smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | pop2r@webtv.net |
| Subject | Sun Sawed In 1/2 tidbits |
| Date | Sat, 4 Feb 2006 19:36:03 -0800 |
[Part 1 text/plain US-ASCII (2.8 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
I have all 5 SSin1/2 discs so I thought i'd chime in with a little more
background on their first 2 cds for those who are interested.
I'll start with their second album, Hot Feet For Monkey God, which
definately features alot of prominent sax, moreso over the albums first
5 songs. And as Kevin Matthews stated there is even a full out ska/swing
tune amid a few other ska-y moments. Doug Bobenhouse sings about half of
the songs on this one with Tim Rose, Ken Rose and Dave Farver each
chipping in with some lead vox of their own. And while it's true that
this so-so album seems to be searching for the stylings that would
eventually carve out their Mind Flip sound, there are some gems here.
"The Carnival Ride" is the one track on the album that sounds like it
could have been on Mind Flip with no problem. There's also a cute
version of the Brady Bunch anthem "Time To Change" with Peter Brady
himself, Christopher Knight, lending his voice. But the cd's true moment
of brilliance IMO is the track "Mary Todd", which topics Lincoln's
assassination. As the track starts you hear the sounds of nature with a
sort of 'bayou at midnight' feeling which fades into the start of the
song itself. 3 minutes later as you hear the haunting chorus of "Someone
has stolen her daylight" repeating over and over there is a SUDDEN
gunshot as the music halts. Then the song ends with a dramatic civil war
sounding blues band melody that sounds oh so circa 1860's. To this day
it's the most shocking ending of a song I have ever heard (on first
listen).
Now the first cd, The Happiness... and other short stories, is almost
sax-free (exceptions being a couple of song outros), and feels like the
album that should have FOLLOWED the Hot Feet disc (not preceeded it). In
other words, it sounds more like THE precursor to Mind Flip, as if Hot
Feet was a 'departure' in a way. All 8 songs are better than 3/4 of the
2nd cd's songs imo, and Bobenhouse sings 7 of these. And that's not
all!! There are 4 hidden tracks and an intro (spanning 14:50) from the
summer of 1989 on the disc as well. Songs that were recorded before
Bobenhouse came aboard, featuring a diff singer. They are kinda sprighty
numbers, with no sax at all, and are pretty decent at best, though you
can certainly hear some hints of better things to come. Oh, and the
singer was pretty forgetable... definately not in the same league as
Bobenhouse!
Oh and one final tidbit, for those who've never heard this. The band got
it's name from a main headline in the St. Louis Sun newspaper, ala The
Sun, which read "Sawed In Half". It was a story about a man who stupidly
sawed himself in half while sawing timber/lumber.
Anyway, it was cool to chime in on one of my all time favorite bands.
Cheers, M.J. O'Brien
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.