In multiple books I've encountered about the Seattle music scene, the
Blackouts are commonly bandied about as antecedents to the more successful purveyors from the Emerald City that rose to prominence in the late '80s and beyond. Problem is, if you just merely read the text without hearing the accompanying soundtrack, you'd naturally assume that the quartet in question were decked out in flannel and had a floorboard of distortion apparatus at their feet. Trust me when I say no one would mistake the Blackouts for Mudhoney, or god forbid someone like Candlebox. Coming from a different template altogether, this artful cabal reveled in the jittery post-punk sway of Gang of Four, L.A. contemporaries Middle Class, and to a lesser extent the more approachable persuasion of the Talking Heads. (The) Blackouts, were in fact even more dissonant, halting and skittish than the aforementioned, and were novel enough to insert their own indigenous flair into the pastiche.
Men in Motion was the band's second record, and is phenomenal both in terms of execution and creative acumen. Ironically, the leadoff cut "Dead Man's Curve" isn't the Jan and Dean song. While they would stick around until the mid-80s, a full length never came to pass...
...however a compilation of Blackouts small body of singles and eps were compiled in 2004 as
History in Reverse. Physical versions of
...Reverse appear to be completely sold out, but if anyone has a line on where I might be able to buy an original CD of it please get in touch!
01. Dead Man's Curve
02. Probabilties
03. Being Be
04. Five is 5
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