Rocketship
"Honey, I Need You" 7" vinyl
Bus Stop. bus 057.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1995.
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Being a much more sad and subdued Rocketship offering than usual, this
new 7" would probably not be the best introduction to the group for
someone looking for pure pop fun, but if you're looking for something
a bit off kilter, weird and noisy, then go for it--this one keeps
getting better and better... haunting organ, depressed vocals,
crashing guitars.. it's the new path to happiness.
the Heartworms
Space Escapade CD
Darla. Darla004.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1995.
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Although I don't love every bit of Space Escapade, the debut
LP by the Heartworms, it's hard not to consider it as anything else
but great. Along with containing some delightful music, the packaging
of the LP is quite admirable, with its nostalgic quality. The
articulate, creative folks at Darla should feel very proud of their
work. It's art.
Space Escapade is casually launched with the down trodden, yet hoppin' "Thanks for the Headache," a track which was released earlier as a 7" single, also on Darla. It's a melancholy, yet memorable tune, with the attractive vocals of Velocity Girl's Archie Moore.
Next, the energy mounts as the Heartworms rocket into Blondie's "Sunday Girl." Archie's bandmate Trisha Roy sings fantastically along to the buzz-buzz-buzzing, pretty tremoloing guitars featured on this, the first of three cover tunes on Space Escapade.
For the next two numbers, Archie returns on vocals. First, via the Brian Wilson penned "Girl Don't Tell Me." Like "Sunday Girl," this tune screams. The quieter "Blues for a Heartworm" follows. It's the Heartworms theme song of sorts, and partly as such, has become an instant classic in my mind.
Trisha's time to sing returns on "I Won't Lose My Patience ." It's more great, subtle pop, with an edge. However, after its end, the album begins to lose its immediate, surface level appeal, the G-forces begin to subside, the Space Escapade begins to reach a state of rather uneventful, quiet interstellar travel.
This leads to the cover of Radiohead's "Creep." While not bad, it never matches the original in power or intensity. And the final bit on Side A, "Two Suns" ends up going not much of anywhere.
Side B continues where Side A left off. It's slow paced, and mysterious for almost its entire length. Unfortunately this type of effort is simply not as engaging as the upbeat beginning of the LP. It could be that the mysteries of the universe the Heartworms are trying to illustrate through music just do not flow well following Blondie covers. However as both pop and space are so cool, it's great that they tried.
An acoustic version of "Blues for a Heartworm" rounds out the album -- a final short, delicious treat!
Red Sleeping Beauty
Smile 7" vinyl
Sunday. Sunday 038.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1995.
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One only has to look at this 7" to know it's gonna be good. "Don't Say
You Love Me", "You & Me", and "Happy Birthday" are the song titles.
The record is from one of Sweden's greatest pop groups, Red Sleeping
Beauty. The title of the record is Smile and a cute bear is drawn on
the cover! How's the music? Well, if you can't already guess, it's
cotton candy sweet. "Don't Say You Love Me" bounces along with
keyboard and acoustic guitar, while the two flip side songs journey
more towards the distorted guitar-punk end of pop. Trivial, perhaps,
but completely charming.
Holiday
Holiday CD
March. Mar016.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1995.
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Hand-claps, and touches of keyboard accent this casual, low key
Chesterfields-esque album of pleasant, attractive guitar pop. Some
of the tracks sound immediately like classics, most obviously
"You've Got Nothing," which has that hard to define nostalgic
feel, with slightly melancholy lyrics to match, including
loving mentions of San Francisco, a city well deserving of
accolades, if I may say so. Unfortunately, after the first four
or five songs, there is a bit of a lull, where
the melodies and music become less memorable, though
similar enough in mood to the strong early portion of the album
to still be quite enjoyable. With "Obviously Love," "She
Never," and "Sarah" towards the end of the record, the
pace excellerates, lending to a strong finish. Keep your
ears open for the "hidden" fuzzy, spacey CD bonus track.
Even
In Stereo CD-EP
Rubber. Rub 043.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1995.
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Even could be compared to a whole lot of other bands in the
guitar oriented boy group alternative rock scene, and unfortunately
I can't find any characteristics that distinguish them from the
rest of this crowd. The seven songs on this EP are not bad, but
also are not particularly memorable. They're comparable to what Sloan
would create on their less inventive days, with vocals similar to J.
Mascis' of Dinosaur Jr. "Firesale" and "24 Hour Cynic" stand out a bit,
but not enough to fire me up with excitement. The seventh track on this
album is the most unique on the record. It's an unlisted, quiet acoustic
piece that stands in great contrast to the guitar energy on the rest of
the album. This could represent the band's desire to change in musical
direction, but I think they'd be much better off staying electric, as it
helps to hide a voice that I swear is being used in too many other groups
these days.
Haze
3-Song Demo Cassette
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1995.
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I miss those days when Madonna did those great wavering shrieks
of "yeah!" (or "hey!") in her songs, or, perhaps I don't miss those
days so much (God, I was in traumatic Junior High!) as I miss that
crazy, fun-loving, mega-popstar persona she had. I haven't
heard a decent new Madonna song on the radio since the Like A Prayer
era. Recently from Madonna it has all been slow, weird, static-filled
erotic-pop that I just do not get!
Now as a partial fill for the hole that Madonna's switch of styles has left, there is Haze. Granted, a comparison to Madonna is not the most obvious one to be made, as the two would not easily be mistaken for each other. What first brought up memories of Madonna are merely some vibrant "yeah"'s on the third track, "Free." They remind me, too, of mainstream '80s music in general, of which, popularity-wise, Madonna was certainly the queen. Between Haze and an early Madonna, there's a shared youthful spirit, and an "I want to be a star!" eagerness that, in at least one way, is demonstrated by each's lack of a last name.
Of course just about everybody who's actually heard this 3 song demo is now scratching their head thinking "huh?" in regards to this review. So for a quick surface level analysis, Haze inspires musings of Tori Amos being backed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with occasional Jimi Hendrix psychedelics thrown in. Throughout these three songs, Haze's vocals range from subtle spookiness to screams of rockin' passion. The Tori/Haze similarities perhaps shine best on track two where she sings "God, I Wish You Were Here," a line with quite a similar feel to the lines in Tori Amos' "God." Unfortunately, some of the guitar shredding on these songs starts to wear on me, interfering with their spookiness. Energy overkill, I guess you could say. Overall, though, a promising, lively three song demo.