The Proof - It's Safe (1980)

I was damn-near surprised to see that this gem of an album never caught the watchful eye of some of the kingpin power-pop blogs out there. Surprised if only for the fact that The Proof's It's Safe album was released under the auspices of a major label no less, in this case the venerable CBS Records. To be more precise, It's Safe was born into the world on a tentacle of CBS, Nemperor Records, most notably home to power-pop, leather-tie traditionalists The Romantics.

The Proof's lone-lp is overflowing with spunky (not punky), rhythmically aware new wave-inflected pop, that could have easily gone head-to-head with such period contemporaries as The Hawks, Quincy, and to a lesser extent 20/20. Assuredly, this quartet was yet another major-label fatality of their era, right along with some of the aforementioned. For shame...

01. Stay Sixteen
02. First Rate

03. I Would Be there

04. Won't Give an Inch

05. I Want You

06. It's Safe

07. No Answers

08. Crazy Nites

09. Hello

10. That's That

11. Love in A Hurry
12. Does It Show

Hear

Nice Strong Arm - Stress City (1989)

To some people, Nice Strong Arm were just another noisy post-punk band on Homestead Records. My first encounter with them came courtesy of college radio in the early ‘90s when I was at an impressionable age . Specifically, the song that lured me in was this very album’s “Desert Beauty Bloom,” and it was a tremendous revelation. With it’s lofty escapist sentiments, abetted by a sonic fusion of maelstrom and melody, “Desert Beauty Bloom,” went that much further in legitimizing my increasing dedication to indie-rock. Stress City, along with albums/singles by dozens, if not hundreds of bands that flew under the collective mainstream radar, motivated me to gradually forfeit nearly a decade’s worth of heavy metal and classic rock schooling. Everyone says that Nirvana killed hair-metal. I’d argue that Nice Strong Arm proved to be damn near effective as well, at least for me.

New York’s NSA opted for a dreary foreboding landscape for many of their songs, and Stress City’s ten selections are certainly no exception. “Desert Beauty Blooms” is relatively hopeful, but I think I’ve commented enough about this song above. Although much of the remainder of Stress City is less than immediate (to say the least) it’s still worth the investment.

Lead Arm, Kevin Thompson would later helm the much mellower Timco, but we’ll leave them as a subject for another time.

01. Desert Beauty Bloom

02. Stress City

03. Lost Sleep

04. Neighborhood Voyeur

05. From Heaven

06. Amnesia

07. My Perception

08. Cakewalk

09. Autumn Green

10. White Wonder

Hear

The Meices - early singles (1991-92)

Were the Meices given the whole "Behind the Music" treatment, something tells me they'd have a pretty

interesting story to tell. Ultimately, notoriety of just about any sort was not in the cards for this 'Frisco trio who pumped out three consistently impressive albums of a rather indigenous brand of rough-and-tumble pop-punk that hasn't been heard since their dissolution in the mid-90s. Two of that trio of long-players, 1994's Tastes Like Chicken, and 1996's Dirty Bird, were issued on a major label (London Records) no less, but the wider exposure espoused to the Meices did little to maximize their meager, but dedicated following.

Over the course of three albums, The Meices matured steadily and noticeably. As for the band's pre-lp introductory singles, the Meices at their rawest and most unbridled could outdo the "prime" output of many of their contemporaries. The punk-pop tag is likely to conjure up Blink 182, Green Day, and god forbid Good Charlotte, but Joe Reineke and company weren't shy about kicking up a little dust to come up with something a little more impulsive and dynamic. The Meices made their official debut wih the Not Funny (ha ha) 7" ep on Two Car Garage Records in 1991. Four slices of roughhewn, rip-roaring rawk, that featured what was to become one of their signature songs, "Alex Put Something In His Pocket." Total fun, and even though it was far from their potential it was a more than respectable start. Many other songs from the Not Funny sessions would wind up on an import-only CD, Pissin' In the Sink.

The "gravy" would trickle out shortly thereafter with two singles for

the Seattle-based Empty Records. They were released as precursors to a dynamite debut album for the label, dubbed Greatest Bible Stories Ever Told. The A-sides, "Don't Let the Soap Run Out" and a reworked "Alex" found their rightful place on the aforementioned 12," but the b-sides weren't shabby either. The downer vibe of "We're Freezing" secured a place as one of the most "serious" songs in the Meices oeuvre. A faithful rendition of "Back In Your Life" in no uncertain terms revealed Reineke's sincere appreciation for Jonathan Richman, while "Alex's" flipside, "Crash," is a melodious stunner that would have made a fine addition to any Meices album, not just the first.

The only Meice with any real prominence, Joe Reineke went onto found the even more prolific Alien Crime Syndicate in the late '90s, a band that added some electronica accoutrement's into the picture, but still brought the rawk.

 

Not Funny, Ha Ha 7" ep

01. It's Oakland

02. We Was Gettin' Drunk

03. Where You Get On

04. Alex Put Something In His Pocket
 

1st eMpTy Records 7"

01. Don't let the Soap Run Out

02. We're Freezing

03. Back In Your Life
 

2nd eMpTy Records 7"

01. Alex

02. Crash

 

Hear

Ups and Downs - Rash ep (1991)

From Brisbane Australia they came, and profile-wise their audience sadly didn't reach much further than Oz. In the mid-to-late 1980s, The Ups and Downs released a bevy of indie singles and two strong albums, Sleepless in '86, and Underneath the Watchful Eye two years later. (The former can be obtained here). Their sound was classic anglophile modern rock, with lots of ringing guitars and a faintly melancholy undercurrent.

