Blue Spots - s/t (1983, Sound Machine)

With it's rather budget constrained, Apple McIntosh-generated graphic (which truthfully, I love) adorning it's light silver sleeve, it's kind of tough to go into this one with any firm prejudices in mind.  If the cover strikes you as random, you'll be happy to learn that Kalamazoo, Michigan's Blue Spots didn't have much of a fixed modus operandi either - except perhaps to score a record contract.  Per an archived 1983 article in the Kalamazoo News, the trio essentially regarded what would be their lone LP as a glorified demo to field to prospective labels.  In the same article, the band indicates they were definitely not angling for the Top 40 market.  To their advantage, virtually nothing here remotely resembles a hit, rather the Spots run through a pastiche of styles and tempos yielding a dozen spartan, homegrown tunes with nods to new wave/art rock to more conventional fare.  Never quite seizing on a definitive sound, coupled with a charming, amateurish aptitude, not everything they flung onto the canvass made an impression, but the overarching impression I'm left with is that these chaps functioned most effectively in relatively concise confines.  The punky "Two Fools" is a nervy and appealing 85-second delight, as are other short 'n sweet morsels "Don't" and "Time Out."  Blue Spots' modest chops were a work in progress to say the least, and probably more by sheer coincidence than intention, they would have slotted in appropriately with the late '70s Cleveland and Akron, OH art/proto-punk circuits.  I wouldn't expect anything visionary from this record, but I can't help but wonder what they would have come up with had they stuck it out for another album or two, and more importantly, developed a stronger sonic acumen. There's little info to be had on Blue Spots, so you're more than welcome to enlighten me.

01. See Her in the Sun
02. Don't
03. I Always Miss
04. Experiment That Failed
05. I Wanna Be With You
06. Life in the City
07. Girl
08. Two Fools
09. Rock 'n Roll's Ok
10. Industrial Waste
11. This Girl is Mine
12. Time Out

Hear