Guided by Voices - Pissing in the Canal, (1984, aborted album) & Nate Farley Sessions (2003)

Much in tandem with the Game Theory post from last night, over the years I've given you a lot by Guided by Voices, particularly in the way of rarities and shall I say, "unsecured" material.  I'm getting to the bottom of my proverbial "well," and while there's certainly more out there, it may never see proper dissemination.  

Per GBVDB, the Pissing in the Canal "sessions" from 1984 represent one of the last bastions of untapped early GBV recordings, and even some of these have already seen the light of day on various Suitcase box sets, which were often composed of demos and rough cuts from Robert Pollard's nascent, '80s home recordings. In it's entirely PitC is said to consist of ten songs, and I was only capable of locating 90% of them. Had this sucker actually hit record racks it would've pre-dated 1986's, Forever Since Breakfast, the band's maiden release. In keeping with GBV's sonic tendencies of that era, these nine cuts skew predominantly to their (relatively speaking) "conventional" era, with clean, song structures bearing a folk-ish guitar-pop lilt, with more than a wink and a nod to the still burgeoning R.E.M. There's veritable gold here in the guise of the brisk, melodious tilt of "Angry Pillows (Gone Away)," which easily qualifies as one of ten most inviting songs of their '80s tenure. "Lockets of the Empress" could have given Stipe and Buck some serious competition had GBV enjoyed greater visibility in the Reagan-era.  Elsewhere, there's an early incarnation of "Quality of Armor" with significantly different lyrics, and also a few more tunes previewing the basis for future songs that would be fully realized in the band's more renown '90s heyday.    

The so-called Nate Farley Session is comprised of seven numbers tracked in a basement studio on June 23, 2003, ostensibly in preparation for that year's Earthquake Glue LP.  I'm tempted to deem it as a rehearsal or even demos, but the performances strike me as more competent than that.  To refer to to it as the "Nate Farley" session isn't really saying much, as Nate was brought on board as a full-time guitarist for ...Glue.  The title gives me the impression Nate's roll was a one-off for this particular recording, but at the end of the day who knows. At any rate, solid stuff, and only one more album would follow before GBV's short-lived "breakup."  For more fun, check out some of my previous forays with Pollard & Co. here. 

Pissing in the Canal

01. Angry Pillows (Gone Away)

02. Lockets of the Empress

03. The Quality or Armor (early vers)

04. Tell Me

05. Walls and Windows

06. Echoland

07. Before My Eyes

08. Together/Apart

09. Amnesia 

Hear

Nate Farley Session 

01. Useless Invenions

02. Secret Star

03. I'll Replace You With Machines

04. My Kind of Soldier

05. Of Mites and Men

06. Bull Spears

07. Alone, Stinking and Unafraid

Hear

Yazoo Beach - Binge (1993, N-Beat)

Not only have I already introduced you to Yazoo Beach (over a decade ago in fact), I've also enlightened and entertained you with phenomenal music from guitarist Scott Coopwood's prior two bands, The Square Root of Now and Perfect Strangers.  Binge was Yazoo's somewhat belated follow-up to their inviting 1988 debut, The Solace and the Blaze, and is demonstrably more mature. Playing it right down the middle, a la fellow deep south contemporaries Dreams So Real and the Windbreakers, this is guitar pop of the collegiate, "new south" variety offering a bevy of pretty persuasions.  Generally, the R.E.M,-isms are on the downlow, but glints are lovingly apparent on "By the Hand" and "Shades of Solitude," amidst other scattered offerings.  Binge's acoustic traipses, specifically "Islands" and "Heaven Coming Down," fall loosely between the confines of The Moody Blues and Workbook-era Bob Mould, albeit not as engrossing.  Though said to be available on CD, I was only fortunate enough to happen upon a cassette, which is where his rip is derived from.  

01. Last Until Tomorrow

02. By the Hand

03. So Much is Love

04. Caroline

05. Heart So Heavy

06. Heaven Coming Down

07. Shades of Solitude

08. Wooden Horse

09. Piece of Her Mind

10. World Inside Your Heart

11. Islands 

Hear

A Few - It's a Wonderful Life (Gark, 1985)

I'm sharing a record titled It's a Wonderful Life, and it ain't even Christmas.  This one did come out forty years ago however, and moreover it was a request that I'm happy to fulfill.  Conducting a web query on A Few was practically a fool's errand, but from what I'm able to glean they hailed from Minneapolis and have one other elusive record to their credit.  This one starts off splendidly enough with a trio of keepers to please the halcyon-era collegiate rock crowd, bleeding hues of everyone from Aztec Camera to R.E.M.  Further in, A Few's footing is less steady, with the rather aimless shouter "Hang Tough," and heck, by the time they kick into "Gas is Gold," they may as well have mutated into a different band altogether. Luckily they recover on the jangly "Best Around," and close things out on a contemplative note by way of the decent enough ballad, "Wandering."   

01. Every World is Hot

02. Ride Halley's Comet

03. Something Wonderful

04. Do You Remember

05. Things Change

06. Hang Tough

07. Gas is Gold

08. You and Me

09. Sail Up to the Moon

10. Best Around

11. My Own Mayhem

12. Wandering

Hear

Big Star Quintet - White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ - 8/22/24

This one's a bit of a whopper, if only in terms of sheer length (and size, should you opt to download the lossless FLAC version of this set).  No, this isn't Big Star, not as they were in their first go around in the '70s, or even in their reunion iteration in the 1990s and beyond, when at best they only boasted 75% of the original lineup. Truth be told the most recent incarnation of the group, now billed for rare live dates as Big Star Quintet, is more of a glorified tribute, merely with only drummer Jody Stephens on board from the original roster.  But as far as tributes/homage/legacy acts are concerned, BSQ are veritably all three, perpetuating the tradition of one of rock and roll's most epochal yet neglected entries.  