The 1991 Rash ep, available on Nettwerk Records in North America, was their last gasp, and although I'm likely in the minority here, I found it to be their peak moment. Rash plot the Ups and Downs on a decidedly more commercial path, but with the glossier veneer came sublime, melodic gems like "Jack," and "Untie Ian." This ep was a bittersweet proposition in all respects, from the contemplative songs that encompassed it, to the sobering realization that there would be no more where this came from.

01. Awesome

02. Jack (what the hell does that mean)

03. Safer (remix)

04. Karma

05. Untie Ian

Hear

The Blases - s/t lp (1989)

The Blases lone, eponymous album is the stuff this blog was born for. Not so much a classic, rather a classic example of an album lost to the limits of DIY distribution and homegrown record labels. Until I found this album online sometime in the very late '90s, my affiliation with these Jersey bar-rockers was solely through a grainy video for this album's brilliant "Time Walks Away," which aired on MTVs 120 Minutes, dare I say in 1990-91(?). To my memory, no album or label information was provided with the usual "ID" info, but in years to come, I would learn that then 120 Minutes host, the infamously gravel-throated, Matt Pinfield was keenly familiar with the Blases, so no great mystery there as to why the video was sandwiched between Jesus & Mary Chain and Julian Cope clips at 1:30 AM.

Despite my eventual absorption of the Blases record, and even with the ever expanding "information highway" at my fingertips I have unsuccessfully learned much about the band, with the exception of reading of a one-off reunion show in recent years. The Blases is no magnum-opus, and is probably what Soul Asylum would have amounted to had they pursued the gin-mills and nothing else. However the song that lured me in the first place, the aforementioned "Time Walks Away," is stunning, due in part to it's relatable 'one-that-got-away' motif, and an incessantly, jangle-ridden hook. Side two's "Wasting My Dreams to Sleep," comes in at a fairly close second, and although the nine-song collection is more than listenable, great swaths of it don't particularly stick.

I foolishly passed up the opportunity to buy a Blases single on Ebay many years ago, so if any of you have any juicy details on that, or for that matter the band themselves, don't be a stranger.

01. I Walk Alone

02. She Catches Fire

03. The Point

04. Time Walks Away

05. Oh Mammy

06. Firefighter

07. Alis

08. Wasting My Dreams on Sleep

09. Sorrow My Eyes

Hear

The Scruffs - Teenage Gurls (recorded 1979, released 1998)

Over the years, many a power pop-centric music scribe/audiophile has espoused the "no-home-should-be-without-one" notion regarding the 1977 debut album from Memphis' Scruffs, Wanna Meet the Scruffs? The updated Merseybeat that occupies that album's grooves is perhaps on par with the best of the Raspberries output, but certainly not to be outdone by the first two Big Star albums. To this set of ears, Wanna Meet... isn't a masterpiece by any stretch, but as Joy Division were to goth, and what Black Sabbath were to heavy metal, The Scruffs weren't the pinnacle of the proto-power pop movement, rather they were one of the fortunate innovators. Innovators in this case that hardly got their due I should add.

Wanna Meet the Scruffs? has for the most part been back in print since the late '90s. With renewed interest in the band some 20 years since that album graced shelves, the wise entrepreneurs who helmed the Memphis based Northern Heights Records, excavated the Scruffs vaults, and in 1998 released the bands second, and theretofore unreleased LP, Teenage Gurls. Sporting a logical progression from Wanna Meet..., the followup didn't dramatically jostle the proceedings, but the punky "Rock 'N Roll Heads" and "You, You, You," pointed to what contemporaries like the Nerves and Undertones were about to unleash.

Pound for pound, Teenage Gurls is just as worthy as it's lauded predecessor, and not a bad place for the uninitiated to start with. As an added note, The Scruffs recently reunited, and released a respectable album in early 2007, Pop Manifesto.

01. Teenage Girls

02. Go Faster

03. You, You, You

04. Nick of Time

05. At the Movies

06. Edge of Disaster

07. Now

08. Boys/Girls Get Their Own Way

09. Alice, Please Don't Go

10. Breakdown

11. Danger

12. Treachery

13. Rock n Roll Heads

14. How We Gonna Do It?

15. Shakin'

Now available from Amazon downloads and iTunes.

Sand Rubies - Release the Hounds (1999)

If you know anything at all about Tucson, Arizona's Sand Rubies, you're probably aware that they evolved from a group called the Sidewinders, a critically renown "college rock" outfit that offered a mild but noticeable No-Depression inflection to their meager but earnest mix. As a matter of fact, you can check out one of their albums on for size right here (just scroll down a tad and you'll see it).

With little to no fanfare, the 'winders reneged on their original moniker and traded it in for the Sand Rubies, upon learning that the Sidewinders tag also belonged to another American band. In 1993, the Rubies signed to the major label affiliate Atlas Records and released a self-titled disk, much in the Sidewinders vein that largely went unnoticed in the grunge-era hoopla. Calling it a day in '94, a couple of low circulation posthumous Sand Rubies albums were released - a live document, and later a covers CD on the presumably homegrown imprint Gestrichen Records, Release the Hounds, which this post concerns.

