The Moles - Untune The Sky

The Moles' Untune The Sky, one of the great lost albums of the 90s, has been reissued as a limited edition 2 LP set by Kill Shamen records. The set looks to be a straight reissue of the Flydaddy CD that was released back in 1999 that included the entire 1991 LP, plus the 2 X 7" single that was released on Ringers Lactate in 1992.

Untune The Sky was almost impossible to find in the U.S. upon its original release, and the Ringers Lactate single was not much easier to come by. I did find a copy of the single, but then I was working at Kim's Underground at the time, and I bought one of maybe three copies that came in (the other two no doubt also snagged by employees).

This is an essential release for fans of retro 60s psychedelic pop, as well as devotees of Kiwi pop (though the Moles hailed from Australia). Even at this early stage in his career, bandleader and primary songwriter Richard Davies had a sharp ear for melody. The production and arrangements are less elaborate than those of his seminal duo Cardinal or his solo work, but they have a certain ragged charm missing from his later work.

"Bury Me Happy" the lead off cut from the album (at least on the reissue) to my ears has much in common with the experimental indie-pop of New Zealanders like The Clean, while "What's The New Mary Jane" takes Davies' pop-psych songwriting to the next level. It takes cojones to nick a title from Lennon-McCartney, but The Moles pull it off. Great as this version is, it compares unfavorably to my memory of Davies performing the song live with the Flaming Lips as his backup band.

If you don't have a turntable, the Flydaddy CD can still be found used and I highly recommend it.

The Chills - Big Dark Day

It's a heavenly pop hit,
For those that still want it.

I'm always puzzled by a tendency among certain artists to essentially throw away their most hit-worthy music, relegating their catchiest songs to b-sides, or not releasing them at all. For instance, it's difficult to understand why "Wonder People (I Do Wonder)" wasn't released as a single in advance of Forever Changes. The song clearly wouldn't have fit the dark tone of the album, but it condenses and simplifies many of Forever Changes' virtues in a way that would have made it the perfect vehicle for getting some radio airplay in advance of its release. It's hard to explain why no one recognized this in 1967 and the song sat in the vaults for nearly thirty-five years. Maybe it was the drugs.

"Big Dark Day" by The Chills is another good example of this phenomenon. Martin Phillipps co-wrote what can only be described as a heavenly pop-hit with former dB Peter Holsapple, but inexplicably stuck it on the b-side of the little-heard 1992 "Male Monster From the Id" single. The song was later relegated to a limited-edition "bonus disc" on The Chills best-of album, Heavenly Pop Hits. Good luck finding either of those.

Don't get me wrong, "Male Monster" is a good song, but you don't have to be some music industry genius to figure out that there aren't enough hookers and cocaine in the world to convince radio programmers to play a song whose chorus goes "the male monster from the iiiiddd." On the other hand, "Big Dark Day" is everything one could ask for in a three minute and forty-one second pop song. It's got a big hook, a melody you can hum, nice production, a touch of drama and a sentiment anyone can relate to. I can't think of a single good reason this song wasn't a hit in 1992, other than the fact that no one was allowed to hear it (heck, even I missed it at the time). It's almost too easy to imagine this song being played on the radio between The Sundays' "Love" and The Cranberries' "Dreams" circa 1992. Pity that it wasn't.

So, how to explain why "Male Monster From the Id" was the a-side and "Big Dark Day" was the b-side, and not the other way around? Maybe no one at the label was paying enough attention or cared enough about the band to do proper A&R. Maybe it was the drugs.

Perhaps Martin Phillipps himself left a clue in the lyrics to "Heavenly Pop Hit," which reflect a deep sense of cynicism about the ability of really great pop music to still connect with a mainstream audience. Why not relegate your catchiest songs to b-sides if you're convinced no one is going to hear them anyway? Why not reward the few fans who are paying really close attention if you believe they're the only ones who will care? Of course, there might be a simpler explanation. Maybe Phillipps just thought the song was flawed in some way that escapes my ears and didn't think it was ready for prime-time. Whatever the reason, here's a heavenly pop-hit for those that still want it.

