorough and definitive, laced with such impeccable, par excellence quality control it would have made for one of the greatest one-off reunion performances ever.  That being said, if you missed it, you missed it - but luckily all 28 magic moments that transpired on that stage are now available to experience in a more petite medium, literally at the press of a button.  Pop Art Live can be had straight from Omnivore Records, Amazon, iTunes, and hopefully a local music vendor near you. 

Overdemanding and underfed...

The oft overlooked fourth (and what was then proposed to be) final album from these power pop titans.

Here

I don't ever want to play the part of a statistic on a government chart...

Sorry I haven't given you much this week.  I hope this will suffice.  Prototypes for songs from album number four.  15 tracks. 

Hear

Drugstore girl with the big brown eyes, slash of a smile that tells me lies.

From 1987.

Here

Capstan Shafts - Fixation Protocols (2008, Rainbow Quartz)

Three weeks ago I enlightened you with an entry regarding lo-fi outlier Dean Wells, or more specifically his musical alter-ego the Capstan Shafts.  You took quite a shine to the 2007 album I shared, Environ Maiden, and voila, here's the followup.  In that earlier piece I emphasized Wells affection for Guided By Voices/Robert Pollard's penchant for "leave 'em wanting more" ethos.  Brevity is still a watchword on Fixation Protocols, but the overarching effect is less derivative of the Fading Captain.  Sometimes that yields songs that are less than immediate, yet wholly rewarding on subsequent go-arounds.  In short, expect the artful, just not necessarily the grandiose.

01-Asymptonic freedom
02-Shaky days, bring honey
03-Eyeliner skywriting etc
04-Middles of June
05-Anthropecene stealers
06-Miss Cenozoic
07-What used to become you (now befalls you)
08-Communists in 19th century America
09-A heart that never flies
10-Get Honest
11-Brightest page in the history of man
12-Her novel 'canal zone poetry'
13-Little world saver
14-Boy to take you nowhere
15-Behemoth to a Flame
16-The Hell With the Days Again
17-The Stunted Kid
18-Fixation Protocal
19-Squeals of Resignation
20-Song for monometallists
21-The framers blameless enterprise
22-Voting Hopeless

Hear

Cement Trampoline - Glad to Be Alive (1989, Imagine!)

Never mind the (quasi) mullets, this Bay Area foursome weren't quite as "boss" as their collective visages suggest.  Cement Trampoline were presumably minor players in their hometown scene, with faint inclinations to not-so-local contemporaries raging from the Feelies to Dramarama and even the Smithereens.  Glad to Be Alive finds these humble gents mixing things up with several gradations of speed and intensity.  "Pushing the Panic Button" is a thing of jagged riff-rock beauty, with "Everything Means Touch" coming in at a close second.  "Lifeline" is strummy, power pop manna, the mid-tempo "Pick Me Up" isn't necessarily capable as it's title purports, but C/T save their finest for last, a swift jangly salvo in the guise of "Now!"  Some of the in-between tunes I've failed to mention are a little too slow or pedestrian for my edgy tastes, but I'll let you suss out which ones they are.

01. Lifeline
02. When You Hear My Song
03. I Keep Hoping
04. Step Lightly
05. Pushing the Panic Button
06. Gallup to a Crawl
07. (Shake) The Hand of Fate
08. Everything Means Touch
09. Lucky As You Are
10. Pick Me Up
11. Now!

Hear

I shot an actor in the street. It was my debut at directing.

From 1999.  I've even tacked on a bonus track from the Japanese version.

Here

Suburban Sprawl - Ice (198?, Lott)

Our friends at Mine for Life recently reminded me of a relatively unknown band whose CD I picked up years ago, but never gave much of a listen to.  File Suburban Sprawl under post-new wave?  Not overwhelmingly synthy or guitarsy, this well coifed quintet from points unknown, strike me as having gotten their foot in a certain door that was just about to slam firmly shut by the late '80s.  Bit of a nondescript angle here, but Ice's hottest idea, "Serious" would slot in well with say, Wire Train or Red Rockers.  Suburban Sprawl sported a pretty plush sound,that wasn't fully arrived on the bulk of this disk, and sadly it looks like they never followed up on this album's promise.  Discogs pegs Ice's copyright as 1987, but the sleeve notes don't provide a date.  I'd put it at 1988 or later.  The tray card tracklist is a bit scrambled as well.  I'm not entirely sure what the title of the sixth cut is, but seven is definitely "Wanda Wanda," not "Wireless."  Check out the non-LP "Borders" from the Mine for Life blog link above. 