Performing on the 50th anniversary of Big Star's second LP, 1974's Radio City, for a Jersey City, NJ audience on August 22, 2024 the BSQ lineup consisted of Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Jon Auer (Posies), Chris Stamey (Db's), and Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense) all of whom pass the mic around.  In addition to hitting every number on Radio City (in album sequence), they manage to approach #1 Record in it's entirety, lick the edges of Third/Sister Lovers, and even take the late Chris Bell's classic 1978 single "I Am the Cosmos" for a spin around the block  31 songs total, performed with the utmost reverence to the original compositions, albeit exuded with the kind of passion and vigor Big Star's relatively brief back catalog deserves.  And to think BSQ pull of the whole enchilada so flawlessly without two of Radio City's key architects, Alex Chilton (d. 2010) and Andy Hummel (d. 2010) on board is illustrative of how these songs have endured despite Big Star's paltry album sales in the '70s, and not really enjoying exhaustive reexamination and exposure until almost two full decades later. It's unclear what future (if any) touring agenda Big Star Quintet are plotting, so this well-recorded audience tape is something to savor.  Many thanks to whomever tracked and shared the files for this one.

The FLAC version will take up approximately 1.36 GB, so I'm making a drastically less sizable MP3 adaptation available as usual.  Full track list below.

01 Feel

02 The Ballad of El Goodo

03 Don't Lie To Me

04 The India Song

05 O My Soul

06 Life Is White

07 Way Out West

08 What's Going Ahn

09 You Get What You Deserve

10 Mod Lang

11 Back of a Car

12 Daisy Glaze

13 She’s a Mover

14 September Gurls

15 Morpha Too

16 I'm In Love With a Girl

17 Watch the Sunrise

18 My Life Is Right

19 Give Me Another Chance

20 When My Baby's Beside Me

21 Blue Moon

22 I Got Kinda Lost [Chris Bell]

23 Nightime

24 Jesus Christ

25 Try Again

26 ST 100-6

27 I Am the Cosmos [Chris Bell]

28 Thirteen

29 In the Street

30 You And Your Sister [Chris Bell]

31 Thank You Friends

Jody Stephens: drums, vocals

Jon Auer: guitar, vocals

Chris Stamey: guitar, keyboards, vocals

Pat Sansone: guitar, keyboards, vocals

Mike Mills: bass, keyboards, vocals

MP3/FLAC

The Slowest Clock - Smile Futurismo! All I Heard Was Purple (2014, Eye Unseen)

Slowest Clock were denizens of Dublin, IE, and while there may not be a "Dublin sound," this album barely suggests the quartet in question emanated anywhere near the British Isles.  Consisting of recordings tracked between 1989-90, the material on Smile Futurismo! was intended to wind up in the guise of their debut LP.  S/C's fortunes went south soon after the recordings, and frustratingly, the multitrack tapes from the sessions were misplaced for decades as it would turn out.  A subsequent studio session did in fact yield a posthumously released album, Life Still in 1995, but eventually, the aforementioned early lost tapes were located nearly 25 years after the fact, composing the fifteen tunes occupying Smile Futurismo!

Touted as psych/freakbeat revivalists, Slowest Clock weren't necessarily evocative of anyone from the original '60s vanguard.  Not completely removed from that sort of ethos, there is some occasional evidence ("You're So Strange" and "Turning Green") regarding how these guys might have been loosely shoehorned into those environs.  The winsome "Eastern Flowers" leaned in the vicinity of R.E.M., but wasn't quite in league with American indie rock either. Elsewhere, there are several songs here that strike me as unfinished, having miraculously surviving past the demo stage.  ...Futurismo! is an album of anomalies with seemingly minimal connective tissue, yet still rewarding if you're willing to invest a few concerted listens.

01. Going Home

02. Warhola

03. You're So Strange

04. Le Bordel Philosophique

05. Little Fishy

06. Cherie

07. Eastern Flowers

08. Acid Lake

09. Turning Green

10. Say What's On Your Mind.

11. Wasted

12. You Never See Me

13. Desert Mouth

14. Rejoice

15. In the Cinema

Hear

Reviews you can use: The Mosquitos, Falling Stairs and sparkle*jets u.k.

In case you haven't noticed I'm way overdue for some reviews of current releases and reissues, and I'm going to try to address that over the course of the next few paragraphs.  I appreciate everyone that has been gracious enough to set up vinyl and CDs.  Being provided with physical media is more of a luxury than ever, and if I haven't been thoughtful enough to those who go to the trouble your generosity is appreciated.  More critiques to come in the near-future, I might add. 

Spandex. Breakdancing. Mullets. And just about dayglo-everything.  For better or worse this is the world in which Long Island's Mosquitos were forced to toil and contend with.  But guess what? They weren't having a lick of it.  In fact, it would seem like this quintet hadn't gotten the bat signal that the world had evolved past say, 1966.  Stuck in their own time-warp, not unlike similarly bespoke San Diego brethren The Nashville Ramblers, this quintet carved out a small niche within the environs of New York's power pop circuit alongside contemporaries The Bongos and Fleshtones, yet their antecedents were entirely steeped in British Invasion and Merseybeat pop, with nary an inclination to the present day - and you can take that literally.  Their discography consisted of a well received 1985 ep, (That Was Then, This is Now), and if you want to get technical a few demo tapes, but that lone record was essentially all that was made available for public consumption - until 2023, which saw the release of the double CD This Then Are the Mosquitos, and the more concisely consolidated vinyl incarnation, In the Shadows.  