My First Digital Album

Yes, I am a bit behind the curve. Many have written about the pros and cons of the MP3 digital format and I doubt I will cover any new ground with this post but I thought that in many ways it was important to note my impressions of my first downloaded digital MP3 album. It's a good one BTW - David Kilgour's A Feather in the Engine.

Pete sent me an invitation to join eMusic – something that was deja-vu like, since he was always 'inviting' me to join Columbia House back in those junior high school days to get free records – you know, 12 albums for $.01. This offer was similarly intriguing. They offer 50 free downloads with no commitment to pay a monthly fee, which as a subscriber is $15/mo. for 50 downloads or what equals out to be $.30 a song. How could I say 'no' to free music?

Of course you get no physical LP or CD. No artwork. No liner notes. No lyrics. Nothing to sell if you find that you no longer listen to it. All you get is a compressed computer file that downloads somewhere on your computer and when played back miraculously sounds like music (and much less so on a home system). Through eMusic a typical album will run around $3-4.

But really the most amazing thing about the MP3 stores is that you can preview tracks, pick and download an album quickly and burn a CD in very little time. I did one Saturday morning and it took around 8 minutes from download to burned CD. All the while drinking my morning tea in my comfy chair. So that is pretty close to instant gratification, although I had to remind myself that if I had been in a record store I could easily beat the 8 minute mark from store checkout to car stereo. That is if I had a razorblade. If not, it probably would be a much closer match.

Also, if you are more of the type to buy an album for that 'one great song,' those 50 downloads can probably stretch pretty far over 30 days. Since I'm the type who prefers the album format, my 50 downloads lasted less than 2 days. I got 4 complete albums. Worst part is this means having to wait 28 days until I can get my next instant MP3 fix. Don’t really like this part of the eMusic plan – why not just charge $.30 a track?

So an important question is how much would you pay for an MP3 album? This is not to be confused with what an MP3 is worth(which I will discuss later). My gut tells me it certainly should be priced less than half the cost of a typical cd. The iTunes/Yahoo! $.99/song puts the costs too close in my opinion. I feel eMusic's pricing is much closer to the right ballpark around $3-4 an album.

A good high quality cassette to dub an album used to cost a few dollars and would have the same omissions as the MP3 downloads like lack of cover art and resale value. And the cost would equal maybe 25% of the typical $8-9 LP (This is back in the "C-30, C-60, C-90 Go!" era). This is something I can relate to having done this countless times.

But I think I'd prefer to think of the MP3 tracks being free of charge and that there’s an added $.30 'convenience fee' per track for downloading. Somehow I just feel cheated thinking of paying money for an MP3 which to me has little intrinsic value. In the future will we see people putting their MP3 collections in their will to their loved ones? Well with MP3 collections there certainly wouldn't be any need for fighting over it since multiple copies are a snap. Just give everyone a copy – and hopefully they'll be content and won’t try and sell it. Because if they did they'll just discover Uncle Pete's huge MP3 collection isn't worth much on the open market.

Ok, back to eMusic -- If this were a perfect world, all I would need is a 500GB external hard drive, a MP3 player, an eMusic subscription and an internet connection. My life would be simple. No more clutter or storage issues, cleaning records or changing cartridges. Actually, no more records, no more CDs. Just highly organized music files neatly stored together alphabetically on my computer and accessible in a matter of seconds.

It is a nice thought. But for now that’s all it is.


Old School Mess

Since this space is supposed to have music here's a Link to David Kilgour's MySpace page with "Today is Gonna Be Mine" from A Feather in the Engine

The Chills - Green Eyed Owl (Live)

I had written previously of my experience of being blown away by The Chills live, and feeling like their albums never quite lived up to my memory of that experience. This live track, which was originally the b-side of a 1987 single, gives a fair representation of their live capabilities. This is close to the sound I remember from the band that performed live at CBGBs in 1988, although for all I know the line-up had turned over twice in the year between the release of this single and the show I saw. It would be a shame for something so beautiful to simply be forgotten.