Neither the Sidewinders or Rubies were what you would consider especially spirited (at least on record), but even though Hounds is par for the course, most of what they attempt is convincing, if not little shambolic at times. The remakes here are fairly straightforward and faithful to the originals, but what really reeled me in were their takes on the Records "Starry Eyes," Neil Young's late '80s anthem "Rockin' in the Free World," and of course, I just couldn't continue on my journey in life without hearing the Sand Rubies rendering of Spirit's "Nature's Way." And neither can you.

01 - when the time comes
02 - (i'm not your) stepping stone
03 - memories are made of this
04 - nature's way
05 - all along the watchtower
06 - you're gonna miss me
07 - i should have known better
08 - grey riders
09 - little black egg
10 - starry eyes
11 - rockin' in the free world
12 - signed d.c.

Hear

The Hummingbirds - LoveBUZZ (1989)

An album as thoroughly excellent as the Hummingbirds loveBUZZ should not warrant a post on a blog dedicated to lost and overlooked records. Ideally it would be revered and ubiquitous, as say Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend. In other words, loveBUZZ should've/could've been a staple. Hailing from Sydney, Australia The Hummingbirds had the backing of a major label (actually Rooart Records, a big Oz indie co-opted by Polygram) and production of their debut album courtesy of the near-legendary Mitch Easter. The album was a modest success in their home country, but with the exception of college radio tanked Stateside.

As usually is the case, the music speaks for itself. The ceaseless, Rickenbacker jangle that permeates loveBUZZ, is paralleled only by the Hummingbirds co-ed harmonies. Allanah Russack is the dominant voice here, and although it's tempting to assimilate the Hummingbirds with contemporaries like the Primitives and Darling Buds, loveBUZZ makes that virtually impossible given it's depth and sonic splendor. In more recent years, the band has been represented with an official "best of" compilation, but this album plays like a veritable greatest-hits album in itself. The ever nagging melodicism of "Alimony," "Word Gets Around," and the album's 'big' single, "Blush," anchor eleven more could-have-been universal classics, making loveBUZZ downright vital for power-pop fans and otherwise.

01. Blush

02. She Knows

03. Hollow Inside

04. Tuesday

05. Word Gets Around

06. House Taken Over

07. Get on Down

08. Alimony

09. Everything You Said

10. Barbarian

11. Thee in the Morning

12. Michelle As Well

13. If You Leave

14. Miles to Go

Hear

Numbers - Add Up (1979)

The Toronto based Numbers were a straight-up power pop quartet that released their one and only album, Add Up at the crest of that genre’s movement in the late-70s/early 80. Arguably, their moniker was accurate, in that their approach was pretty much by…well, the numbers. Not withstanding their lack of innovation, they delivered an excellent batch of tunes, with the emphasis particularly on the jagged lead-off cut, “Sideways Elevator,” which was also released as a single. Elsewhere on Add Up, The Numbers proved they could go head to head with such contemporaries as The Records and Plimsouls, evidenced by the sublime jangle of “Leave It To Me,” and “Can’t Take It.”

A good summation of the Numbers brief career can be found at Canoe’s Canadian encyclopedia of music here . I have also included the text of it below:

Coleman York (drums, backing vocals)

Jim Kennedy (rhythm guitar, backing vocals)

Ed Blocki (lead vocals, bass guitar)

Peter Evans (lead vocals, lead/rhythm guitar, keyboards)

Colin "Archie" Gerrard (keyboards vocals; replaced Kennedy 1980)

With Canadian record label Attic Records always on the cutting edge of new, innovative ways of developing talent while keeping costs low, they hit on the idea of a no-frills label called Basement Records. Their first signing was Toronto act, The Numbers, in 1979. The band went into the Soundstage studios in Toronto in October of that year with Jack Richardson's son Garth Richardson producing.

Attic co-owner Tom Williams wanted the Numbers to be the first album released in 1980 so, at 9:00 AM on New Year's day, key radio music directors and journalists were sent a copy of the album 'Add Up' to their homes along with a Bloody Caesar alcoholic beverage. The ploy worked as The Numbers received a bit of activity with the first single, "Sideways Elevator", but when it came time to follow that up with a second album the band demanded a larger production defeating the ability for Basement Records to live up to its mandate. As a result the band made a deal to re-sign with Attic Records under the new name Hot Tip (whereby Jim Kennedy was replaced by keyboardist Colin Gerrard). Unfortunately, the band broke up shortly after its two singles could be released in 1981. With notes from Kevin Shea and Michael Coxe.

01. Sideways Elevator

02. Sunday Afternoon

03. Out to You

04. BIts & Pieces

05. Can't Take It

06. Leave it to Me

07. Mr. Dempster

08. Won't You Call

09. She's Got Everything

10. Get Away

 

Hear

The Papillomas - Twice as Early as You'd Ever Want to Be There (1997)

Victoria, BC's Papillomas were just one of scores of hot indie bands emanating from the Canadian border throughout the '90s, however this promising quartet didn't mean squat in the States, unless of course you were an avid listener of CBC radio like myself. Taking subtle cues from yanks like Pavement, For Squirrels, and Archers of Loaf, the Pap's brand of roughewn, mid-fi indie-rawk had a certain distinction of it's own, due in large part to Michael Kissinger's slightly offbeat timbre. Twice Is Early... is no through-and-through masterpiece, but some of the choicer selections, namely "Everything is Tired," "Wisconsin Camera For Higher," and "Cross Face Chicken Wing" are worth hitching the ride for. Preceding this album was the Papilloma's debut, Corolla, while 2001's When Years Were Bee Stings ep was the band's parting shot. Good luck trying to find any of them, because you'll probably need it.