The Mosquitos replication of the Cool Britannia epoch was awe-strikingly spot-on, wherein the band's five protagonists uncannily could have slotted in precisely with Help!, Face to Face-era Kinks, or the Dave Clark Five, etc.  They completely had the instrumentation, tonality and poise of the mid-60s down to a science, so much so that "I Know a Secret," "You Don't Give a Hang (About Me)," and "Put Your Foot Down" could have passed for veritable oldies - that is if it wasn't for copyright dates revealing these tunes were actually minted two decades later.  The 'squitos were genuinely expert and adept at the card they were playing, but for every fan they successfully roped in, there was likely to be a dozen or so would-be-listeners that were put off by their schtick, or more realistically, completely checked out in a haze of MTV and video games.  That being said, the bustling forty song-plus This Then... is really aimed at two parties - Brit Invasion aficionados and the Mosquitos small but gonzo fanbase.  Though their studio work was limited (hovering around fifteen numbers) the band was remarkably well documented, with about ten quality soundboard recordings of live gigs surviving over the ensuing decades, yielding much of This Then's... retro-laden manna.  I'd be remiss if I failed to mention The Mosquitos were responsible for writing the original version of the Monkees '80s comeback hit, "That Was Then, This is Now," which might ring a bell to a lot of Gen-X'ers in the audience.  A bit cloying?  Sure, but if you're down for what these not-so pesky insects were dishing out there's a bountiful hive of music to adore here. This Then... is available directly from Kool Kat Musik or Bandcamp. 

Having surely made your acquaintance with Falling Stairs when I posted their marvelous That and a Quarter mini-album several years ago (2010 if you're keeping tabs), you'll be pleased as punch to know that they've made their slim but estimable catalog available again - physically no less. In  reference to the moniker of this long defunct Queens, NY quartet, you’ll find nary a stumbling block on Falling Stairs first record in 35 years.  Not that everything occupying the twelve grooves on Life is a Kick Trial 1988-1993 is actually ‘new’ per se, considering this is a retrospective absorbing the entirety of the aforementioned, That and a Quarter alongside five scarce and/or heretofore unreleased tracks.  F/S deserved a better lot than their meager exposure on a few left-of-the-dial outposts accorded them, with a warm, reverby vibe that smacked of halcyon era R.E.M., not to mention lesser renown buried treasures like Bleached Black, Beauty Constant and Lifeboat.  From the jackhammer power pop fervor of “Man-Made” to “Good Intention’s” acousti-folk lilt …Kick Trial makes a crucial argument for this combo's neglected legacy. It's available immediately as a limited vinyl and digital release here.

Not unlike the Mosquitos compilation I went on about at the beginning of this piece, my assessment of sparkle*jets u.k.'s 2023 platter, Best of Friends is loooooooong overdue.  So much so in fact the band is actually on the verge of releasing a new album this summer, Box of Letters, which I'll try to share my thoughts in a more timely manner.  So, why am I not dedicating space to the new one, when Best of Friends is several months (if not close to an entire year in the rear view)?  Because for me ....Friends is the most consequential item in the sparkle*jet's long and storied catalog. In a nutshell, back in the mid/late-90s I couldn't get enough of the groovy power pop (and adjacent) music scene emanating from the City of Angels.  It seemed as is every other month during the Clinton-era another crucial, revelatory album from a Los Angeles-based cabal was dropping, be it in the guise of new CDs from the likes of The Wondermints, Baby Lemonade, The Sugarplastic, and more that I'll be disclosing momentarily.  

Best of Friends is a covers album that's a self described "love letter" to the 'jets' local peers - bands and songwriters they shared bills with, came up with, and generally speaking, mutually supported.  It functions both as a flattering tribute and as an ingenious time capsule of sorts, revisiting the music of essential L.A. aggregations Cockeyed Ghost, Double Naught Spies, The Negro Problem, Sugarplastic, Shazam, and Big Hello just to rattle off a portion of those paid homage to here.  You'd think half the rosters of Not Lame and Big Deal Records are represented on ...Friends, because veritably speaking that's practically the case.  And represented reverentially at that, with the coed 'jets in almost all cases impeccably retaining the original arrangements. True, the original incarnations of TNP's "Mahnsanto" and The Wondermints' "In and Around Greg Lake" are stunningly priceless, yet the new coatings of paint they're treated to here illicit a similar visceral rush - a feat than any given tribute album should strive for, yet so rarely achieves. Heck, along the way I even discovered a handful of songs from phenomenal acts like the See Saw and Kompost that were brand new to this set of this ears, offering plenty of motivation for me to investigate their respective bygone catalogs. And with 21 selections, there's no shortage of hooks to engulf yourself in.  Best of Friends can be had directly from Big Stir Records and Bandcamp, digitally or on double-LP and CD.

PopeAlopes - Yolo County Line: The Good, the Bad, The Ugly (2002, P on the K)

This one has been on the burner for at least a decade and a half.  The fact that I had a request for this several months ago was certainly an impetus, but it was almost an inevitability that I would get around to sharing this bountiful three-CD mini box set of scarcities and rarities by the PopeAlopes, a Davis, CA indie proposition responsible for five redeeming and substantive albums through the late-80s and mid-90s.  Heck, I even reviewed Yolo County Line proper in 2011, but wasn't ready to disseminate it's content at the time as it was still available (albeit in small quantities). This likely isn't the case anymore, so without much further ado...

Going into this near 50-song collection of b-sides, outtakes, piss-takes, and concert and cable access TV performances it would be ideal to have some familiarity with the 'lopes, and seeing that I've featured their first couple of proper albums An Adder's Tale and Kerosene it's not beyond the realm of possibility to take that plunge.  A lot of you might be asking what in the hell were these chaps all about.  The aforementioned review can clue you in on that, but I tend to a spirited yet casual mélange of the following: The Reivers, Long Ryders, The Doors, and perhaps more minimally the likes of fIREHOSE, R.E.M. and the Replacements. If you go by what Trouser Press has to say the PopeAlopes come across as acolytes of True West, but my interest in T/W never extended that far to levy such a comparison. At last half of Yolo... consists of live recordings, the audio of which sounds to be culled from soundboard tapes. 

