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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> |
| Subject | Re: 80s reissues |
| Date | Wed, 23 Apr 2003 00:27:24 -0400 |
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At 10:55 PM 4/22/2003 -0400, Andrea Kremer wrote:
>
>I don't know much about their history outside of the songs I heard on the
>radio in college, but I'll bet Stewart Mason could tell you more, given
>his personal connection.
Well, I have no personal connection at all to them (I was a high school
sophomore in Lubbock, Texas, when my wife was having the aforementioned
30th birthday party), and all I know is what Charity's told me: during the
time that they were recording the two EPs, they were possibly the best band
in Boston, but then they got obsessed with the idea of getting signed, so
they picked one "A&R Showcase"-type set and played it, with absolutely no
variation, for literally MONTHS, and when they finally did get signed,
their album was an overproduced pile of crap that everybody in town hated.
My favorite of their songs is this seven and a half-minute kinda dreamy
ambient-pop thing called "Watch Out, This Sled's Made For A Maniac."
Really doesn't sound much like anything else they ever did.
New release that I'm inordinately fond of: 39 MINUTES OF BLISS (IN AN
OTHERWISE MEANINGLESS WORLD) by the Caesars (known as Caesars Palace in
their native Sweden), out today on Astralwerks. It's tracks from two
previous Scandinavian albums, including the snotty "I'm Gonna Kick You
Out," a Farfisa-stoked Nuggets wannabe that you might remember from that
really irritating Smirnoff Ice commercial where those assholes destroyed a
laundromat by overloading all the machines and then dancing in the suds.
(Seriously, who was supposed to pay to clean all that shit up?) Unpleasant
advertising associations aside, this is actually one of the most enjoyable
garage-revival releases to come down the pike so far. The singer has an
appealing whininess to his vocals (always a plus in this most adolescent of
genres), and the keyboardist/guitarist mixes his Farfisa organ attack with
an unexpected electronic gloss that adds a freshness to a sound that
otherwise would be indistinguishable from folks like the Hives or the Cato
Salsa Experience. ("Crackin' Up" sounds like Neu! gone garage-punk!) More
importantly, they're smart, capable songwriters who know the difference
between "homage" and "rip-off." And hey, they cover the weird waltz-time
end section (only that part!) of Teddy and His Patches' wild-eyed "Suzy
Creamcheese," stretching it out into its own bit of icy electronic
psychedelia! What's not to love?
S
NP: KEEP YOURSELF AMUSED -- Cockeyed Ghost (well, I wasn't gonna *leave* it
in the dollar bin!)
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