Rocket From The Crypt - Circa Now!

YOURZ

There was a time when this album was never far away from my player.  In fact, around the same time as Sugar's Copper Blue was being played, so was Circa Now!  These bands were the antithesis of grunge and certainly showed at the time that me there were more interesting places, musically speaking, than just Seattle.   

The band were introduced to me by a good friend Dave (g'day Dave - a different Dave to the previously mentioned one - we know a lot of 'em).  This San Diego 6 piece punk outfit included prominent use of saxaphone and lotsa cool song titles and were known for being a helluva live band.  Fans were also known to be rabid and often sported the RFTC logo of a rocket blasting out of crypt as a tattoo.  There was a rumor going around at the time that if you had one of these on you, it guaranteed you instant free entry into any of their gigs.  Unfortunately, the band called in a day in 2005 after 15 years.

It has been a long time between listens for this CD and the memories it brought back are terrific.  Circa Now! might not have aged quite as well as Copper Blue but it still feckin' rocks like a mofo, as best exemplified by tracks like Short Lip Fuser, Ditch Digger and Killy Kill.    They sound every bit as cool as they did, sigh, nearly 20 years ago. 

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Oh, how can he even compare this to Sugar?  Bog-standard rock with largely unintelligible lyrics (thank goodness for that, though, with one refrain being "Where's my dinner?") I totally do not get how this can be described as anything but ordinary.  Especially as I heard tomorrow's review album (you'll have to come back for that one) straight afterwards.

Here's what I don't like about RFTC: it sounds muddy.  Again with the "lo-fi" meaning, basically, "we didn't really know much about mixing sound so we got my cousin Eddie to do it" - or at least that's what it sounds like.  And if I'd heard it 20 years ago my reaction would have been the same as it was today.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.rftc.com/



For further information go to: http://www.rftc.com/

Sugar - Copper Blue

MINE

What a surprise!  I knew absolutely nothing about this band before pressing Play this morning, and it's shown me my husband can still astonish me after eight years.  This album is (whisper this so he doesn't get offended) positively pure pop-rock.  My only criticism is the band obviously didn't pay any attention to the tracklisting, as the opening number is quite lack-lustre.

I vaguely recall hearing Helpless before but it was If I Can't Change Your Mind that really got me hopping about in the car this morning.  Top tune, good album, why haven't you played it to me before?  Hmmm?  Could it be it's just a little too MOR for your street cred, honey?  (YourZ sez: first of all: what street cred?  The fact is I had all but forgotten about this album but not again).  The close harmonies and great arrangements actually reminded me of Lush and the Bangles, so there.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

See, this is why this project is so fucking good because it's putting me back in touch with albums like Copper Blue and the songwriting of guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould - and whose existence in our collection had been all but forgotten.  When it came out, it was such an influential piece on me  - more than just about anything else around at the time, with the only possible exception being The Pixies (who openly acknowledge Mould's former band, Husker Du, as being a big influence).

Copper Blue is a stunning pop record, thinly disguised with abrasive guitars and a tough rhythm section.  But listening back, there's no doubting Mould's intentions.  The statement is clear in tracks like If I Can't Change Your Mind, for instance, which is just about the most perfect guitar pop song ever recorded.  Then there's A Good Idea, the best song The Pixies never wrote.  The rest of the track listing is similarly brilliant.

I really don't know why I forgot about this album.  Probably got distracted by too many shiny objects (yes, it happens).  Copper Blue is not like a long lost friend, but more like a close relative who appears on the doorstep after years, maybe looking a little care-worn but still very much a member of the family and whose appearance is cause for much celebration.  And this album is so worth celebrating.

Copper Blue, without a doubt, is the first Forgotten Gem for May (and a contender for the best Forgotten Gem of the year).

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/bobmould