Sorry I haven't set you up with much in the way of fresh sounds this week, but hopefully this compensate. In fact, I was thinking about saving this for one of my Chanukah presentations, but why not pull the trigger early?
11th Hour were a Pittsburgh combo who may have disbanded as long as three decades ago (though I uncovered evidence of a
2018 reunion gig). The band's straight-up power pop modus operandi possessed a strong jangly bent, but the
Shawn Harrison-fronted quartet were flexible enough to spill over into ballsier garage punk on "I'm Comin' Down," gravitating in the vicinity of locals The Cynics, and less obviously the Lime Spiders. They even dabble briefly on the psych side of the fence on the fleeting "Garden of Sleep," but 11th Hour's penchant for lingering in more conventional guitar pop environs yields at least half a dozen startlingly great tunes on
Shapes and Things to Come including "There's No Danger," "Can't Get Through to You," "Go to the Edge" and "Pictures In My Room."
Shapes and Things to Come concludes on a fitting note with a wailin' reading of the Eddie and the Hotrods classic, "Do Anything You Wanna Do." BTW,
Huw Gower of The Records has a co-production role on several tracks!
In addition to
Shapes... proper, the CD incarnation appends the just as valuable
Alder St EP, initially released as a double 45 in 1987. Bearing an even rawer aplomb, it hones in on 11th Hour when they were fully ensconced in sweet, ringing guitars, wielding even more delirious and devastating hooks. This is stuff of immensely grand proportions, and you need to make your belated acquaintance with these guys NOW.
01. Release You
02. Can't Get Through To You
03. The Changing Of The Guard
04. Confusion
05. I'm Comin' Down
06. Live Your Life Again
07. Go to the Edge
08. Garden of Sleep
09. Don't Sell Me
10. Under the Fire
11. There's No Danger
12. Pictures In My Room
13. Do Anything You Wanna Do
Alder St. ep (1987)
14. The Seasons
15. She Goes Away
16. There's No Danger
17. Can't Wait Another Day
18. The Bells of St. Mary
19. Find Some Meaning
Hear
5 comments:
Thanks! "There Is No Danger" is a real gem........i have the cd somewhere, but this is better!!! :)
Amazing! I used to have the 11th Hour album on cassette tape, but haven't heard it in 20 years. Thank you for unearthing it- what a great album!
I'm so happy to see you repping this album. Dave Mitchell was my guitar teacher during the period these guys were in full swing and I'm eternally grateful for his tutelage It's such a banger of a jangle record.
Any chance u can reupload this? Thanks!!
Sometimes I grab one of your posts on the strength of its recommendation and don't spin it right away... this one has been languishing in my library for a bit until I dropped the needle on it this morning... and WOW. A revelation. Exactly the kind of gem I've sought in clearance bins of record stores my whole life, where I originally found bands like Unicorn, Wednesday Week, Raindogs, Toy Matinee, Shadowland, and so many others. I love your blog because it so often surprises me and this is a big one, like some great lost Don Dixon project from that time. Love the harmonies and all that jangle! Thank you for this and everything you do to enrich us lovers of great obscure music!
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