The Bats

More Kiwi-pop. The Bats were the band Robert Scott formed after the breakup of The Clean, and he continued putting out music with that band through The Clean's many reunions. In fact, The Bats just released a new album last year. I don't think it would be difficult to argue that The Bats ended up being the best of the post-Clean efforts (including the reunions).

This song originally appeared on The Bats second EP, And Here Is "Music For the Fireside"! The Bats early singles and EPs have a more low-fi, homespun feel than the material that would emerge on their later LPs, but the material is just as good. Most of the early EP and single material was compiled on the Compiletely Bats CD, but that is now out-of-print and hard to find. The CD makes for a very good Bats album and is well worth picking up if you find a copy.

I have no idea what a "Chicken Bird Run" is. Maybe in New Zealand people take their chickens out to chicken runs much as Americans take their dogs to dog runs. I imagine it would be a nice place for chickens to socialize and maybe get a little exercise. Perhaps someone with a better knowledge of local New Zealand customs could fill me in. Anyway, despite not knowing what this song is about, I like it.

The Great Unwashed

After Kiwi-pop legends The Clean broke up, the brothers Kilgour formed The Great Unwashed, essentially a more lo-fi version of The Clean without Robert Scott (who had gone on to form The Bats). The Great Unwashed released an EP and some singles that were eventually compiled on the unimaginatively titled Collection. It's hard to think of The Great Unwashed as anything other than a footnote to The Clean's more storied history, but the music holds up well on its own.

The Clean went on to record a number of reunion albums starting with 1990's Vehicle. Most of these albums are good, but by this point The Clean were more of a Kiwi-pop supergroup than a functioning band, and the albums lack the inspiration that marked the original Clean (and The Great Unwashed).

The Chills

The Chills created some of the best indie-pop music of the 80s, but they've never really gotten their due. The Chills were much more than a twee-kiwi-pop band, and far better than their recorded legacy suggests. The constant line-up changes probably stopped them from reaching their full potential on record.

I saw the band live during what I believe was their first ever U.S. tour (at least that's what I remember someone telling me at the time). It was October of 1988, and they were playing a CMJ showcase show at CBGBs. My jaw was on the floor through the whole show, the music was mind-blowingly great. When Submarine Bells came out the next year, I was disappointed because it just did not live up to the level of excellence I remembered from the live show. I don't know exactly what I heard on that night in 1988, but I remember how I felt; stunned and overwhelmed. The music was many times more intense than what I had heard on their under-produced records. The psychedelic aspect of the music seemed more pronounced, but in a way that seemed fresh and not obviously retro.

"Party In My Heart" was recorded in 1986 and was first included on the Homestead Human Music compilation, it later surfaced as a CD bonus track on Brave Words. "I Think I'd Thought I'd Nothing Else To Think About," one of the most awkward titles in the history of popular music, was released as a B-side in New Zealand, and on a flexi disc from The BOB magazine in the U.S. This version was taken from the flexi, so sorry about the sound quality.

The Magick Heads

The Magick Heads were (are?) a side project of Bats frontman Robert Scott. I guess the best way to describe them would be a cross between the the Kiwi pop of The Bats and the British folk-rock of Fairport Convention. Lead singer Jane Sinnott even sounds a little like Sandy Denny. Their first two albums, Before We Go Under and Woody seem to have fallen out-of-print. I missed their 2000 release, Transvection, but I'm willing to bet that it's excellent as well--from The Clean, to The Bats, to The Magick Heads, I don't think Bob Scott is capable of being involved with anything less than fantastic. The title track of Before We Go Under was written for Barbara Manning and released on a Teenbeat 7". It's the best thing she ever did, and I'll probably post her version later. Until then enjoy "Standing On the Edge" from the first Magick Heads album.