the Heartworms
"Thanks For The Headache" 7" vinyl
Darla. Darla 003.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1994.
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Two catchy, pleasant, non-pretentious two-minute guitar-pop songs make up
this 7". Archie from Velocity Girl sings on the straightforward a-side
track "Thanks for the Headache." The b-side is a bit more upbeat and
adventurous with Trisha's vocals, and a simply perfect re-occuring
keyboard riff. Lovely!
Helen Love
Radio Hits CD
Damaged Goods. Damgood 51 CD.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1994.
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Does anybody ever wonder what happened to Riff Randle, the Ramones
groupie featured in the popculture masterpiece Rock 'n' Roll High
School? I hadn't, but after listening to the Radio Hits CD, a
compilation of songs from 7" singles by Helen Love, I do now have a
theory!
For those unfamiliar with the film, Riff Randle was a budding song writer who felt she had the talent to write songs for her favorite group, the Ramones. So when she found out that the group would be playing in her town soon, she came up with the idea to personally deliver one of her songs to those New York punk boys. She was positive that the group would like it so much that they would agree to perform it live at the show. "Rock 'N' Roll High School" was the song and as everybody knows, it turned out to be one of the Ramones greatest hits.
Based on that success, perhaps Riff went on to write more songs for the Ramones, but if she did, my suspicion is that she grew tired of that and decided to move to England and form her own group, that group being the phenomenal punk-pop sensation Helen Love! I reason this because Ramones references and samples are scattered all over Radio Hits, and in songs like "Joey Ramoney" and "Greatest Fan" the similarities to Riff Randle ideals are numerous. Just excuse the fact that I'm muddling movie fiction with music reality.
Helen Love, in addition to paying homage to the Ramones, take the punk sound down new, grand, poppy avenues. Even though the drum machine, cheap keyboards, an emphasis on the sunshine girl vocals and a buried guitar might make this seem like not much of a punk album, it really is. Well, punk-pop with a fun-loving "gabba, gabba, hey!" emphasis. It's a magnificently spirited record, clocking in very appropriately at under thirty minutes, and while not being promoted as such, serving casually as possibly the ultimate Ramones tribute album. It's also Joey Ramone endorsed!
In addition to musical star infatuation, these two-and-a-half minute masterpieces encompass many of the other traditional subjects that have helped to land pop music that image of being a trivial, meaningless form of artistic expression. There are the songs of summer fun, summer love, "Summer Pop Radio," driving, surfing and basically the whole line of Beach Boys-esque teeny bopper themes, that are often insulted for being beaten to death, but when done so well are just what the whole world secretly longs for. And they're certainly covered well here.
Hey-Hey Tommy
Kato's Room CD
Colorcon.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1994.
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I can only tolerate this record in small doses, and it's not because the
musicianship isn't there -- it certainly is, as illustrated right from the
beginning with "She's Getting Hurt," a track featuring almost geekily
goofy
lead guitar. It's just that this album is too strained in sound, copying
too much the sound of a group like Soul Asylum after they made the
transition from being pretty darn good to nearly intolerable. It lies
too much in the sensitive folk-grunge-rock genre for my tastes. But if
that genre suits you well, I then highly recommend this LP, particularly
as the band seems to have a bit of a sense of humor. For example, the
group is named after an algebra teacher who was thought to have once been
a mob hit man! And "Kato's Room?" Probably a reference to the
accomodations
of one of the decades most notable slacker moochers.Aberdeen
"Byron" 7"
Sarah. Sarah 093.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1994.
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"Byron" is the Sarah records debut for Aberdeen, a lovely sounding
three-piece from Southern California. The title track sounds amazingly
similar to what the Ocean Blue would be like if they had a female
vocalist. And though the other two tracks do not remind me so much of the
Ocean Blue, they are still glorious, and are indeed fitting accompanient
to chocolate devouring, which of course is one of the most befitting
activities to engage in while listening to that wonderous Hershey, PA
band, who not-so-curiously, Aberdeen thanked on this record's credits.
the Fat Tulips
Driving Me Wild! CD-EP
Vinyl Japan. TASKCD23.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1994.
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The middle three songs on this EP are OK. They're moderately paced,
pretty li'l numbers, but when I listen to them, I can't help but to want
to shift to tracks one or five. Now they rock! When the Fat Tulips get
that jangly guitar-pop nostalgic fuzz-noise wildly and recklessly jetting
through their amps, that is supreme brilliance! I could lie in a bed of
that variety of Fat Tulips all the day long!! ahhhh...
Shoestrings
"Some Things Never Change" 7" vinyl
Sunday. Sunday 040.
by Scott Zimmerman.
December 31, 1994.
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Here's some pleasant, noise-free, melodic, somewhat new-agey acoustic
guitar
jazz-pop, combined with subtle keyboard, and light boy/girl vocals,
brought
to you by reliable Sunday records. Sound wimpy? Sure is! It's from a duo
called Shoestrings, composed of a Mario and a Rose. It's all actually
quite good. I just wished they had ditched the obtrusive, faux saxophone
at the end of "Some Things Never Change."