01. Baby Feet
02. At a Glance
03. Stay Forever
04. Ice
05. Keep the Faith
06. Wireless (?)
07. Wanda Wanda
08. Serious
09. Feel Appeal
10. Weekends
11. Resident
12. Never Say Never

Hear

Maurice and the Clichés - C'est la Vie (1982, RMS)

I learned of this combo not in 1982 when this was released, rather a good 25 years later online.  From what little I've been able to glean, Maurice and the Clichés ostensibly had origins both in Vancouver, BC and Seattle.  There's not much of a timeline out there to gauge them by, but C'est la Vie appears to be there sophomore salvo, kicking off with the single "Soft Core."  The song in question is a deadpan, yet sardonic spoke/sung piece with vague references to, you guessed it, pornography.  The song's mildly robotic tenor soon gives way to the considerably more tuneful, driving modus operandi Maurice and the Clichés are revered for, at least in some small circles.  "It's All Talk," "Beautiful Girls," and the swift, ringing title track, are gold nuggets with turn-of-the-decade power pop emblazoned all over them, that will do aficionados of Elvis Costello and early Joe Jackson just fine. 

01. Soft Core
02. It's All Talk
03. Reach for the Top
04. Working Girls
05. Unschuld
06. Social Casualties
07. Beautiful Girls
08. Dead Reckoning
09. Skyline
10. C'est la Vie

Hear

Black out the words for the blind have eyes.

The bonus disk from an expanded reissue of this storied UK band's fourth album, originally from 1996.

Here

The Replacements - Riot Fest, Toronto 8/25/13

The fact that the very first concert I attended happened to be The Replacements (Albany, NY, Palace Theater 2/24/91) has made me the envy of a lot of people I know.  Thing is, I waited until I was 17 to have my first live experience, but this wasn't by design so much as happenstance due to the small cut-off town I lived in at the time. I could have been the witness to some serious magic had I made a point of going to shows before that (Husker Du and the Smiths were also options in Albany during the mid/late '80s).  Regardless, the Mats blew the doors off the joint, and the visceral thrill of that performance left me thoroughly gobsmacked.  Subsequent concerts (perhaps over a thousand at this point) have often kept me in rapt attention, but that chilly winter night, Westerberg, Stinson, Dunlap and the late Steve Foley on drums, fundamentally changed how I experienced music forever. To this day, nothing has ever topped the excitement of that concert - not even a Replacements reunion shows 22 years later...

...but at times, it came close. The Mats' performance at Fort York in Toronto, ON on a late summer evening in 2013 was their first since a somewhat disastrous, albeit legendary gig in Chicago's Grant Park on July 4, 1991.  Given Toronto's close proximity across the boarder, attending Riot Fest that year was a no-brainer.  In fact, two more Replacements Riot Fest shows were slated in just a few weeks in Chicago and Denver.  I present to you the contents of that TO show, in the guise of an above average audience tape I procured mere days after the performance.  As many of you are aware there was a significant alteration to band's lineup since the All Shook Down tour.  An ailing Slip Dunlap, sidelined by a serious stroke in 2012 was *ahem* replaced by Dave Mineham, formally of primo Boston riff-brokers The Neighborhoods.  Chris Mars' '90s fill-in, Steve Foley was also out of the picture, and charmed drummer Josh Freese (Vandals, Devo, Guns 'n Roses, etc) capably filled his stead.