01-Wisconsin Camera For Hire

02-Hail the Standard Eardrum Plan

03-Stryper '85

04-Jacked Up Truck

05-Tiger Mouth

06-Self Kicker

07-Everything Is Tired

08-I Want to Be It

09-Arcosanti

10-Cross Face Chicken Wing

11-Petrolia

12-Flying V

This can now be found on Apple

Robert Pollard hits the half-century mark today...

...or some shit like that, at least that's what they tell me anyway. I have invested well over $1000, if not closer to two-grand in Bob's various enterprises. And what do I get in return? Not a single thank you, not even so much as goddamn handshake. I have gotten some pretty cool tunes out of the deal though, and continue to do so, just on a less frequent basis. In 2003 a list of about two-thousand proposed Guided By Voices song titles/one-off band names, authored by yours truly made it into Bob's scaly mitts, but has he availed himself to utilize so much as one? Hardly. Such proposed titles as "Third Spasm Nosebleed," "Canned Alaska," and "Drool Floodplain," ostensibly failed to make it past our man's stringent quality control. His loss if you ask me.

Long may Robert Pollard run, for even when he puts out shit, it's his shit and we all know it. Most of us could do far worse. Bob was supposedly quoted as saying, "I could write five songs on the can, and three of them would be good." These days, if it's one gem for every five clunkers so be it. Here's to a guy who can kick start his career into high-gear at 36 years of age. There's a few more hopeful years for me yet on that timetable, and it gives me quiet (and cold) comfort.

For this upload, I've got a GBV smorgasbord for you true believers out there. To Trigger a Synapse was procured song-by-song (all 43 of them) on classic-era Napster. Slapped together at various bit-rates by god knows who, it's merely a solid lineup of GBV demos, acoustic cuts, Peel session tracks, covers, and the occasional live offering. Some songs cut off, but no great loss to most of you, as a few of these have made it onto GBV box sets and whatnot. Dig in, and wish the Fading Captain a happy 50th. Hats off you fantastic bastard.

To Trigger a Synapse

01 - Becoming Unglued

02 - Shit Midas

03 - Taco, Buffalo, Bird Dog & Jesus

04 - The Goldheart Festering Moon Directory (acoustic)

05 - Jason Lowenstein's a Wanker

06 - The Day is Done

07 - Benders Bluffing Muscles

08 - Delayed Reaction Brats

09 - Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones

10 - Even Break

11 - No One Can Take You Away

12 - Talk to me

13 - Why Did You Land (slow)

14 - Troopers in the Town

15 - Whiskey on Your Breath

16 - Trap Soul Door (live)

17 - Navy (Per Ubu cover)

18 - Quality of Armor (demo)

19 - All Hail the Weed King (acoustic demo)

20 - Run

21 - Office of Hearts (demo - cut off)

22 - Special Astrology for the Warlock Tour

23 - The Goldheart Festering Moon Directory (electric)

24 - Smothered in Hugs (Cheap Trick version)

25 - Deathtrot & Warlock Riding a Rooster (rock version)

26 - Some Drilling Implied (quiet version)

27 - Did I See That (live improv.)

28 - Hardcore UFOs (different lead part)

29 - Greenface (longer version)

30 - Lariat Man (demo)

31 - Cruise (cleaner mix)

32 - Wondering Boy Poet (Live)

33 - My Valuable Hunting Knife (faster rock version)

34 - Sitting Still (REM cover, live - incomplete)

35 - Tomorrow Never Knows

36 - Party (Peel Session - incomplete)

37 - Striped White Jets (Peel Session)

38 - Atom Eyes (Peel Session)

39 - Cut-Out Witch (Peel Session)

40 - Man Called Aerodynamics (Peel Session)

41 - Bright Paper Werewolves (Peel Session)

42 - Lord of Overstock (Peel Session)

43 - Wondering Boy Poet (Peel Session)

Hear

Rollerskate Skinny - Novice ep (1992) & Trophy ep (1993)

Dublin's Rollerskate Skinny surely rank as one of the most artistically unaffected bands of the 1990s (or for that matter any decade) to enjoy major label distribution and support. Yes, Jimi Shields, brother to My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields peeled off avant guitar salvos aplenty in the Rollerskate's, but it was lead vocalist Ken Griffin who was the true visionary. The quartet opted for a congested, surrealistic canvas as opposed to the shoegazer-ish trend du jour, that resulted in two brilliant cult-classic albums, Shoulder Voices in 1994, and the slightly more approachable Horsedrawn Wishes in '96, before calling it a day shortly thereafter.

The band's aptly titled debut ep Novoice, saw it's vinyl-only issue on UK imprint Showbiz Records in 1992. It's two prolonged jams, "Complacency," and "Cushy Daughter" were rough noisenik sketches of what the Rollerskates would vastly perfect upon in just another years time.

