I went into this one a bit blind, but given it's $6 price tag I can't really complain, considering
Quality Time has a few redeeming moments.
Gels! Had no idea who in the hell this band was when I eyed their record at In Your Ear in Boston (sadly soon to shutter, if not already). All signs point to them as being denizens of San Fran, with a handwritten address (no less) on the back cover that I partially Photoshopped out to assure no one's privacy was violated. And speaking of the rear sleeve, I took an educated guess that these guys might be down with the Descendents, Dino. Jr, or SST in general. I was relatively far off the mark but not completely. Instead, Gels! seemed to be painstakingly taking cues from early Soul Asylum. Thoroughly loose and rambunctious, albeit not quite punk, plied to bumpkin tendencies a la Meat Puppets minus a healthy quotient of the charm. The better tunes here, "Sitting Still," "Quaker" and perhaps another nugget or two would have composed a pretty dandy ep, but
Quality Time just doesn't consistently skew to the tenant of it's title. Gels! homage to Pirner and Co. is obvious to the point of being plagiaristic, however if you dig albums like
Made to Be Broken as much as I do, the aforementioned tracks are actually something of a treat. The trio's rendering of the country standard "Good Time Charlie" plays the record out on an irreverent note. Perhaps a bit too green for a full length when this initially dropped in '91, it would've been intriguing to hear what development they might have made on a follow LP, but for better or worse this disc was the first and final word on Gels.
01. Sitting Still
02. Lovejoy
03. Pinto
04. Flame On
05. Broth
06. mistRBig
07. Quaker
08. Domtar
09. The Shit
10. Good Time Charlie
Hear
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