For the Toronto performance, the band didn't pick up so much where they left off in '91, rather 1981, barnstorming through no less than three songs from their hardcore-tinged debut, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.  Several more Twin/Tone era songs were revisited in the setlist, and remarkably, Paul Westerberg and Co. touched on virtually every piece in the Replacements catalog without being the least bit pandering about it. A cover of Sham 69's "Borstal Breakout" was a startling surprise, and a loungy spin through "Everything's Coming Up Roses" for their encore was pure Mats-ian shtick   Fittingly, there were a handful of flubs (just like the old days), and the group was limited to a slightly abbreviated set (it was part of a festival, after all) but their attack was precise and ferocious, and they really hadn't diminished since my seismic encounter with them in 1991.  Hope you don't mind the audience singing along on a song or two.  Your choice of lossless FLAC or MP3 below.

00 Hello

01 Takin a Ride

02 I'm In Trouble

03 Favourite Thing

04 Hangin Downtown

05 Color Me Impressed

06 Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out / Third Stone From The Sun

07 Kiss Me on the Bus

08 Androgynous

09 Achin' to Be

10 I Will Dare

11 Love You Till Friday / Maybellene

12 Merry-Go-Round

13 Wake Up

14 Borstal Breakout

15 Little Mascara

16 Left of the Dial

17 Alex Chilton

18 Swingin Party

19 Can't Hardly Wait

20 Bastards of Young

21 Encore return

22 Everything's Coming Up Roses 

23 I.O.U.

MP3 (320 kbps)  or  FLAC

Ex Lion Tamer - Go Ghost (2006, Tinstar Creative Pool)

As if it wasn’t enough for the New York by way of Tel Aviv trio, Ex Lion Tamer to wear their Sonic Youth homage like a red band of courage on their collective sleeve, they even hired original SY producer, Wharton Tiers to lovingly helm the production of this disk. Singer/guitarist Zoe Polanski and Assaf Tager prodigiously exude the uncanny interplay that Thurston and Kim perfected during their mid-80s reign.  It’s hard not to succumb to Go Ghost’s more tuneful (read: accessible) forays like “In hope of An Evil Star” and “Japanese Flower“ both of which have dream pop tendencies. The art-damaged, druggy drone that spans most of the latter half of Ghost, often borders on a cacophony, if not a downright noisy sparring match.  Fans of New Radiant Storm King’s and Mission of Burma’s more unwieldy, dissonant escapades are also encouraged to partake.  

01. In Hope of an Evil Star
02. Japanese Flower
03. Shaky
04. My Little Lioness
05. Charlie Head
06. Toxic Avenger
07. Go Ghost
08. Pretty Spoon

Hear

Afraid of Stairs ep (2006, Lavender)

My apologies for not having much ready to go this week.  Will try to dispense a few goodies out over the weekend.  in the meantime, how about some gauzy, heavy-handed dream-pop from Sweden?  That's what Afraid of Stairs have in mind.  I'm tempted to throw the "nu gaze" tag onto this ep, only thing is, it isn't quite so new anymore.  In any case, you'd be hard pressed to find unsatisfactory music of this ilk, and rest assured, this duo are no exception.  Better yet, AoS don't plunder wholesale from any of their twentieth century forefathers (i.e. Ride, Swervedriver), rather they're content to nibble around those peripheries, putting their own quasi-delirious spin on things.

01. Tell Him How You Feel
02. Tell Me
03. When Nothing
04. They Aimed Bad

Hear

Ever wonder why they kill the weak ones, baby?

From 2003.  Listen without prejudice. 

Here

Fire Town - live and demos

Oh, to be a footnote in musical.  Madison, WI's Fire Town are sadly relegated to that stature, as whenever they're name-dropped it's surely in the context of their famous drummer, Butch Vig.   As most of us are painfully aware, Vig went onto preform in the far more commercially viable Garbage, and an equally viable production career, commandeering multi-platinum albums by Nirvana and the Pumpkins.  Yet, Fire Town (and like-minded precursors Spooner, whom Vig also had the same funtion in) were responsible for two very strong albums bustling with primo songs that warranted attention purely on their own merits.  Problem was, F/T were a very straightforward sounding proposition, specializing in vaguely edgy, but to most ears, pedestrian AOR.  God knows there was plenty of that filling up the airwaves in the late '80s, and despite sheer consistency and indelible hooks, they just weren't moving the needle, or for that matter records.