The collection is divvied up between what the band regards as material that ranges anywhere from decent to mediocre to not-so-much, but my assessment is that if they had the cojones to make this material available for public consumption in any amount even "the ugly" quotient of this is set is still relatively approachable.  And oh yeah, there's no shortage of covers populating this thing - "Wichita Lineman," "2000 Light Years From Home," Opal's "Happy Nightmare Baby, Galaxie 500's thoroughly winsome "Pictures," not to mention a riveting reading of T. Rex's indispensable "Telegram Sam."  As for originals, if I had to sweat it down to just one particular song to recommend in the band's repertoire here, I'd settle on the angular yet relentlessly ringing "Blesh." I've provided the entire tracklist directly to your right, and tucked the full artwork including liner notes inside the CD 1 (The Good) folder.  Enjoy. 

CD 1/CD 2/CD 3

The Elementals - Selling Out Big Time (1988, Gardenhose)

I don't have much info to go on regarding this Canuck trio, whose 1988 platter may have been the only release to their name. While not revelatory it's still generally satisfying in that left-of-the-dial manner, occasionally a little too color-by-numbers for their own good.  Some tangential R.E.M.-isms, and even a few subtle folk-pop maneuvers are palpable, albeit The Elementals were hardly inclined to strive for anything esoteric or even artsy here. Would love to have heard what a hypothetical follow-up to Selling Out... might have amounted to, because as promising as this wax was The Elementals hadn't necessarily "arrived" yet, so to speak. 

01. Huh, You Got It

02. Out on a Llama

03. World in Pieces 

04. Find Me a Place

05. Won't You

06. Toys and Dolls

07. Hummana Hummana 

08. G-Sharp Sideways

Hear

Six superlative singles!

I wasn't planning on doing another volley of singles until next year, but I've been sitting on a lot of interesting titles, plus let's face it, life is kinda short. This assortment is a pretty good cross section of what I try to feed you these days, but I like to think they're a cut above what I might post on say, a random Wednesday in May. Download links in MP3 or lossless FLAC are available at the end of the post. With that in mind let's proceed. 

Waxing Poetics - Hermitage/Return 7" (1984, Celery)

Perhaps the pinnacle of all the singles I've shared in the last 365 days.  I haven't featured anything by Waxing Poetics since '08. This dandy 45 exudes more than a wink and a nod to vintage R.E.M., with "Hermitage" appealing to the same pleasure centers that made everyone's first spin of "Radio Free Europe" such a revelation. As it would happen, two year later Peter Buck would co-produce this Norfolk, VA quartet's debut album, also titled Hermitage.

The Deflowers - New Day Tonight/Ten Days (1992, Stand Like Cleopatra)

I don't think there's a note by the Deflowers that's passed my ears that I haven't taken an automatic liking to. These Seattle denizens bore a far greater resemblance to Buffalo Tom than Mudhoney, and were all the more stimulating as a result.  A thoroughly winsome mix of melody and sophisticated song-writing chops. Check out their even more cranking Shiny New Pony album and other assorted releases from the link above.

Square Root of Now - But She's a Nice Girl/Dream Belief (1984, DeWeese Music Prods.)

I've been besotted with the Square Root of Now's 1987 Bent Around Corners LP ever since I happened upon it sometime in the early 2000s. And why shouldn't I be obsessed with that album's often surreal but consistently sublime reinvention of new romantic synth-pop?  SRN were kind enough to bequeath us that one mesmerizing full length, but there was a single that preceded it, and here it is.  They hadn't quite fully grown into their sound at this point, so to speak, but this was a solid start, especially the jaunty A-side.

beatrice blinded - two days wide/disappear (1994, Mallbunny)

Evidently this one's so scant that even the mighty Dicogs isn't providing an entry for it. A co-ed quintet from the college town of  Ithaca, NY, Beatrice Blinded's take on dream pop was heavy-handed to a fault, and no doubt why they needed to employ multiple guitarists plus a pedal/effects-board the size of a small canoe. Think the first Lilys album and some of Velocity Girl's nascent shoegaze forays. A little formulaic by todays standards, but B/B were something of an anomaly in their day.  

Nu-Este - From This Side of the Window/If You Want (1982, Intense Intents)

This was another ace discovery this year. Nu-Este were from Philly, and by my estimation the gentlemen in this trio must be hovering around 60 y/o or thereabouts these days. All the accumulating years aside, this is really smart, edgy post-punk sporting an artful flair that thankfully doesn't do so at the expense of eschewing some poignant melody on the driving, mid-tempo "From This Side..."  Vaguely reminiscent of Mission of Burma and Middle Class, Nu-Este opted to volley their tunes at a somewhat milder pitch.  As coincidence would have it, our fellow blogsters at Systems of Romance did a piece on this single a couple of years ago, but the rip you're getting here is completely unique.   

Whooping Cranes - Hope/Stopped Breathing (1986, Zip)

I did an entry on the Whooping Cranes That's What I Need album one whole decade ago, so it's about time for a follow-up, eh?  The band's skittish aplomb and endearing quirkiness on both of these two verbose tracks should've slotted in like a glove on college radio.  The Cranes sounded like they were grazing on the same plateau as contemporaries Agitpop and Nixon's Head, if those names happen to ring a bell. Really nails the dual creative/charming bullseye, and I'm very much liable to revisit their aforementioned follow-up LP for dessert .

MP3  or  FLAC

File under Windbreakers: Bobby Sutliff - What I Wanted Wasn't What I Found: Home demos (1986)

In a nutshell, when singer/songwriter Bobby Sutliff passed away after a battle with cancer on August 29, 2022, the world in general didn't know what they lost, because frankly, the world in general wasn't aware of his presence in the first place. Nonetheless, I know he's not a stranger to a lot of you reading this, but just as a backgrounder for the uninitiated, I'm going to source some details from a piece I originally penned for the reissue of Bobby's 1987 album Only Ghosts Remain.

Making his bow in the early '80s from the somewhat unlikely locale of Jackson, MS as half of the songwriting quotient of the Windbreakers, Bobby, partnered with Tim Lee, would be responsible for three memorable albums of collegiate guitar pop (Terminal (1985), Run (1986) and A Different Sort (1987), not to mention a handful of preceding EPs. The Windbreakers were something of a staple on left-of-the-dial radio outlets, and were a decent live draw, but they didn't come close to breaching the mainstream.  To fans of jangle-laden indie rock coming remotely from the same environs as R.E.M. (and maybe less so the Dream Syndicate) the band was a breath of fresh air. Almost immediately subsequent to several of the aforementioned albums, Bobby pursued solo endeavors resulting in five albums between 1987 and one posthumously released earlier this year, Bob Sings and Plays. 

