Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians - Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars

I'm an Edie Brickell fan.

This may be due to the fact that she's a fellow Texan and she kinda reminded me of 10,000 Maniacs.

My heart was crushed the moment I heard Paul Simon got her to marry him...  they recently had the cops called on them after getting into a fight and she's on my mind ever since.

Of all the artists that I wished I fit into the drunken podcast over the weekend, I think I would have selected a deep cut from this album.

Listened to this album for the first time in maybe 15 years and I can't really put my finger on why I loved it so much...  a lot of the songs are pretty poetic tho'.  I can't believe that I still remember all the lyrics to "Air of December".

This album also contains the song I casted a vote for when it came down to selecting a "Class Song" for my high-school.  The song was called "Circle" and I'm not quite sure why I thought it would be a good class song after hearing it this evening.  

Standout Tracks:

Counting Crows - August and Everything After

In preparation for recording a themed podcast (1994) - I've been spending a lot of time in recent days, pulling albums from that specific time period.  In the process of pulling albums, I've found myself pulling records that I thought were released in 1994, but ended up being released in 1993 or 1995.

Today's album of the day, is an album I listen to at least once or twice a year...   it's August & Everything After by the Counting Crows.  An album I guess that one could describe as an alternative/americana album?  

The album had a number of popular radio singles, specifically "Mr. Jones" and "Round Here"...  when I hit the internets up for notes and historical critiques of the album, I was surprised to see so many "4 out of 5" star reviews for the album.   

It's a solid album from beginning to end and I'm struggling to think of how it can't be on the short list of 'contemporary classic' albums.  I mean, there's no way the band, the label and the producer didn't know during the recording of this record that they were recording something that was Springsteenesque at the very moment it was coming together.

More than any other large commercial album in my musical library, I find myself gravitating and listening incredibly closely to the non-singles found on this record.

Sullivan Street - is currently playing aloud in my apartment and I'm finding it hard to not stop the song 3/4 of the way through and hear it again.  The piano arrangements on this song are fucking ridiculous...   the female backing vocals in the chorus is an example of the detailed attention that was given to each track.

Anna Begins - is an example of Adam's exceptional ability to pen narrative songs that so many other front men can't.  It's fucking poetic really...  and it doesn't hurt that he can croon over the 2s and 4s.

Have a small factoid to share about this album...  If you look closely at the album art, you'll notice that there's lyrics to a song "August & Everything After" that they opted to not put on the album.  The song has only been performed 2 or 3 times out loud and I found a copy this afternoon.

Girls Against Boys - Freak*on*ica

The funny thing about GVSB is that I discovered this band by accident after reading a review of this album (Freak*on*ica) in Alternative Press.  I then found a copy of the album on CD for 8.99 later that week and thought that this was going to be the future of music.

gvsb.jpg

It was Don Deluxx that turned me onto their earlier stuff and was completely floored by their double bass guitar sound.   He put on Kill the Sexplayer from the seminal album Cruise Yourself  and I knew instantly that I had to pick up everything they ever put out.

I didn't realize how many people (retrospectively) were so down on Freak*on*ica.  At the time, a number of bands sprouted from that lapse between Rage Against the Machine albums like Korn, Deftones and Limp Bizkit.   

I'm not comparing GVSB to any of the mention bands... but the sound on this record was surprisingly polished, danceable and much better than the stuff you would find on Korn's Follow the Leader. 

Anyhoo...  it was an incredible gateway album.  I discovered Cop Shoot Cop, Soul Coughing, Jesus Lizard and a little band called Firewater - which introduced me to an incredible group of life long friends who all were a part of the Firewater Circus.

Stand out tracks:

Artist: Girls Against Boys (GVSB)
Album: Freak*on*ica
Producer: Nick Launay
Label: Geffen Records
Recorded: Seedy Underbelly Studios