Months and months ago, my friend Jamie burned my roommate Scott and me some random Wrens release that she claimed was called Overnight Success, and she had no idea where it came from. Of course, this means there was no track listing, so i put off listening to it. I am complete crap when it comes to remembering song titles, but ironically, if a CD has no track listing, i don’t want to listen to it, load it into my iTunes, or deal with it at all, even if it’s by one of my favorite bands (of which The Wrens surely are one). I’m a doof like that.
A few weeks ago fellow slack-ass SSC contributor Josh and i finally threw it into the computer and the first track we heard was a version of “Pretty OK” off the Abbott 1135 EP. Sweet! I love that song and haven’t owned it until now.
Anyway, finally tonight i decided to sit down and figure out what the hell the story was with this release. Naturally, going to the Wrens’ website and message board was the smart thing to do, so i finally made my way over there and figured this shit out.
Overnight Success was a cassette-only release that came out in, like, 1996? 1997? Apparently after Secaucus, which was 1996, and before Abbott 1135, which was 1997, as it contains early versions of most of what became that EP. There’s also a crazy early version of “Faster Gun” from The Meadowlands called “Blind” that’s super-raw.
Track Listing:
1. Big City Move On (This became “Pretty OK”)
2. It’s Alright
3. Fire, Fire
4. I Guess We’re Done
5. From the Rack
6. Player
7. Blind (the future “Faster Gun”)
8. Take Me or Leave Me
9. Shakers
10. Don’t Be Shy
Because i love you, here’s “Blind:”
Can you believe it’s already been almost 5 years since The Meadowlands came out? It was seven years between that and Secaucus, and that was because of their legendary record label issues.* Being completely used to the Wrens taking forever between records, it didn’t even occur to me that i should be looking for new music, but according to an interview that was posted to their message board, we should see something new this year. We’ll see.
*for those joining late, here’s the Wrens’ web page’s short version of that story: “Halfway into first tour supporting Secaucus, the wrens are told that if they do not sign their new fairly-high-dollar recording contract, all promotion for Secaucus will be stopped. The wrens, frowning on strong-arm tactics, do not re-sign and as promised, all promotion (including support for a pending tour of Europe with Brainiac) is pulled. The head of the record company, infuriated, commences layoffs of involved record company personnel and vows that “the next band to walk through that door will be made famous - at any cost”. The next band through the door is Creed. Grass Records becomes Wind Up Records. Creed becomes famous at any cost.”
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