All of this end of summer stuff really evokes a sense of grounding in me. It rallies the process of tying off the wild exuberance and carefree dangle of Summer in place of the upcoming living room hibernation of the holidays with family and pals. The Autumn brings closure, and it's not a sad time for me. The opposite of sad in fact. Helping a lot with my Autumn delights this year is a greatest hits record by Space Needle called "Recordings 1994-1997".
I never heard of this band back then, where the hell was I? Well nowhere near Seattle’s Space Needle, that's for sure. But I am close to her now and let me tell you I love it here, and I would have loved it here a decade ago when this band was cresting their peak and laid out this great post-modern pavement music for others to walk upon! I'm going to be as honest as I always am, right now.
This collection is an awful lot like a kid's Halloween booty grab bag. There's a ton of stuff in there, now all spilled out onto the living room floor. Kid digs it all, hey, it's candy, man. But there are definite favorites in there. The Smarties, for sure, Coffee Crisp, so-ya, Snickers, damn straight, Giant Jaw-Breakers, Love. Round. Bam. Bam. A bunch of the rest of the enormous pile of stuff is great but not super. To wit action like 3 Musketeers, Oh Henry, Candy Corn, can all stay, for later. But then there's the stuff that's only good cause it's candy. Trade? Totally. Throw away? Never. Still around in early '07? Not no.
This album is exactly like that. Some songs, namely the beginning four are remarkable, one in particular, track number 4 called 'Before I Lose My Style' is one of those tunes I listen to over and over, like it's so great I can't absorb it with a mere six listens, ha-ha. Most of the others are mainly ok and worth the effort, so they'll be kept around due to the definition of their existence, but that's about all. A couple are not so hot. They are like blocks kids play with, but the blocks are made out of porridge, confounding and very bad.
Details…..This was a three piece outfit. In order of chronology and degree of influence they are Jud Ehrbar (nice name by the way), Jeff Gatland and Anders Perker with the guitar. In the past decade they've all gone on to new audio adventures. I like what they had and you should give these guys, in their older incarnation, a listen and good luck with the Fall.