 A couple of the most flattering comparisons I can suggest are also some of the most accurate, namely their neighbors to the north Northern Pikes and the Grapes of Wrath.  Good company to be in, so long as you've got the right A&R guy priming the airwaves and press for you.  Their debut, In the Heart of Heart Country, landed on the local imprint Boat Records in 1986, and was scooped up by Atlantic Records a year later.  The move didn't garner them much more in the way of notoriety, nor did FT's sophomore salvo, The Good Life, arriving in '89 which saw the band fanning out from trio to quartet.  Heart Country was the (slightly) hipper sounding of the pair, with Doug Erikson's wielding jangly guitar leads a plenty.  The Good Life, rarely strayed from this formula, but was nonetheless tinted with a faint Americana bent.  The songs presented here, both live and studio, surround The Good Life-era.  Many songs from this management curated promo tape carried over to the record, but we're treated to a healthy amount of outtakes as well.  Established customers will delight in these dozen and a half songs, and if you newbies fancy what you hear, you'll be happy to know that reissues of both Fire Town records are still attainable. 

live
01. I Could Be the One
02. Baby I'm Not Home
03. Standing in the Light
04. Shadows Fall
05. Train Song
06. Trouble in Mind

studio
07. Sleeping
08. Love Survives
09. Out of the Blue
10. Everything Falls Apart
11. Turn to You
12. Street of Dreams
13. I Could Be the One
14. Baby I'm Not Home
15. She Reminds Me of You
16. Street of Dreams (2)
17. I Don't Want to Lose You
18. Miles Away

Hear

Capstan Shafts - Environ Maiden (2007, Rainbow Quartz)

Guided by Voices inspired dozens of slavish imitators, pale and otherwise.  I like to think Capstan Shaft's Dean Well's is one of the more genuine and well intentioned proteges of that ever growing cadre.  Environ Maiden is just one representative example of over a dozen digital compendiums of Well's handiwork, primarily spanning 2004-11.  The man in question skews heavily to GBV's lo-fi aesthetic, circa Bee Thousand...albeit dispensing not as much charm, but he comes close on "Oil From Greenland" and "Elected Head of Her Anarchist Group."  Wells possesses a timbre closer to Tobin Sprout than Robert Pollard, with the songwriting acumen of the latter.

The average song length clocks in at a good, oh let's say, 90 seconds or thereabouts.  With 29 tracks in this particular playlist, many get lost in the shuffle, but there's enough keepers to compel repeat listens, and further exploration of Capstan's deep trove.  Full track list is to your right. 

Hear

American Vandals - History Skid (1988)

With a name like the American Vandals they have to be punk...right?   Hailing from the suburbs of Rochester, NY (a proposition alone that's cause for concern), this quartet was hardly in that league, but not thoroughly removed from it.  Louis Rossi's keyboard toys should qualify his band as new romantic propagators, but guess again.  This pack of DIY mavens were in fact very much themselves, and in many instances that's not entirely flattering.  Thomas Peter isn't the most compelling mouthpiece, though his off-pitch stride befits the Vandals tight but amateurish aptitude.  On the other hand, Doug Harradine's geetar roar is an asset, and would be even more so if he pitched us a solo now and then.  "Causalties" is mildly satisfying once you get acclimated, "Ultraviolet" exudes a vague Paisley pop sheen, while "Queen Anne" is embarrassingly goofy fodder they should've flogged themselves for.  Typically, the Vandals collective (and often meager) strengths finally come to full meld on History Skid's concluding "The Ugly Noise," a sharp, melodic salvo that's indicative of some genuine potential.  It doesn't appear this album generated enough buzz to warrant a follow-up, or so one is led to believe. 

01. Casualties
02. Do You Remember
03. Lovedogs
04. Queene Anne
05. Ultraviolet
06. Sir Thomas Moores Cafe
07. Days of Wine and Roses
08. The Ugly Noise

Hear

Go ahead, defy your better judgement.

