This is the big summer edition. It’s pretty epic. They use STP’s Vaseline as the opening preview song, which is too bad. There is some really good stuff on this one. Click more to keep reading.
>David Byrne - “angels“ from s/t (Luaka Bop/Sire/Warner)
I recently questioned my relationship with my boyfriend when I found out he doesn’t really like the Talking Heads and doesn’t think David Byrne is a genius. (It’s like I don’t even know you!). I think this is a pretty weird time in Byrne’s career, as evidenced by the Yanni hair, but everything he does is cool anyway. The video reminds me of something I would have seen on Pete & Pete at the time. The song starts out sounding a lot like once in a lifetime but then goes crazy with the yodeling after that. hmmm….
>Dinosaur Jr. - “get me” from where you been (Sire)
This is an ‘MTV exclusive’ performance video. How “90’s indie.” How “alternative.”Lou Barlow has a sweet jacket on. The song is good but just too damn long. Too close to jam-band.
>Dinosaur Jr. - “raisins“ from b-side single out there (Sire/Warner Bros)
They have two songs is a row on this tape. Maybe they’re just that cool? Or maybe it’s because Warner Music distributed these…Anyway, this is from the same MTV Europe taping but this song is much more rockin’. This means cue the cousin-it routine from Lou’s silly long hair. Much better - the jamming out becomes rocking out but it’s still too long. I don’t dig it.
>Stone Temple Pilots - “vaseline“ from purple (Atlantic)
Ugh. This is a catchy enough song but something about it and this band has always been so off-putting to me. The Scott Weiland thing has been recently addressed here. The video is pretty unremarkable except to say that it is quintessentially, cliche 90’s
>Lush - “hypocrite“ from sulit (4AD/Reprise)
This has so many things I would have liked a couple years after it came out. It’s shoegaze-y with a cartoon-y, pop-punk aesthetic. Why have I never seen this before now, when I’m too jaded to dig it? Pretty fun. Pretty dated.
>Bettie Serveert - “palomine“ from palomine (Matador)
I had mixed feelings about watching this one because I like things they’ve done relatively recently. I though this was either going to make me an official fan or be so embarrassingly bad that I couldn’t like them anymore. Turns out it’s such a surprise that I don’t feel either way. Kind of coffee-shop feeling. So-so. The video’s decent. We sure did love the half black and white videos back then.
>The Auteurs - “lenny valentino“ from now i’m a cowboy (Hut USA/Vernon Yard)
I would listen to this now. Surprise, surprise…they’re on a label I’ve never heard of. This is 90’s disco. This is fucking cool. I see why this didn’t make it in the 90’s (too ahead of or behind it’s time depending on how you slice it,) but I am a new fan.
> Paul Weller - “sunflower“ from wild wood (Go!Discs/London)
I thought I was going to like this one a lot because the video (once again partially black & white) looks cool and the guitar is awesome. But that was until he started singing, and really, until I had to look at him. Something sounds muzaky about this. Wikipedia tells me this is the guy from my beloved The Jam, which explains why the voice is familiar. But, that doesn’t really change my mind about this. The Jam was 15 years before this. This is old people music. (sorry. I’m almost mad at myself for this one but the bluesy thing is no good.)
>Catherine Wheel - “the nude“ from chrome (Fontana/Mercury)
Catherine Wheel is not a woman. There’s some wet clay on…a nude. My emo sensors are going off. Catherine Wheel is like the Lindsay Diaries. The “nude that broke his heart” was a chick who did pottery or some shit named Catherine who he can’t get over and has dedicated a whole band to. Get some chapstick, emo man.
>Violent Femmes - “breakin up“ from new times (Elektra)
Ahh the Violent Femmes…another band I first heard on My-So-Called-Life (they later did a guest spot on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, fun fact). Like Byrne, I think this was a weird time in their career. Did they break up after this? No. But maybe they should’ve. I hear it’s easy to do.
2 Comments »
oh, my cred!
it’s okay, thanks for the correction.
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Comment by JoshD — April 10, 2008 @ 2:51 pm
Lou B. was way outta Dinosaur by the time that stuff was filmed. Your long haired bass player was Jay Spiegel, maybe? Not sure.
Lush are good stuff. They were my all-time-fave 4AD band.