Category: Moldy Oldies and Guilty Pleasures

Carnival Season “Misguided Promise: Carnival Season Complete (1984-89)”

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Carnival Season “Misguided Promise: Carnival Season Complete (1984-89)”
As a music collector you often spend some some time looking over “lost” bands that never got the attention they deserved, and thanks to the internet nothing is “lost” anymore. Through a connection with Tommy Keene (FYI: new album coming up next month), I came across this obscure ’80s power pop band from Birmingham, AL that toured with The Replacements and Redd Kross (to name a few). Made up of guitarist Tim Boykin, bassist Brad Quinn, and drummer Mark Reynolds they broke up just as the Seattle grunge scene emerged in the early ’90s.

They certainly deserved more recognition than as mere footnote in power pop history, as Misguided Promise gathers up the bands entire output in one neat package. Read the full review on BlogCritics.org

Carnival Season “In Our Time”
Carnival Season drummer Mark Reynolds passed away in December of 2012, the band had been sharing song demos for possible inclusion on their first album in 25 years. “In Our Time” would have been one of Mark’s songs to be included on the album. The song was recorded In Kobe, Japan, and Birmingham, Alabama, by Carnival Season’s Brad Quinn (bass, keyboards, vocals) and Tim Boykin (guitars) with guest drummer Eric Wiegmann. So this is the official last single of Carnival Season, it makes as perfect epilogue to the above mentioned anthology.

CD Baby

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The Three O’Clock “The Hidden World Revealed”

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Back in the 80s, the sub-genre of power pop known as “Paisley Underground” movement took shape from the idle comments of  Three O’Clock’s bassist/lead vocalist Michael Quercio. They all belonged to a clique of musicians including The Bangles, Rain Parade and Dream Syndicate who were influenced strongly by the sixties’ psychedelic sound and the jangle of The Byrds guitarist Roger McGuinn.

The band (Quercio, drummer Danny Benair, and guitarist/vocalist Louis Gutierrez) only made four albums. The last one on Prince’s Paisley Park label Vermillion included future Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner and is a fascinating story unto itself. Well fast-forward to now and the band reunited to play Coachella last April and then released this 20 track retrospective on Omnivore Records.

It’s a bright shiny revelation to hear the hit “With A Cantaloupe Girlfriend,” with digital clarity and “Jet Fighter” the catchiest of the early hits. What makes The Three O’Clock special and not a retro band, is that they embraced new wave synthesizers and rich production techniques to go with those classic melodies. About 8 tracks have never been heard before and they blend in well with the original material. The fuzzy garage influence is felt only on the earlier demo material like “Jennifer Only” (as the band was originally called The Salvation Army, the best of this material is found here.)

More highlights include the brilliant “Stupid Einstein,” and the hymn turned into a acid trip “Regina Caeli.” They even do a cover of The Byrds “Feel A Whole Lot Better.” This disc does concentrate on the first two LPs, Sixteen Tamborines and Baroque Hoedown – so I expect a second volume is in the works. Overall this is a great intro for new fans and the long time Paisley Underground followers have plenty of alternates and demos to enjoy.

Jellyfish “Stack-a-tracks”

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Arguably the most influential power pop band of the 90’s was Jellyfish. While recording their two studio albums, (1990’s Bellybutton and 1993’s Spilt Milk), “instrumental” mixes of each record were created by Jellyfish and their producers. These “previously unheard” versions of Bellybutton and Spilt Milk were created in the studio, at the time of their original recording/mixing.

These are not “remixes” from the multi-tracks, they are authentic and transferred from the original 1/4″ masters. An individually numbered edition of 2,000, housed in a digipak for the limited first edition, with new illustrated artwork (created for the release), this 2-CD set is destined to become the newest gem in the collections of power-pop fans everywhere.

Amazon | Omnivore Recordings

Here is the band in live all its crowing glory, Andy Sturmer, Roger Manning Jr., Tim Smith and Eric Dover.