Their second vinyl-exclusive offering, Trophy, brought to light the full extent of the band's prowess that would later pay off on their aforementioned albums. Amidst a startling sense of dynamics and oblique lyrics, later to be album cuts "Violence to Violence" and "Bow Hitch-hiker," benefited from Shield's unwieldy guitar theatrics that ricocheted and boomeranged throughout their collective twelve-minute time span. Sonically layered to the hilt, Rollerskate Skinny's sophisticated, indigenous wall of sound could beat Phil Spector at his own game any day.

Griffin went onto to not-so-great things with Kid Silver, and more recently Favourite Sons. 
  
Novice

01. Complacency

02. Cushy Daughter

 

Trophy

01. Violence to Violence

02. Trophy

03. Bow Hitch-hiker

 

Hear

Datura Seeds - Who Do You Want It to Be? (1989)

Although Who Do You Want It to Be? was released well into the digital age (1989 to be exact) Datura Seed's lone album was for whatever the reason a vinyl-only affair. That is partially why I was inspired to post it - that and the fact that it was a great album, totally overlooked by the punks and the indie-pop kids. Hailing from Indianapolis, the Datura Seeds lineage is fairly straightforward. It essentially falls on the most recognizable name in the lineup, Paul Mahern, lead singer for the talented Indy hardcore band The Zero Boys who burned out in the early 80s, and again for a little while during the '90s.

Who Do You Want It to Be? owes little or nothing to the Zero Boys spastic, whiplash punk, but didn't cater to the elitist college-rock movement of it's era either. The Datura Seeds almost effortlessly exuded sprite, trebely power-pop cum post-punk, with a unique angle on things, courtesy of Mahren's nasally pipes and a crack backing band that couldn't have been a more appropriate fit. You just have to hear it, to hear it, so press that right mouse button now. If you dig, go here for a handful of non-lp Datura songs, including the fine b-side "D.A. Pop," and a couple of demos.

01. S&P '69
02. Volume
03. Circus Chameleon
04. Trust You With My Head
05. Man Named Chris
06. Anticipate the Sun
07. Dale Carnegie
08. Reclaimit
09. Amelia
10. Folk Thing
11. Sidewalk

 

Hear

The Germs - GI rough mixes

The extent to which L.A. hardcore punk legends The Germs have been revered, eulogized, and storied is nothing short of bewildering. Perhaps not so much the band, rather the man, "Darby Crash" (aka Jan Paul Beahm) to be more precise.

It's long been espoused that a band is as only as good as their live show, and going solely on that basis, The Germs were rather rank. Their chaotic and cacophonous performances may have done the Germs image (not to mention their genre) justice, but certainly not their songs. Yet Darby and company indeed deserve their fabled fifteen minutes in the spotlight, if only for fantastically pulling things together in the studio in the late '70s, with Joan Jett as producer no less! A-melodic and intimidating as it was, the Germs lone lp, GI, bristling in it's caustic intensity, somehow revealed everything their concerts could have been, with a little more patience and practice.That in mind, the prospect of a bootleg of unmixed tracks for the GI album was more promising than even the crispest of live Germs recordings you could ever lay on these ears. In the grand scheme of things these tracks aren't particularly revelatory, but there's a certain ambiance to these versions that tickles my fancy, whether it be the feedback of guitar cords being plugged into hot amps, Don Bolles drumstick count-offs, or even the copious cassette hiss. Like I said folks, ambiance. "Lexicon Devil," perhaps the Germs signature song, is for some reason not represented here. At any rate, if you couldn't get enough of the Germs GI, you'll want to get this.

01. Caught In My Eye
02. Communist Eyes
03. Land of Treason
04. Dragon Lady
05. American Leather
06. Our Way
07. Richie Dagger's Crime
08. Let's Pretend
09. Strange Notes
10. Manimal
11. What We Do is Secret
12. Media Blitz/The Slave
13. Shutdown (Annihilation Man)

Hear

Alcohol Funnycar - singles, etc

I'm tempted to say that Seattle's sorely overlooked Alcohol Funnycar were a once-in-a-lifetime discovery, but they weren't. More accurately, they elicited a visceral reaction in me in the summer of 1993, that so rarely happens today, to me anyway. During their brief early-to-mid-90s tenure, this phenomenal trio led by guitar wielding vocalist Ben London, Alcohol Funnycar could have jockeyed for a place in the grunge limelight, but instead of wallowing in swampy demi-metal, they opted for pop-punk instead. A particularly ass-kicking stain thereof in fact, enough to grind the likes of Green Day and The Offspring into kitty litter. Residing on the respectable and relatively well-distributed Seattle imprint, C/Z Records, it was AF's debut ep, Burn, that first grabbed ahold of my eardrums and never let go. With slicing, incisive, and utterly melodic piledrivers like "Aggravation," and "Time," I had found nirvana, even though it was technically three or four years since I had found, uh, Nirvana (get it?). Tracking down the first two Alochol Funnycar singles that predated Burn was more than worth the effort. Their debut wax, "Pretense" b/w "Drive by" on Rathouse Records may not have nailed the penetrating hooks of their releases to come, it was a lovingly bruising warm up nonetheless. The single's tool-head sleeve, depicted to the side of this text, is as priceless as the tunes enshrined within.