As for the music concerning tonight's presentation, What I Wanted Wasn't What Found was not my creation, and in fact I have no source to credit the actual curator, so to whomever assembled this (possibly Bobby himself?), gracias. Despite it's purported recording date of 1986, none of the songs here wound up on his first proper album, Only Ghosts Remain, making the bulk of these compositions unique to this collection. Given these dozen and a half songs were likely committed to a four or eight track machine, sonically there's an organic, lo-fi bent to them. While certainly not buttoned-down, so to speak, Bobby doesn't engage in anything particularly sloppy either. The overarching vibe is akin to an early Mitch Easter of Don Dixon production, and while perhaps not as seminal as, R.E.M. or the dB's there's a plenty of charm and roughhewn warmth to revel in. Highlights include but aren't limited to jangly, engaging morsels like "Cold Cold Rain," "Call Your Name," not to mention the hazy psych tinctures (a la Rain Parade) employed on "Don't Come Here At Night."  Amongst a bevy of stimulating originals is a rewarding spin on the Flamin' Groovies masterstroke "I Can't Hide."  Though it may lack the continuity of a proper album, What I Wanted... is nonetheless a font of inspired, homegrown songcraft that will be a major find for both aficionados of the Windbreakers, and fans of guitarsy, indie pop emanating from the southeast circa the mid-80s. 

01. Our Little War

02. One Thing True

03. Quinn Street

04. Cold Cold Rain

05. I Thought You Knew

06. I Remember

07. I Can't Hide

08. What I Wanted Wasn't What I Found

09. Call Your Name

10. Wedding Bells

11. Too Much in Time

12. Our Little War

13. Being Chased by a Ghost

14. Don't Come Here at Night

15. I'm Moving On

16. I Want You, I Need You

17. Same Way Tomorrow

18. Small Town Romance

Hear

The Posies - live in 1987 in Bellingham (first show!) & V/A - Bring Me the Head of Brian McKenna - a Posies Tribute (199?)

Welcome to night one. So I'm going into this one with more than a little bit of trepidation.  By now a lot of you have disavowed The Posies, or at the very least one of the group's core components.  In case you've been living under a rock you can get caught up to speed here. Ultimately, I decided to put these two offerings on the table...but why you might ask?  Well, the simple fact is before the troubling revelations, accusations, and the band's acrimonious and sudden dissolution in 2021, there was a phenomenal body of music to be had.  It's still phenomenal.  Heck, just excise the band's career down to three albums, Dear 23 (1990), Frosting on the Beater (1993) and Amazing Disgrace (1996) and their place in power-pop is cemented right then and there, yet they gave us much more than that, almost all of it good to great. From this point on I'm going to ignore the soap opera, and focus entirely on what I came here to offer, two untainted pieces of music I hope you'll simply be able to appreciate.  

First up is a tape of what I've been informed is the Posies debut performance, all the way back in 1987 in their hometown of Bellingham, WA. I don't have an exact date or venue details to offer, but considering the set consists entirely of covers it's not hard to rationalize this was very early in the band's career when they were functioning exclusively as an acoustic duo.  In fact we don't even get a hint of what they'd offer on their 1988 debut, Failure.  Besides the fact that Stringfellow and Auer were adept players and harmonizers this early in the game they also had commendable taste with the likes of The Jam, R.E.M., Replacements, Squeeze, Billy Bragg and yes, the Beatles all coming under their scrutiny in this 46 minute set. The performances are lucid, slightly cheeky, and by and large faithful to the original arrangements, and the tape sounds as if it was plucked straight from the soundboard - that or an extremely tight audience recording. The only glitch is that the intro to "Mrs. Robinson" is cut off.  This one has likely been in circulation among collectors for a few decades now, but for the brunt of you this is bound to be a delight (to one degree or another).

Just a few months ago the existence of a Posies tribute album (ostensibly a cassette only release) Bring Me the Head of Brian McKenna, was absorbed into my radar. No copywrite was provided, but considering that the format is a tape, and with the inclusion of a cover of "Start a Life" from the band's 1998 LP Success, I'd peg the date of release to be hovering around 1999 or 2000. The album does have a curator, but I''ll let that be revealed in the liner notes for those of you whom opt to download this.  The pressing of this one was likely minimal, as there is no mention of it anywhere online. A few hundred copies (if that) I would guess?  There's nary a household name to be head here, with only the likes of The Pyramidiacs and Walter Clevenger triggering any personal recollection.  

As far as tributes go this one is pretty straightforward.  Nothing leftfield you might say - just primo songs covered with reverence yet sheer passion. For whatever the reason, the Dear 23 chestnut "Any Other Way" has the distinction of being featured here twice, but I'm not complaining. Lots of homegrown, bedroom-tracked vibes on this one.  As for the puzzling title, I can't help but wonder who Brian McKenna is/was. So much so that I did a quick Google query, yielding a match for a recently deceased film director of the same name, who seemingly had zero ties or overlap with the band.  Your guess is as good as mine.  Full tracklists for this and the live gig are below. 

Live in Bellingham 1987

01. Mrs. Robinson

02. I'm Looking Through You

03. Don't Look Away

04. Swingin' Party

05. I've Just Seen a Face

06. Sitting Still

07. That's Entertainment

08. I Can't Reach You

09. English Rose

10. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

11. Separate Beds

12. Greetings to the New Brunette

13. Superman

14. So Sad About Us

15. Strange

MP3  or  FLAC

VA - Bring Me the Head of Brian McKenna - a Posies Tribute

01. Every Damn Day - Help Yourself

02. Walter Clevenger - Paint Me

03. The Pyramidiacs - Open Every Window

04. Khadejah Dein - Coming Right Along

05. Hammerfish - Dream All Day

06. Gino Scarpino - Any Other Way

07. Nerdburgers - What Little Remains

08. Underwater Sunshine - Everyone Moves Away

09. The Superstitions - How She Lied by Living

10. Juji Frootz - Any Other Away

11. WINK? - Earlier Than Expected

12. Little Buddy - Under Easy

13. Ed Taboada - Flavor of the Month

14. The Warm Jets - Start a Life

Hear

Bobby Sutliff - Only Ghosts Remain...plus (1987/2023, Jem) - a brief review.

