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| From | Michael Coxe <audities@gmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Anyone listening to Chris Richards? |
| Date | Thu, 28 May 2009 22:40:48 -0700 |
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Kevin "Oddsman" Hunt, an Audities old timer, first raved about Chris
Richards and the Subtractions in 2005, via their myspace page. Then in
2008 Anna "Tall Boy" Borg also raved over Chris's myspace tunes.
Chris is/was also in the Phenomenal Cats with Keith Klingensmith, a
founding subscriber to the Audities-List. Keith's label Futureman
Records issued a Richards comp called "The Pathetic History vol. 1".
Speaking of Keith & Futureman, did anyone ever see a copy of the never
released Who Sell Out tribute??? Keith, are you still here? Could we at
least get a Rapidshare/MegaUpload 320k mp3 copy? It was to be a
track-by-track recreation, including the radio spots:
Original
--------
Armenia City In The Sky • Paranoid Lovesick
Heinz Baked Beans • The Andersons
Mary Anne With The Shaky Hands • The Phenomenal Cats
Odorono • The Atomic Numbers
Tattoo • The Jigsaw Seen
Our Love Was • Splitsville
I Can See For Miles • The Shazam
I Can't Reach You • Chris Von Sneidern
Medac • Jill Sobule
Relax • Cloud Eleven
Silas Stingy • Zumpano
Sunrise • Willie Wisely
Rael • Myracle Brah
Bonus from '95 remaster
----------
Glittering Girl • The Flashing Lights
Melancholia • The Grip Weeds
Someone's Coming • The Pearlfishers
Jaguar • Gigolo Aunts
Early Morning Cold Taxi • Swag
Girl's Eyes • The Breetles
Glow Girl • The Vandalias
A number of these have come out over the years; CvS even made I Can't
Reach You an occasional set entry.
- Michael, Audities historian
On 5/28/2009 8:54 PM, Michael Adelsheim wrote:
> As someone who has dug his way (if it's an "underground", I guess you
> have to "dig" to get to it) back into the world of power pop over the
> last few years, I was slowish in picking up on the amazing Chris
> Richards. I am pretty shocked that I haven't seen much mention on the
> list of this year's release - Chris Richards and the Subtractions, Sad
> Sounds of the Summer.
>
>
>
> His sound is certainly old-school (some of the chugging rhythms of the
> 70's with direct tonal links - such as jangle - to the 60's). To my
> sensibilities, he has it all...energy, beautiful ringing guitar tones,
> an ability to produce anthemic guitar riffs, a strong and sweet/biting
> lead voice, wonderful harmony singing, song melodies that are at the
> same time in the wheelhouse of power pop yet fresh sounding, a great
> sense of how to place songs in order to produce a very satisfying
> dynamic, and lyrics about love that may be smart but are at least
> cryptic enough to be extremely interesting. A couple of the singers
> I've heard echoes of are Dwight Twilley and (yes) Michael
> Carpenter...just to give you a range by comparison.
>
>
>
> The wonderful Todd Holmes (from Chris's previous band, Hippodrome) plays
> bass, and the amazing Larry Grodsky (from another earlier band, The
> Pantookas) is the drummer.
>
>
>
> And it is one of the few albums (perhaps less than a couple hundred)
> that I've heard in my 50 + years as a music geek that I always listen to
> straight through.
>
>
>
> The only (minor) quibble I have comes from the position of being a major
> lyric fanatic. Chris has two major word moves - one...he likes to slyly
> subvert a standard phrase, as he does when he sings, " I can't sell you
> what to feel," in the song "I, Miss July", and two...he likes
> approximate rhymes, as in, "and if it get's too hard I'll, try not to
> beg or borrow" in "Beg Or Borrow". Thus, these two tendencies combine to
> make the few times his words get buried or slurred (did I mention he
> usually has fine diction?) somewhat frustrating. Such can even obscure
> a whole song's meaning. Not the world's worst problem - I love a
> mystery or three - but I may have to eventually try to get a hold of him
> to beg for a lyric sheet.
>
>
>
> Here's the myspace page to hear a few of the songs all the way through:
>
>
>
> http://www.myspace.com/chrisrichardsandthesubtractions
>
>
>
> He's available from the usual suspects. (I call it - so far - my album
> of the year....)
>
>
>
> ADELSHEIM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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