Their second offering came courtesy of yet another another obscuro Seattle label, New Rage Records. The A-side, "All About It," is an early version of another blistering powerhouse in the Alcohol Funnycar oeuvre, which would later appear on the band's full-length debut, Time to Make the Donuts. It's backed by none other than a fervent take of Killing Joke's debut album favorite "Complications." Pure gold my friends. I'm rounding out this brief upload with Funnycar's contribution to the C/Z four-band comp 7" Four on the Floor from 1993, a well as "Fistfight With a Billygoat," a fun, riff-rocking hoedown that appeared on the Rathouse Records Power Flush compilation album of the same period.

Alcohol Funnycar dropped their second and final lp, Weasels, in 1995, a more serious effort inspired by the loss of tragically murdered Gits front-woman Mia Zapata. Ben London when onto a much mellower solo project, Sanford Arms after Funnycar disbanded.

Tracks:

01. Pretense (1st 7'')
02. Drive By (1st 7'')
03. All About It (2nd 7'')
04. Complications (2nd 7'')
05. Push (Four on the Floor comp)
06. Fistfight With a Billygoat (Power Flush comp)

Hear

HighAteUs

Hi folks. I'm going out of town for a week or so, which means no updates until the end of the month. Now's a good time to catch up downloading all the cool swag you've been putting off. Check my blogroll for some more sites to tide you over. Caio.

Swervedriver - "Laze It Up" - Raise-era b-sides and more

In a perfect world, airline food would be catered by Red Lobster, every city would have an Amoeba Records store, and Swervedriver would re-release their walloping debut album Raise, as a two-CD deluxe version containing that album’s staggering number of b-sides and rarities, most of which equaled the caliber of the songs that made their way on to the record proper. And oh yeah, world peace and an end to poverty would make it a better nice too.

The early ‘90s were an incredibly prolific era for Britain’s Swervedriver, who were often noted as the band that catapulted the “car song” into the the shoegazer era, via their signature indie hit, “Son of Mustang Ford.” Even before Raise saw it’s 1991 release, the three singles that preceded it – “Son of Mustang Ford, “Rave,” and “Sandblasted” were issued as four-song eps with each bearing three exclusive cuts. That’s NINE songs that comprised a hypothetical album in itself! But wait, there’s more! The Japanese import of Raise also contained a bonus track, “Andalucia,” though a bit lacking in the songwriting department, was still a treat. Some vinyl incarnations of Raise also came with a two-song flexi disc with two “twangy” instrumental tracks that would foreshadow what listeners could expect on Raise’s followup, Mezcal Head. The US Reel to Real ep, that served as an unofficial companion to the album, featured “Sandblasted” as the leadoff cut, with yep, you guessed it, yet another three smashing, non-lp gems.

See the notes below to learn about all of the songs that round out this compilation, as well as their sources. Some cuts here made their way to the 2 CD Swervedriver anthology Juggernaut Rides, but the majority didn’t.

01. Volcano Trash
02. Kill the Superheroes
03. Juggernaut Rides
04. She’s Beside Her Herself
05. Afterglow
06. Flawed
07. Out
08. Laze It Up
09. Zedhead
10. Scrawl & Scream
11. Hands
12. Jesus
13. Over
14. Andalucia
15. Surf Twang
16. Deep Twang
17. Son of Mustang Ford (1989 demo)
18. Rave Down (radio session)

1-3 Son of Mustang Ford ep b-sides
4-6 Rave Down ep b-sides
7-9 Sandblasted ep b-sides
10-12 from US Reel to Real ep
13 Raise outtake on Juggernaut Rides compilation
14. bonus track on import version of Raise
15-16 from flexi disc that accompanied some vinyl versions of Raise17. also on Juggernaut Rides
18. BBC session (?)

As some of you have no doubt noticed the download links for this "compilation" have expired.  I'm electing not to renew said links given that much of the material here has been made available on the Juggernaut Rides anthology and the 2008 deluxe reissue of Raise.  Also, a decent chunk of these tracks have been assembled on the Swervedriver Honey Heavens Above collection on Bandcamp.

Jupiter - Arum (1992)

From my perspective, it’s logical of me to deem that Jupiter were Sydney, Australia’s answer to dream-pop. Not only is the music a dead giveaway, but the timing of Arum’s 1992 release couldn’t have been more appropriate.

The enveloping melodic rush of “Leave the Ground,“ kicks things off, and although it’s Arum’s sheer, undeniable apex, the remainder of the album does a decent job of keeping pace with it. Jupiter weren’t exactly the essence of the shoegazer movement of their time, but came within spitting distance. Opting for ambiance over feedback and tremolo, Jupiter were actually more in league with British powerhouses Moose and Slowdive. The trio’s brief detours to chilly post-punk on “New,” and chiming guitar pop, a la early-Stone Roses on “Day 1,” collectively create a worthwhile dynamic here.

Jupiter released one single, both slices of which are here, and contributed two songs to the Slumberland Records Just a Taste compilation are also present and accounted for. Arum, released by Summershine Records, ostensibly contains the group’s entire recorded output. Now that’s what I call unsung.

01. Leave the Ground
02. T
03. Carefully
04. Lost
05. @
06. Sense
07. Glow
08. New
09. Day 1
10. @

11. Meltdown

 

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Blake Babies - 'Sunburn' demos (1989)

I stumbled across this a few years ago on a file trading site and have not re-encoded or altered anything. The Blake Babies really need no introduction, so I'll spare you a verbose essay. This bootlegged collection of demos for the Babies' final album, Sunburn, has the rough-hewn, embryonic warmth than any dedicated fan could want. It's really unnecessary for me to extol on whether these incarnations were superior to the finished versions, when you can make that determination for yourself.