Still loving this one after almost thirty years.

Here

Lions and Dogs - demos (198?)

It all started like this.  In the late '90s I became a slightly belated super-fan of a 1992 album, Topeka Oratorio, put out by a couple of Midwestern-ers who incorporated themselves as The Leatherwoods.  Topeka was sadly a one-album-wonder, chock full of power pop melodies, and humble yet smart daily observations on romance and the like.  Paul Westerberg guested on a few songs (under the assumed moniker of Pablo Louseorama), and coincidentally or not, Topeka Oratorio's overarching, lived-in tact resembled that of All Shook Down era-Replacements.  The record's architects were Todd Newman and Tim O'Reagan, the latter of whom had a hand in The Jayhawks. Devastatingly good stuff, and I was desperate to hear more.

Thing is, there would be no more, save for something miraculous like a reunion (low potential at that I suppose).  Around the time I discovered The Leatherwoods, the net was still in it's relative infancy, but low and behold my  trusty AltaVista search engine pointed me to an article on the duo, wherein I learned of a predecessor to the 'woods, Lions and Dogs.  I'd direct you to the piece if it was still available.  Lions and Dogs was partially the handiwork of Todd Newman, their principal frontman.  Sometimes operating as a quartet, at others a trio, Lions and Dogs were not unlike the Leatherwoods - an earnest, low-profile collective who had an inkling of what was gestating due northeast in Minneapolis, but also possessed an ear for the rockier hues of Americana.   There would be no formal L&D releases, but the song "Be My Something" was comped on two occasions.  I'm presenting it here with about sixteen more demos and select live cuts, including prototypes for a few tunes that would be hammered out in Todd's subsequent outfit, the Leatherwoods (i.e. "Tell Me Another" "Jamboree," and "Don't Back Down on Me").  Among several inspired originals, there's a very sweet live take of Josie Cotton's "No Pictures of Dad" and a heartfelt interpretation of Big Star's "What's Goin' Ahn."  I don't have the running order for any of these songs, but in the folder is a Word doc with song-by-song liner notes.  You can read about one of Lions and Dog's relatives, Psychic Archie here, and check out two of Todd Newman's solo endeavors over yonder.

Be My Something
Chippewa Love Stomp
C'mon Bess Armstrong
Dear Anyone
Don't Back Down on Me
God Loves the Beach Boys
Jamboree
Kill Myself for Christmas
New Year
No Pictures of Dad (live)
On the Waterfront
Stupid Enough
Tell Me Another
To Win Her Back
Top of My Head
What's Goin' Ahn
Winner Runs Alone (live)
Wish I Had

Hear

Seven Simons - Clockwork (1988, Sky)

I can't believe I've waited this long to post something by Seven Simons, especially since I've owned this as long as I've been doing W/O.  That aside, the Simons were a not oft spoken of band from that noted '80s hotbed, Athens, GA.  Their debut, Clockwork, doesn't necessarily boast the aesthetics that region became synonymous with, but it's not entirely removed either.  There's more than a scintilla of a collegiate pop penchant here, vividly recalling the Smithereens and Miracle Legion at moments. "Sasparilla" has a mildly serrated, post-punk undercurrent, "Sadder Sound" is a sublime slice of acousti-pop, and "Lavender Bubbles" hangs a wily hook occupying a sweet spot between Husker Du and Men at Work.  The Simons reunited last year in fact, reconvening for a belated "third" album, Post, which predominantly consists of vintage outtakes, and even a handful of new songs. 

01. King Archidej
02. Sasparilla
03. Wish of the Sundial
04. Long Time Coming
05. Father Figure
06. Lavender Bubbles
07. Murder Creek
08. Sadder Sound
09. Amber
10. Sweet Bitter

Hear

Looking Forward: The Roots of Big Star, Featuring Chris Bell (2017, Omnivore) - A brief overview.