It's nearly impossible for a recent passing to not overshadow the music of the artist involved. In the cases of high profile specimens like John Lennon and Kurt Cobain it took years for a lot of fans to come to terms with their premature deaths before they could simply sink back in and enjoy the music again. For better or worse, Bobby Sutliff was not a household name, even at the arguable apex of his career in the mid-80s, but fans of both his solo endeavors and the work he did with the more renown Windbreakers certainly felt something when it was announced he lost his battle with cancer in August of 2022. There was really no controversy or prolonged drama tethered to Bobby, and those like myself who didn't know him personally were still able to associate him exclusively with his catalog of music.  Unlike the aforementioned Lennon and Cobain, however, when someone of Bobby's small-of-fame stature departs, their loss tends to exist in a vacuum, one in which there is no media pile-on or ubiquitous airplay on Sirius XM.  But above all else the music lives on with their faithful minions, and a recent reissue of his 1987 solo LP, Only Ghosts Remain is a much needed reminder of his relevance.

Making his bow in the early '80s from the somewhat unlikely locale of Jackson, MS as half of the songwriting quotient of the Windbreakers, Bobby, partnered with Tim Lee, would be responsible for three memorable albums of collegiate guitar pop (Terminal (1985), Run (1986) and A Different Sort (1987), not to mention a handful of preceding EPs. Fortified with national distribution, despite being anchored to smaller indie labels the Windbreakers were something of a staple on left-of-the-dial radio outlets, and were a decent live draw, but they didn't come close to breaching the mainstream.  To fans of jangle-laden indie rock coming remotely from the same environs as R.E.M. (and maybe less so the Dream Syndicate) the Windbreakers were a breath of fresh air.  They were advanced enough to exist in the '80s, yet managed to thoroughly sidestep the most egregious and embarrassing trends of the era. When OGR was released the 'breakers were still a going concern and from what I've been able to glean there was no acrimony between Sutliff and Lee.  That said, it was advisable for Bobby to put the album's eleven songs under a separate umbrella.

Just to get a little bit of trivia out of the way, Only Ghosts..., essentially began life as a Mitch Easter-produced five song EP, the lovingly dubbed Another Jangly Mess, that was only available as a European import which I've seen conflicting release dates of 1986/87.  Another one of Bobby's collaborators, not to mention erstwhile music publicist Howard Wuelfing was so enamored with what he heard that he encouraged PVC/Jem Records to bankroll the recording of another batch of songs, once again with Mitch Easter at his fabled Drive-in Studios to flesh out an entire LP.  Thus, Only Ghosts... was born. Despite being culled from two sessions the album doesn't feel patchworked together in the least, and is as consistent if not more so than anything the Windbreakers had been responsible for up until that point. 

During the era surrounding OGR's recording/release, the Windbreakers was ostensibly Bobby's main meal ticket - yet not one iota of the record sounds half-hearted, or casually strewn together. Retaining much of the 'breakers edgy, forward-thinking pallor while simultaneously emboldening Bobby's overarching sonic heft, this was an album that seemingly had one foot steeped in indie rock aesthetics, with the other sporting an ambitious stride that could have instantly impressed more pedestrian ears. 

The Windbreakers were partial to downcast themes and moreover, were known to exude a pessimistic tenor when it suited them, but as a solo entity Bobby was discernably more assured, and even downright confident. The driving, decided "Same Way Tomorrow" made for a primo opening salvo, declaring something of a brash clarion call. "Always Love You" and "Couldn't Help Myself" mine a similar, if slightly less strenuous vein. Further in, Only Ghosts... reveals itself as more of a mid-tempo specimen, albeit our protagonist is wont to circumvent traditional ballads. The overall effect is comparable to the first couple of Matthew Sweet albums, not to mention the Sweet-adjacent Velvet Crush precursor Choo Choo Train. Intoxicating jangly and strummy notions like "Won't Be Feeling Blue" pour down like an unremitting waterfall, and while the context of any given Bobby Sutliff tune is a cinch to glom onto, there's more than surface level depth at play here.  OGR may not rewrite or out-innovate anything that came before it (by the Windbreakers or otherwise) but it's nonetheless a life affirming example of par-excellence power pop, with an aptitude that's nothing short of wholly earnest. 

As mentioned above, Only Ghosts Remain has been given a new lease on life on the label that originally minted it, Jem Records.  The album's original running order has been bested with eleven additional cuts from three of Bobby's subsequent albums (Bitter Fruit, Perfect Dream and On a Ladder). Amazon has you covered via CD or digitally.

Braille Closet - Voice of Age ep (1988, Fountainhead)

Yet another salvo that would mesh just fine thank you very much with the scores, if not hundreds of collegiate indie rock troupes I've peddled on these pages for as long as I have. Braille Closet were denizens of Orlando, FL, a town which boasted more musical talent than I would've suspected.  The Voice of Age ep preceded a pair of albums and thus far is all that I've heard from them, but to my sensibilities they made a near-flawless first impression.  Among the six tunes here, B/C cook up quintessential left-of-the-dial fare with a strong absorption of then-contemporary Anglophile guitar pop, alongside a sharp awareness of domestic purveyors of the form (specifically R.E.M.). Think intelligent, insightful lyrics plied with lean and clean jangly leads, and you'll have a pretty solid handle of what this four-piece have in store. Dare I say Voice of Age is not dissimilar to what the Ocean Blue would unfurl in a couple of years?  Enjoy.