Be that as it may, there's no startling revelations here, save perhaps for the fact that two songs demoed here, "Down Time," and "Take Me" didn't wind up on Sunburn, rather the Babies' post-Sunburn EP, Rosy Jack World.

01. Down Time
02. I'll Take Anything
03. I'm Not Your Mother
04. Kiss and Make Up
05. Look Away
06. Sanctify
07. Star
08. Take Me
09. Train
10. Watch Me Now I'm Calling

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The Fluid - Clear Black Paper LP & Freak Magnet EP (1988/89)

By 1991, when I was a junior in high school, I was completely and utterly immersed in the Sub Pop/Seattle/grunge/indie axis, and at the time it seemed like there was no turning back. So much so that after I acquired a taste for Mudhoney, Nirvana, Swallow, Tad and others, I was more than motivated to burrow even deeper into the trove of Sub Pop Records bands that I was unfamiliar with, but there wasn’t much else to unearth at that time. One unexplored name was a Denver band called The Fluid, spearheaded by John Robinson, a veritable born punk rocker. I took a gamble on a cassette containing their two Sub Pop records, Roadmouth and the quickly followed-up, Glue EP. It was a wager that paid off colossally. Roadmouth, their third album released in 1989, delivered on the bass-heavy, swampy guitar-laden, noisy “new school” of punk rock that I was craving more of. Despite it’s often inane lyrics and random WWII references, it was an album I epitomized just as much as Never Mind the Bollocks, or any given Ramones record. Jack Endino, and later Butch Vig did a real number on the Fluid, entirely for the better I might add, on Roadmouth and Glue respectively. Their 1990 Glue EP wasn’t quite as sonically bludgeoning (the bass having been manicured a few notches), but just as snarling and intense as Roadmouth. Thoroughly in thrall with my newfound discoveries, I soon sought the Fluid’s earlier recordings. Living in a small town in the pre-webtopia era, it wasn’t easy, and in fact, took me a few years to procure the two records this post concerns.

The one Fluid album I don’t own is their debut, Punch N’ Judy on the Denver based Rayon Records imprint. I have spent a little time with it however, and as even the band may concur it it’s less than persuasive. With a healthy dollop of New York Dolls flaunt, Stonsey blues-rock, and some tattered punk fringes, safety-pinned on for size, Punch.., hardly did The Fluid justice.That would largely be remedied on their next album, the internationally released Clear Black Paper, on Sub Pop in America, and on Glitterhouse across the pond. The swagger was still there, but the approach was much linear, and more significantly, leaner. Indeed, less was more for the Fluid circa 1988, but not necessarily memorable. Clear…is solid, tight, and rhythmically aware, but even though it failed to hit the mark, the building blocks were in place for grander things to come. Released almost simultaneously, was the seven-song Freak Magnet, that perhaps more than all their records to date genuinely exuded the Fluid’s potential. On gems like “Kill City,” and “Hall of Mirrors,” it was as if Robinson was seemingly in cahoots with Iggy Pop and Stiv Bators, if only vicariously. 

As far as I know, none of the 17 tracks between these records have been ushered into the digital era. The US version of Clear Black Paper, has four songs not on it’s Glitterhouse Records counterpart, and vice-versa. The four missing tracks from the American LP are paired with three more cuts on Freak Magnet, only available as a European import. Confused? Thought so. This post, taken from the Glitterhouse version of CBP has all 17 tracks between them. The complete picture if you will, literally, as there were alternate album sleeves, specific to each continent.

You can check out even more Fluid music at another blog, which has thoughtfully archived the band’s full catalog of albums, some post-Glue demos, and vintage live cuts. I ripped the tracks in this post straight from my original vinyl copies and did not lift them from the above linked website or an alternate source.

Clear Black Paper
01. Cold Outside
02. Nick of Time
03. Lonely One
04. Just Another Day
05. Nashville Nights
06. Tell Me Things
07. Today I Shot the Devil
08. Much Too Much
09. Your Kinda Thing
10. New Questions 

Freak Magnet
11. I'm Not Going to Do It
12. It's My Time
13. Left Unsaid
14. Kill City
15. Don't Wanna Play
16. Try Try Try
17. Hall of Mirrors

These have been remastered and are available through Sub Pop! 

The Pedaljets - Today, Today (1988)

The Kansas based Pedlajets are yet another in a seemingly endless number of quality '80s/early '90s bands that I have only learned about posthumously. On their debut, Today Today, The Pedaljets are a good approximation of the earnest, but rugged guitar rock of the Replacements and Nils. The band's approach is further coloured with a penchant for ringing, jangly chords, popularised by REM and the like. The Pedaljets followed up Today Today with a self-titled followup on Communion Records in 1990, which did little for their fans, and even less for them. Nevertheless, there are some great tunes on this one. It's my understanding that the Pedaljets have recently performed some reunion shows.

