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Classic Album Review: Dreamy

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Artist: Beat Happening
Full Title: Dreamy
Label: K/Sub Pop
Year: 1991

Track List:
1) Me Untamed- 8
2) Left Behind- 8
3) Hot Chocolate Boy– 10!
4) I’ve Lost You- 8
5) Cry For a Shadow– 9
6) Collide- 6
7) Nancy Sin- 8
8) Fortune Cookie Prize- 8
9) Revolution Come and Gone- 8
10) Red Head Walking– 9

Comments:
Beat Happening strikes again with their fourth album, Dreamy, their most polished sounding record yet. But, don’t worry it’s still the same minimalist, amatuer sounding Beat Happening you know and love. With this release, it seems like BH matured a bit in their subject matter, especially with tunes like “Me Untamed,” (a far cry from Johnson’s usual coy, lovey dovey lyrics) “Cry For a Shadow,” and “Revolution Come and Gone” (as Michael Azzerad cites, a clear reference to the sudden, apparent, demise of the underground movement). With that being said, there’s plenty of fun, adventerous (at least lyrically), creative, and ultimately joyful numbers. Chiefly, “Hot Chocolate Boy” fits this category; it is by far my favorite in their catalog and one of my all time beloved songs! Just, simple, but enthusiastic playing. If I had to choose one BH number to show to newbies, it would absolutely be HCB; it has nearly everything that made BH excellent. I really dig the line “He’s a sensation, Hot Chocolate Nation.” Overall, I like this album, but I do not favor every track. “Collide” is too repetitive and I often like repetitive songs, even for BH, but this time it’s just annoying. This album is filled with good songs, but only a few great ones. The higher quality production ameliorates the recording, but clearly isn’t the most important ingrediant in audio magic. As I said before, this is a good album, it just lacks an album feel to it, but all in all it is certainly KLYAM Recommended.

Grade B/ B+

P.S. if you go bonkers for Calvin Johnson’s deep, baritone voice, then you will most likely love his vocals here, as they are baritone as fuck…. or you will think he has a stomach ache like my mother says.

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Classic Album Review: Beat Happening

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Artist: Beat Happening
Full Title: Beat Happening
Year: 1985
Label: K
Track List
1) Our Secret– 8/9
2) What’s Important– 9
3) Down At the Sea– 9
4) I Love You- 8
5) Fourteen- 8
6) Run Down the Stairs– 9
7) Bad Seeds (Live)- 5
8) In My Memory-8/9
9) Honey Pot- 8
10) The Fall- 7/8
11) Youth- 8
12) Don’t Mix the Colors- 8
13) Foggy Eyes- 8
14) Bad Seeds– 9
15) I Let Him Get to Me- 8
16) I Spy– 9
17) Run Down the Stairs– 9
18) Christmas- 7/8
19) Fourteen- 8
20) Let’s Kiss– 9
21) 1, 2, 3- 7
22) In Love With You Thing- 7/8
23) Look Around- 8
24) Untitled- Ungraded

Comments: This is the unflinching, incredible debut from the seminal “twee pop” group Beat Happening. You can call it twee, lo-fi, noise, etc. but ultimately it is Punk Rock- at its finest. In this record, BH, known for their amateur quality/attitude, are at their most primitive; the production is about as lo-fi as it gets before it becomes simply rubbish. On this LP, most songs are astonishingly decent pop tunes, with passion taking the front seat over musicianship. One can hear a lot of 60s surf rock influence as well as the outsider feel of The Shaggs and Half Japanese. Lyrically, most numbers are innocent in nature- “Down at the Sea,” ” Run Down the Stairs,” etc. There are also more than a fair share of love ballads- “Our Secret,” “I Love You,” “Honey Pot,” and the classic “Let’s Kiss.” Admittedly, not every track is good and some do suffer from the lack of “quality” recording and perhaps would have sounded better with a finer studio. My two favorite tracks are definitely “Bad Seeds” ( the guitar riff reminds me of the music in the James Bond Films; a very bad ass song!) and “I Spy.” All in all, this is a pretty nice debut from Beat Happening and it certainly is amongst the annals of “YOU CAN DO IT TOO!” records.

Grade: B+

“Bad Seeds” with clips from Over the Edge (1979)

Classic CD Review, Entertainment, Music

Classic Review: You’re Living All Over Me [1987]

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Band: Dinosaur Jr.
Label: SST

1. “Little Fury Things” – (A+) – A long-time favorite, I love the smothering of distortion and pop at the beginning of the tune. Of course, the rest of the tune is just as amazing; the solo toward the middle really stands out.

2. “Kracked” – (A-) – Interesting solos, but rather dull verses. I do like the proto-grunge chorus.

3. “Sludgefeast” – (B+) – Another heavy battering of noise! Of course, a little teaser of a slowdown leads to an even more massive outbreak of…sludge. Mascis’ vocals fit snug on here.

4. “The Lung” – (B+) – A tiny bit toned down from the two tracks before it, this is a more relaxed interpretation of distortion.

5. “Raisans” – (A-) – Unfortunately not really note-worthy, but it’s still quite listenable. The final long shred is impressive. The best of its kind on here so far, I’d wager.

6. “Tarpit” – (A) – Would probably work best as an album closer because it’s just that great and has that whirlpool of noise that gives me a sense of closure.

7. “In a Jar” – (A-) – Reminiscent of Pavement in its clean, yet lo-fi ways — at least at first.

8. “Lose” – (B+) – A little bit of a hassle to appreciate, but Barlow meant well.

9. “Poledo” – (C-) – An unnecessary “sound collage” as Wikipedia dubs it. Really not necessary. For throw-aways in the grand scheme of throw-aways, I guess this isn’t terrible.

10. “Show Me the Way” – (A+) – Awesome! An instant favorite!

GRADE: A-/B+