01. Jane I Sympathize
02. Turn and Face the Strange
03. Quiet Place
04. Seven Times Better
05. Midnight Sun
06. Tomorrow Russo

Hear

Beetkeepers - s/t (1988, No Other)

I haven't ventured many forays into "folk pop," even of the collegiate variety which Columbus, OH long defunct Beetkeepers could rightfully be housed under.  This trio operated above the fray in this often tricky realm, not overdoing it with No Depression seasoning, rather skewing more in the vicinity of R.E.M.'s Reckoning, albeit more economically with sparer sonic heft than Michael Stipe & Co. Frontman/mouthpiece James Olsen was either blessed or cursed (take your pick) with a set of pipes that approximated James Taylor and perhaps less-so Paul Simon, but regardless of your opinion of said icons, this circumstance fortunately doesn't blunt the impact of anything on Beetkeepers. Olsen's prose is deft, and refreshingly a cut above average, managing not to resemble his combo's left-of-the-dial contemporaries, due largely in part to the group's spartan, folky tenor. Several Beetkeepers songs have been disseminated on YouTube if you wish to partake in a sample before diving into the LP in general. 

01. For All Parts East
02. Don't Walk Alone
03. Since He's Been Gone
04. In the Blazes
05. Young One
06. Ghost House
07. Holiday Time
08. National Rose
09. Written in the Dark
10. Talking in Bed
11. What My Childhood Did to Me
12. True Ways

Hear

The Paper Train - Run to the Alley (1987, SLIDD)

In the canon of groundbreaking '80s indie/alt-rock, sadly, you are not likely to find this particular record, but for what it's worth it's still pretty decent. Hailing from the outskirts of Rochester, NY The Paper Train were a coed quartet whose earnest aplomb thankfully didn't reek of the more garish and hair-sprayed trappings of their era. Blending just enough modernity to a predominantly basic guitars/bass/drums setup. PT's employment of keyboards was merely a subtext, not the emphasis. The band succeeds mightily on Run to the Alley's mid-tempo numbers, "Call On Me," "Catcher in the Rye," and "Wasn't Made to be Afraid." the latter of which exudes some vague R.E.M.-isms to nice effect. The tense "Lyndon LaRouche" is a sometimes scathing character study (not to mention an offbeat song topic), but nonetheless, the Paper Train pull off something effective. From what little I've been able to glean this was the band's first and final offering. 

01. Call On Me
02. The Phoenix Sings
03. Wasn't Made to Be Afraid
04. Through the Wire
05. Catcher in the Rye
06. Lyndon LaRouche
07. Endless
08. The Cabin
09. Time After Time
10. Run to the Alley

Hear

Late Rivals - Casting Shadows (198?, Crown)

Another blind purchase, sealed no less.  Not turning up much pertinentn info about Late Rivals, who may have been denizens of Tennessee, albeit their isn't a single southern accident to be identified amongst this album's eight tunes. Definitely a collegiate edge to much of Casting Shadows, particularly "Ghostown" and "My Marcelle," both of which illicit some tasteful R.E.M. jangle.  A thoroughly listenable, and occasionally rewarding record, just don't expect much in the way of mystique. BTW, no copyright date was provided anywhere on the graphics, but it's pretty safe to say this dates from the mid/late 1980s. 

01. Wilderness
02. Ghostown
03. All Mixed Up
04. Stars
05. Her Tie's Bind
06. My Marcelle
07. Slow Down
08. When You're Gone

Hear

V/A - Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy: Ultra condensed version (2020)

I've been toying with the idea of sharing this for what some seems like ages, but in reality it's been closer to a little over a year. In the lead-up to the 2020 general election two compilations, available as paid downloads on Bandcamp were posted in October of that year to benefit Fair Fight, a voting rights organization set up to combat voter suppression in the United States. The very notion an organization with this goal in mind would have seemed utterly preposterous even just twenty years prior, but welcome to the real world homies. Ergo the two volumes in the Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, two-off compilation series that featured no less than 117 artists between them. Most of the contributors were of fairly un-renown indie stock (see the complete tracklists here and here), but there were a few household names too, with few limits in terms of genres, albeit nothing too left-field. The one commonality is that about 98% of the participating artists were very much current and active.

The songs contributed were virtually all-non LP material, with demos, covers and live material composing the brunt of each compilation. The draw was not only to raise funds for Fair Fight, but to treat listeners with exclusive material, the vast majority of which remains indigenous to the Avert the Collapse compilations to this day. But there was one HUGE catch. Not so much the price tag, but the limited availability to purchase them - a mere 24 hours in each case. That aspect seemed to be a bit arbitrary and shortsighted, but nonetheless, tens of thousands of dollars in proceeds were raised for the cause. Instead of taking an obvious risk in sharing the entirety of these collections, I've cherry picked 18 songs/artists that seemed most in keeping with the fare I've shared and written about on these pages over the years, just don't expect much in the way of '80s or '90s acts (though there is the occasional exception).  Enjoy.

01. Death Cab for Cutie - The New Year (Live in Seattle, WA 2020)
02. Frankie Cosmos - Another Piece
03. King Tuff - Evergreen (Demo)
04. Matt Berninger - In Between Days (The Cure Cover)
05. Surfer Blood - New Direction
06. Superchunk - Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing (Minutemen Cover)
07. Bob Mould Band - In A Free Land (Live in Seattle, WA 2019)
08. PUP - Edmonton
09. Thurston Moore - L’Ephemere
10. Guided By Voices - Game Of Pricks (Live from the Teragram Ballroom, LA on 12-31-19)
11. Old 97’s - Southern Girls (Cheap Trick Cover)
12. Nada Surf -  Stories Going ‘Round
13. Wolf Parade - ATA
14. R.E.M. - Begin The Begin (Live in Hampton, VA 1989)
15. Arcade Fire feat. David Byrne -This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (live)
16. Real Estate - People’s Parties (Joni Mitchell Cover)
17. Perfume Genius - Jory (Demo)
18. The War On Drugs - Eyes To The Wind (Live)

Hear

Three killer EPs: This "Blue Piano," Holiday, and Downy Mildew

As mentioned a few nights ago I'm forgoing my usual Chanukah singles cluster (again), but I've got the next best thing, a collection of some of the better EPs that made it to my turntable in 2021.  These three doses of collegiate indie rock that are at minimum very good, and at max are off the charts altogether. I buy roughly 20-30 or these short format 12"s every year it seems, and even if the continuing pandemic has slowed me down a tad I haven't run out of gas yet, so let's begin, starting with...