No, this isn't a rehash or repeat of Chris Bell's posthumous, I Am the Cosmos, solo album material, nor is it a re-visitation of his contributions to Big Star's # 1 Record.  Truth is, Big Star's "crazy diamond," had a wealth of experience under his belt before he encountered Alex Chilton et al, but up until now Bell's pre-Star recordings/collaborations have been scattered, smothered and not always so well covered on an array of "supplemental" releases including the little publicized Rock City CD, the Keep An Eye on the Sky Big Star box, and The Ardent Records Story compilation.  Looking Forward... is not a leave-all-stones unturned clearinghouse of Bell's entire body of work (though a much more thorough vinyl box set just might deliver such in the near future) but it nonetheless provides an ample overview of his antecedent ventures in Memphis that informed his crucial input to that first Big Star album and beyond.

To you, the established Bell/Big Star acolyte who remember the sadly deceased singer/songwriter as a wellspring of palpable angst, yearning, and a romantic frustration...well, that Chris Bell doesn't turn up so frequently on Looking Forward.  In fact, on his early endeavors (which I'll elaborate on further in a moment) the man in question rarely took the lead mic, or moreover, exuded his inner ravaged soul...though I wouldn't let that stop you from investigating.
 
Specifically, you might be asking, what of Chris Bell's pre-Star enterprises?  One of which that is brought up extensively in the liner notes, Christmas Future, isn't represented on the CD.  I mention them, because it's with this project Bell would align with Terry Manning, one of his key early collaborators who is involved on virtually every recording amidst Looking Forward.  The whole ball of wax got rolling for Bell somewhere in the vicinity of 1967 when Christmas Future was conceived with another co-conspirator, Steve Rhea.  Manning would join soon after, but with no recorded evidence on file we'll jump ahead to the next project, Icewater (yes, all one word).  Operating as a trio and sometimes a quartet, Icewater weren't markedly advanced or nearly as auspicious as Big Star.  We get four fully realized songs by them here, including this record's title piece, "Looking Forward," which features Bell singing it's slow-burning, bluesy refrains.  The liners boast of an occasion when Icewater auditioned for a record label, only to be rejected for resembling the Beatles too much for their own good, though you'd barely get that impression here. 

Rock City was the next pit-stop on Bell's trajectory, a band whose repertoire and depth was more pronounced than Icewater.  Manning was held over after the Ice thawed, and Tom Eubanks entered the RC fold, fulfilling most of the vocal duties.  As with Icewater, Rock City didn't necessarily wield a defining calling card, yet they occupied a wavelength that ascended a tad higher than many of their early '70s contemporaries.  We encounter them on about ten instances on Looking Forward.  "Lovely Lady" weaves a sweet jangly web, "I Lost a Love" mines a proto-classic rock vein, but the most dazzling Rock specimens are exposed when we're treated to a pair of Bell-fronted songs that would be translated virtually note for note on Big Star's # 1 Record a couple years later.  The "preview" Rock City iterations of "My Life is Right" and "Try Again" (the latter also featured in the Big Star Bio-pic Nothing Can Hurt Me) are as intense and soul searching as the more well known Star versions.  I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that there was serious B/S foreshadowing taking place on "My Life is Right" which just so happened to feature Jody Stephens occupying the drummer's stool.

Amidst what I've outlined so far, we're also introduced to the Wallabys, a quartet featuring the aforementioned Terry Manning and Steve Rhea, which also involved Chris Bell on guitars.  And there's one thoroughly solo Bell take here, "Psychedelic Stuff," a work-in-progress faintly recalling Syd Barrett of all things.  I'm not enthused with Looking Forward's anticlimactic closers, a clutch of voiceless Icewater backing tracks.  One that's worthy of inclusion, purely for historical reference, the Alex Chilton penned "Oh My Soul" would have been more suitably sequenced in the middle of the album, and not so much as a finale.  This aside, ...Forward is a curious and revealing window into the world of Chris Bell prior to his fleeting halcyon days in the first permutation of Big Star, and somewhat posthumously as a solo artist.  It's available straight from Omnivore Records, Amazon and iTunes.