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Mercyland - No Feet on the Cowling (1989)

Athens, Georgia churned out many a landmark modern rock band throughout the '80s, and Mercyland were no exception. However this unique power-trio weren't often associated with their locale, so much as their lineage. If you're a fan of yet another power-trio, that being the Bob Mould-led Sugar, you may be familiar with a Mercyland alumni named, David Barbe, who traded the roll of that band's lead-man to full-time bassist for Sugar. Sugar by the way were one of the only "original" bands on the predominately reissue label, Rykodisc

Mercyland had something of an indigenous flair that hasn't been replicated since (not that anyone has deliberately tried). Pegged as a "punk," band, their foundations are more rooted in pop and Midwestern rock. David Barbe possessed a commanding, yet haggard delivery, amidst a flurry of jangly, hard-strummed power chords. The formula worked, but few beyond the southeast had the opportunity to experience Mercyland.

Buoyed by the success of Sugar, Rykodisc packaged a collection of out of print Mercyland material, Spillage in 1994. Up until then, it was the only cd available of the band's singles and compilation appearances, however Mercyland's lone album, No Feet on the Cowling, had enjoyed a small run of cds, along with a more widely available vinyl version. This post is from the cd, that which by the way has two bonus tracks. Aren't I the lucky one? For new listeners, Spillage is the place to start, but for those already familiar with it, check out this album for a more complete picture of the band. By the way, Spillage has shown up in many a used-cd bargain bin. It's worth every penny...all fifty of them.

There's also a great Mercyland article that can be read here

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Bleach - s/t ("Snag" and "Eclipse" eps) (1991)

Yet another criminally overlooked and under-appreciated band that came courtesy of the early ‘90s British dreampop movement. In their brief lifespan they eked out about a half-dozen eps and sadly, only album, the superlative Killing Time. Never heard it? Got to half.com NOW, and buy a used copy if a new one isn’t available! It’s that crucial – right up there with Loveless, Raise and the rest of ‘em. Anyway, dealing with the matter at hand this seven track mini-album bares the first two fruits of their labor, the Snag and Eclipse eps, both long out of print.

Band mouthpiece, Salli Carson absorbed the spotlight on any given Bleach record, and this one’s no different. Snag’s “Dipping,” is quintessential slice of shoegazer rock, just as dense and enthralling as any of their contemporaries, Lush, Swervedriver and Chapterhouse included. Further into the ep is “Burn,” wherein Carson is scathingly lambasting something or somebody, but the intended target is beyond yours truly, and possibly ditto for you as well. Less vitriolic, but along the same lines, “Wipe It Away” from Eclipse is another of Carson’s cathartic, mostly-spoken monologues, this one indulging in a delivery, that believe it or not, borders on hip-hop.

There’s lots of dynamics here, and despite the underwritten and/or lengthy nature of some of the selections, this disk (if you can find it) and the aforementioned Killing Time, highlights the best of what Bleach had to offer, and for the most part, it was pretty flabbergasting.

Snag
01. Dipping
02. Seeing
03. Bethesda
04. Burn

Eclipse
05. Wipe It Away
06. Decadence
07. Crimson "o"

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Urban Verbs - Early Damage (1981)

“No-wave,” “cold-wave,” an perhaps even “hard-wave,” but definitely not new-wave, Washington D.C.’s Urban Verbs were either defiantly flipping the bird to the man (in this case, Warner Brothers records) or simply progressing on their own weird trajectory, on Early Damage, their second and final LP. It’s hard to believe that any major label would mint an album this artistically disaffected. So much in fact, that some of the eerier selections here would make Ian Curtis sound downright friendly by comparison. Robert Goldstein’s chimey, clangy fret-work is actually more tuneful than Roddy Frantz’s vocals, which he opts to speak more than sing, so I suppose that’s not saying much. Early Damage is where doomy post-punk flirted with the burgeoning goth scene of the early 1980s. It must have been one hell of an album for the WB to market, and maybe that explains why this slab of licorice pizza assumedly sank without a trace upon it’s ’81 issue. It’s not a big favorite of mine, though it’s more tolerable than I let on. I saw it somehow necessary to archive this record, if only as a curiosity. As for their much user-friendly self-titled debut, it’s been reissued on cd and can be purchased here.

01. When the Dance Is Over
02. Jar My Blood
03. Acceleration
04. Early Damage
05. Promise
06. For Your Eyes Only
07. Business and the Rational Mind
08. In the Heat
09. Terminal Bar

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Venus Beads - Incision (1991, Emergo)

In their brief, early '90s lifespan, the feedback-laden Venus Beads managed to make a ripple in their native UK, but barely earned a modicum of respect stateside. Not woozy enough for the shoegazer side of the fence, and light years from the Madchester set, I've come to the conclusion that the Venus Beads were if anything, anti-scenesters. Logic dictates that the Jesus and Mary Chain and Mega City Four were more their style.

Incision is seeped in youthful ambition and vigor. It's the sound of fledgling rockers grasping for a slice of affluence, while still maintaining an indie-rock ethos. By today's standards, this album is something of a mess, if due to anything else, a lousy, compressed mix by anyones standards. It's a safe bet that Incision was an attempt to migrate the Beads noisy, on-stage racket to vinyl, but sonically, the results are feeble. Despite the album's shortcomings, there are some real buried gems here. Lots of them in fact, including "Moon Is Red," and "Treading Water," just two of many representative songs here that exemplied the Venus Beads melodiously-aware penchant for indie guitar-rock of their era.

01. Treading Water
02. Precious Little
03. Incendiary
04. Never Always Mine
05. Moon Is Red
06. Silver Cloud
07. On Second Thoughts
08. Another Door Closes
09. Then
10. Ghosts of Summers Past

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