Shoes: Black Vinyl Shoes (Sire U.K./1979)

Zion, Illinois' Shoes were influenced by the usual suspects that influenced Power Pop bands of the late 1970's; namely The Beatles, Nazz, The Who, The Raspberries, Big Star and Badfinger. Although they'd recorded three privately released albums in significantly small quantities the band commercially released their fourth album Black Vinyl Shoes. Released on their own Black Vinyl label and on US indie PVC shortly thereafter, the album was recorded in guitarist Jeff Murphy's living room on a TEAC 3340S reel to reel tape recorder.

The warm sound, low-key yet mellifluous multi-tracked harmony vocals and overall impact of the material made the entire recording industry sit up and acknowledge the fact that an album this professional sounding could be recorded at one's home and completely take place without the financial help of a major label. It was released on Sire Records in the UK in 1979 and in no time at all the band signed with Elektra in the US and went on to record albums that sounded not too different than Black Vinyl Shoes.

Musically the band has the crunch of the Dwight Twilley Band, the vocal harmonies of The Raspberries, the melodic punch of fellow Illinois bands Pezband and Off Broadway. Shoes' vocal harmonies and hooks seem to just roll off very naturally. Lyrically, Black Vinyl Shoes seems to be preoccupied with the politics and dynamics of romantic relationships. The songs can be pretty dark yet they never come off as such on the surface. There's a certain saminess to the material on this album (as there are on most Shoes albums). However, generally speaking, if you like Shoes sound, approach and material, you won't have a problem with this.

Here's the video review:

Jellyfish: The Scary-Go-Round EP (Charisma 1991)

San Francisco California's Jellyfish had some minor initial commercial success. Their brand of Badfinger meets The Partridge Family and XTC pop was popular enough critically circa 1990/1991 but never really received the widespread attention it really deserved. Their debut album Bellybutton spawned five singles, one of which ("Baby's Coming Back") even reached number 62 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart. One single was released as part an EP.

That song was "Now She Knows She's Wrong". It's a power pop meets bubblegum confection with Steve McDonald of Redd Kross guesting on bass. It starts with a minor-key Partridge Family synthesized harpsichord part. It isn't long before sleigh bells ala Brian Wilson and glockenspiel join-in. And after two-minutes and thirty-five seconds the song is over. "Bedspring Kiss" is a five-minute long groovy piece of nuevo cocktail-lounge and exotica noir that references cocaine and heroin use with a bridge that sounds like a missing link from Pet Sounds. It is one of several highlights from the Bellybutton album.

The B-Sides of the Scary-Go-Round EP are nice live obscurities. There are variations between the 12" EP, CD EP & 7" EP. Each come with two live tracks per-B-Side. The CD contains "Let Em In/That Is Why" & "The King Is Half-Undressed". The former is a medley of the intro and chorus of the Wings hit single for the Summer of 1976 and segues into the Supertrampesque "That Is Why". This medley was recorded live at Bogart's and was finally issued (along with the rest of that complete 2/21/91 performance) on Omnivore Records' Live At Bogart's. The latter is a great performance of their debut single (also on Bellybutton) and was recorded at LA's The Roxy and subsequently was released (along with several other tracks from that show) on the now-ultra-rare box-set Fan Club. 

The Vinyl 12" & 7"'s tracks all come from their 2012 release of Live At Bogart's. Those tracks are the stately monster of a track "The Man I Used To Be" and "Calling Sarah" which musically sounds like the lovechild of Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney. It is perhaps Jellyfish's greatest single sleeper/dark horse of a song. "She Still Loves Him" tells of an abusive relationship whilst sounding like the Badfinger backing The Beach Boys. "Baby's Coming Back" (the band's lone minor-hit) which is a tale of promises of giving up the fast life for one particular girlfriend and actively references The Partridge Family's "C'mon Get Happy" in the song's coda.

If you're a fan of the band, who've since acquired something of a substantial cult-following since their break-up in 1994, I'd recommend picking up the EP. It's a nice little slice of what made Bellybutton so great. It also shows the band in a live-context, which for a band renowned for their studio wizardry (especially on Spilt Milk) they probably doesn't get too much notice for. This is a small slice of Jellyfish's Power Pop Heaven.

Here's the video review:

Special Thanks to: Charisma Records.