This will take a couple of days as these guys have an extensive catalogue.....likely not for everyone,but what the fuck is? Great win today by the Vikings, Royals can wrap up the World Series tonight, Buckeyes on a bye week, so why not a semi-mega post, this is whom came blazing into my mushy brain.......
These boys from San Francisco began in the late 80's as a kind of shoegaze (think maybe My Bloody Valentine) band, over the years they developed a more conventional psychedelic rock sound, I have enjoyed SOME of thier stuff, some not so much, and perhaps that will be your feeling as well......anyway, if this is new to you, congrats, please comment if you would.
The first album we have here is "Spacegirl and Other Favorites".....it's pretty rare I think and contains the trippy single "Hide and Seek".....more "interesting" than good, I think.......the follow up, 1994's "Methodrone" is the first "real"highlight, an homage to the previously mentioned My Bloody Valentine and maybe Spaceman 3, it features the singles "She Made Me" and "Evergreen", and is actually quite an underappreciated album. Recommended.They cranked out THREE (!) albums in 1996, and we'll check those out today, and maybe the rest later this week......."Thier Satanic Majestie's Second Request" is a total homage to trippy mid-60's psych rock, and would epitomoze the sound they would eventually call thier own....sitars, mellotrons, all that great shit, if you like that kind of stuff (the original stuff i mean), this is a good album, they do the music justice and add just a bit of a 1990's touch to it.
The second album of 1996, "Take It From the Man!", is TOTALLY different, it's bluesy-Rolling Stones style rock, while I don't feel it is characteristic of thte band's careet, I do kind of enjoy it......."Vacuum Boots", "Who", and "Oh Lord" stand out.......you may or may not like this one, I kind of do.
Finally the THIRD album from 1996 was "Thank God For Mental Illness", an experimental effort split into two segments, the first featuring some country-ish accoustic numbers (I'm not crazy about it), ane the second is a long single track, "Sound of Confusion" which combines "songs" and blurry sound collages, I like it, but I can see someone hating it as well.
SPACEIRL AND OTHER FAVORITES-01 Crushed/02 That Girl Suicide/03 Deep In the Devil's Eye and You/04 Kid's Garden/05 When I Was Yesterday/06 Spacegirl/07 Spacegirl Revisited/08 After the Fall/09 Thoughts of You/10 Hide and Seek/11 Never Ever!/12 Ashtray/13 FireSong
METHODRONE-01 Evergreen/02 Wisdom/03 Crushed/04 That Girl Suicide/05 Wasted/06 Everyone Says/07 Short Wave/08 She Made Me/09 Hyperventilation/10 Records/11 I Love You/12 End of the Day/13 Outback/14 She's Gone/15 Methodrone
TAKE IT FROM THE MAN!-01 Vacuum Boots/02 Who?/03 Oh Lord/04 Caress/05 (David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six/06 Straight Up and Down/07 Monster/08 Take It From the Man/09 BSA/10 Mary, Please/11 Monkey Puzzle/12 Fucker/13 Dawn/14 Cabin Fever/15 In My Life/16 The Be Song/17 My Man Syd/18 Straight Up and Down (Long Version)
THANK GOD FOR MENTAL ILLNESS-01 Spanish Bee/02 It Girl/ 03 13/04 Ballad of Jim Jones/05Those Memories/06 Stars/07 Free and Easy, Take 2/08 Down/09 Cause I Love Her/10 Too Crazy To Care/11 Talk-Action=Shit/12 True Love/13 Sound of Confusion
OK, let me know what you think about these.......and of course GO ROYALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Also, please keep the great guest material coming, at least until I get laid off for the winter.........some (most) of that stuff is beyond priceless!)
Also, while I think I have all of these guys "regular" releases, I don't think I have any rare or live stuff, so if you are a big fan of them and have something to contribute, PLEASE do!
Links will be up tonight, before the ROYALS win the WORLS SERIES for the first time since 1985......remember it like it was last night, going through a divorce, hadn't even met the TRUE love of my life yet (it wouldn't be for another couple of weeks)......freaks me out how this is wrapping up into a neat little 30-year package, honestly.......life is FUCKING BIZARRE.
