Released last year, this double-CD compiles tracks recorded over anumber of years in tribute to one of the most influential bands of thelate 1980s. Whils I have always loved Galaxie 500, it's strange toconceive that the three members, pursuing useless post-graduate degreesin the most prestigious Ivy League school, probably hadn't evenimagined what sort of impact they would have on the rock community,subtly combining surrealistic post-VU art-rock into a melancholy mixthat was noisy enough for the indie rockers and dark enough for thedesperate goths looking for a way out. Following their almost legendaryunamicable split in 1990, a rash of shoegaze and slowcore acts seemedto emerge, further attempting to tie similar precious binds betweendivided scenesters. Coincidence? This set is rather atypical in thefact that most of the tracks seem to be culled over years ofrecordings, rather than curated and commissioned by a label boss whoreally wants to get their fave artists to do versions of some of theirfave songs. Thus, there's both a lot of repeats and a decent amout ofmusical variety, strangely enough almost mimicing various artistcompilations once released on Shimmy Disc (a label run by Galaxie 500producer, Kramer). It's similar in the fact that on a Shimmy Disc comp,it would be an almost inconsistent mess of people: some who only everseem to pop up on random compilations, some who I was fond of, some whoI've heard of but not from, and some who will never be heard fromagain. While there's almost no comparison to the feel of the tunes intheir original forms, a number of these groups do indeed do a sincerejob of paying homage. The music on disc one seems to drag towards themiddle, however, especially when Trains and Boats and Planes entertheir sixth minute of "Spook," leaving me to wonder that age-oldquestion about "why expend on the styles set forth on the original whenyou can easily put a far more original take on the songs?" Luckily disctwo has a wider variety of both electronics-based and guitar-based actsand, from track to track, holds my interest longer. Be warned, however,that Sugar Plant's version of "Sorry" was recorded way back in 1994,while ISAN's version of "Strange" has no date attached&$151;neithersound remotely like what each band sounds like today. Neither MusicalChairs nor The Pribata Idaho seem to do my fave G500 track, "Fourth ofJuly" good enough justice while Seely do a fine job with "PlasticBird," leaving me wondering what's the deal with them these days? (HasScott Herren become too big with Prefuse, Savath + Savalas, andDelarosa and Asora to be a part of a cool rock band any more?) One ofthe things I can't get over is that I find it rather odd to own atwo-CD tribute to a band who only recorded three albums. At thediscounted price, however, there's really enough good material to beworth it.
samples:
- Hefner - Oblivious
- Seely - Plastic Bird
- Portastatic - Tugboat
Read More