...Montreal's startlingly great This "Blue Piano" who bled cyan hues of the best English exports of their era including but not limited to early Aztec Camera, Orange Juice and to a lesser degree Prefab Sprout. You can draw your own comparisons, but TBP had the UK indie aesthetic down pat and didn't sound contrived or forced in the slightest, forecasting the C86 gold rush just as effectively as the aforementioned acts that actually resided in Britain. The John the Baptist ep's two bookends "I Before E" and "Euphoria," delight and dazzle as much as any era Postcard Records or Rough Trade release. Mighty lofty words, I know, but don't take my word for it. Hear for yourself, and while you're at it check out the band's Soundcloud space for even more.  

This "Blue Piano" - The John the Baptist ep (1984, Waste Island)  MP3 or FLAC
01. I Before E
02. Ground's Gone
03. Summertime
04. Euphoria

Equally as superlative, we have D.C.'s Holiday. No, this isn't the same Holiday that made waves in the '90s, rather the co-ed quartet this blurb concerns featured Lynda Hopper, alum of noted Georgia wunderkinds Oh-OK. Last year I discussed at length the virtues of the then newly released Strum & Thrum compilation on Captured Tracks, and mentioned I had familiarity with the bulk of that double-albums prestigious roster.  There were however a handful of exceptions that even I hadn't been tipped off to yet, with Holiday being one of them. More advanced and virtually doubly rewarding as Oh-OK, Hopper and Co. were groomed on REM's early catalog, and somehow managed to shoehorn even more of an accessible pop angle into the five songs populating hello.  I never tire of those bright, clangy chords, not to mention a little reverb.  This very well could have been a Mitch Easter production, but the band took the reigns themselves for their stunning and regrettably lone record. 

Holiday - hello ep (1987, Nightshade)  MP3 or FLAC
01. John Buffalo
02. At the Movies
03. Change
04. Ingrid
05. Problem to Problem 

Of the three bands featured tonight, Downy Mildew actually boasted something of a pedigree, releasing a succession of albums in the 80s-90s that may not have made strides on the Billboard album charts, but to their credit were a staple of college radio playlists during their run. While virtually every piece of music they attached their namesake to was at minimum listenable the early stuff did it for me, and it didn't get much earlier than this self-titled 1986 platter. Generally speaking, with four songs eps there isn't much room for slack, yet on the second tune in, "The Drive" DM took their sweet time (seven minutes to be precise) and came up with something a bit, um, repetitive and frankly, boring.  This record's more convincing salvos, "Experience in the Far Southwest" and "Purple Parlor" are concise by comparison, and are downright rewarding in their jangly acumen and bright, textured execution. All four cuts comprising Downy Mildew were appended to the CD addition of the band's 1987 Broomtree album, but I think my vinyl rip of this one offers a slightly richer sonic experience.  

Downy Mildew ep (1986, Texas Hotel) MP3 or FLAC
01. Experience in the Far Southwest
02. The Drive
03. Purple Parlor
04. Bad Dream

The Outlines - High on a Wire 7" (1987, Gusto!)

Singles. 45s. Good things come in small packages, right?  Well you hope anyway when you're just taking a chance on a 7" with an interesting picture sleeve.  Was holding out for greatness here, but settled for something half-way decent.  Prior to listening I expected The Outlines record might be something of a treat given its copyright date, and the fact it was a private indie pressing from a Georgia combo. Given the pedigree of indie bands that called Athens and Atlanta home, I thought a quartet from an another big Georgia "A" town, in this case Augusta, would be worth a shot. In any case, this foursome certainly didn't jangle like R.E.M. nor did they operate on the same creative tier as Pylon, but a subterranean ethos was still at play. "High on a Wire" is angsty, but economic post-punk, with a mean, angular riff permeating the entirety of it's two and a half minutes. The Outlines don't succeed as effectively on the less pent-up "No Idea," which suffers from underwritten lyrics and a lack of a discernible hook. It appears this single is all this band had to offer the world.  A few scant details regarding the Outlines and some other indie Augusta, GA hopefuls from the same era are available in the text blurb accompanying this YouTube clip.

A. High on a Wire
B. No Idea

Hear

Baby Boom - Driven too Far ep + 7" (1987, Cheese)

Believe it or not there's more than one band that christened themselves Baby Boom, but this one happened to roll out of Red Bank, NJ in the mid-80s.  Not pandering enough to appeal to the hard rock set, nor did they emanate enough ingenuity to make them a fixture at college radio, B/B nevertheless locked in on a formula that should've accorded them something more significant than mere local notoriety.  The distinctly rocking "Working Women" loosely borders on power pop, but the quartet's janglier tendencies amidst "Out of Nowhere" and "Reason to Hide," definitely skewed closer to that vein.  My copy of Driven Too Far was bundled with a bonus 1986 7", titled The Baby Boom Garage Sessions.  "Raining Glass" is four swell minutes of ringing, melodic guitar pop, that for a few seconds there recalls R.E.M.'s "Gardening at Night."  Heartfelt as the flip, "The Problem With Vicky and Laura," is, I found it a little too ballad-y for my discriminating ears.  For better or worse, there's really not any further details to be had on these folks, save for Discogs who inform us of a preceding single.  

01. Working Women
02. Out of Nowhere
03. Reason to Hide
04. Broken Records

bonus 7"
A. Raining Glass
B. The Problem With Vicky and Laura

Hear