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:
Here's the video review:
No comments:
Post a Comment