Comments On Current Tour

It seems the Blogosphere is alight with posts about the current tour. Quite a few of you have seen the shows so far and and one or two of you are turning into right groupies. ;)

Top 25 Rock Bands of the 90s

It seems the American Music Club have made it into Yahoos 25 Best Alternative Rock Bands Of The 1990s. That puts then up there with Beck, Nirvana and SonicYouth. Strange thing to note is just how many of those bands have reformed in the last couple of years.

The Tale Of a Support Band

There is a nice blog post here from the band Dacianos about their support slot on the recent American Music Club tour. It was last Friday, 29 February at the venue called John Dee in Oslo.

Miscellaneous Media Mentions

The media machine seems to be in full swing for this tour and album.

To begin with we have a bit from the Independent about how Mark and Sean Hughes first met as well as a short but favourable review. He contributes to a discussion on the art of writing love songs. There is a mention in the Guardian.

There are also some other reviews of the album out there and some reviews of the Bristol, Bristol and Dublin gigs.

The Golden Age - Review

My copy of the new album turned up in the post this morning. Played it a few times during the day and Like it. The cover is the picture of the band in a boat (vudi is in the liferaft) and period costume. Due to the layout of the pic, Sean is on the front cover while the rest of the band is on the back. What is it with singers always hiding in group shots?

1. All My Love
Starts off with a bit of picked guitar that sounds like "Jenny" off "California" before turning into a gentle love song.
2. The John Berchman Victory Choir
Comes on sounding a bit like "The Horseshoe Wreath In Bloom" and is a nice little up tempo number. Possibly something to do with the uplifting effects of choral music.
3. The Decibels and the Little Pills

This one has been getting played on the radio so possibly the first single?

4. The Sleeping Beauty

This was one of the hilights on "Candy Ass". Presumably repeated here so it gets the attention it deserves. Quite a slow tune. Less obvious keyboards here.

5. The Stars

Quite a moody number with lots of Vudi feedback on guitar. The central image is of finding someone you know dead in the road. Again it has the California vibe to it.

6. All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco

Probably the most upbeat of the numbers on the album. Another one of Marks songs about San Francisco and the places and people found there. Gorgeous sing along chorus. Love the bit of trumpet in the middle.

7. Who You Are

Another of the more uplifting songs. Sounds a bit like one of the poppy bits from "San Francisco".

8. The Windows of the World

Supposedly written about meeting someone at the top of the World Trade Centre and getting high. Sounds a bit like "Myopic Books". It is more of a story than a proper song.

9. One Step Ahead

Another good pop song. More of Vudi on guitar.

10. The Dance

I would say another love song but I think someone dies towards the end.

11. I know That's Not Really You

Is this the first use of accordion on a Music Club track? It seems to be in 3/4 time and has a whole host of instruments on it.

12. On My Way

Weird one this. Sounds a bit like the lyrics were written for another tune or something. Central theme seems to be a boat journey somewhere. Also has Vudi wigging out a bit at the end. Most experimental of the bunch.

13. The Grand Duchess of San Francisco

I would guess this is about one of Marks San Francisco chums. No drums on this one, just guitar and keyboards.

Five of the songs have been around for a while now, and they are the ones that immediately stick in the mind. That's not dissing the others, it just means I haven't heard them enough yet. There is a nice selection of happy songs and sad songs here and enough imagery to keep the fans pondering its meaning. Is there another Kathleen song on there? Who knows. Stylistically I would put it between California and San Francisco. Nothing as country as Everclear or noisy as Mercury. There are a few twangs and guitar picks that remind me of California while its as well produced as San Francisco was.

New Poll - Best Solo Album

Merry new year to you all. If you look a little to the left of this you will see that there is a new Poll running on the blog to find out which of Marks solo albums are your favourites? I have narrowed it down to the ones that got proper releases on proper labels and have left out all the various tour CDs.

Caught In A Trap ... - Review

The War Against Silence has an old review of "Caught In A Trap" that makes an interesting read. Yes, it is nearly ten years old (which is reealllly ancient in Blog years) but it has a nice analysis of some of the lyrics.

Golden Age Charts at #1

Well, sort of. The January issue of Uncut magazine (the one with John Lennon on the cover) lists the new album as #1 on "The Office Stereo", their list of what they have been listening to in the office. It is up there above both the Happy Mondays and Led Zeppelin.

First Review Of "The GoldenAge" Appears

Thanks to Michael on the FireFly list for pointing out that Uncut (home to many an Eitzel fan)have a blog about the new American Music Club album. According to this it sounds a bit like California.

Poll Results

I don't know if you noticed but there was a poll running down the left of the screen to see which was your favourite American Music Club album. well, it is over now and I can announce the results. The winners were (in reverse order)

3rd - California with 20% of the votes
2nd - Everclear with 26% of the votes
1st - Mercury with 35% of the votes

It's a bit of a surprise but Mercury was probably one of their most successful.

Video Documentary On-Line

Here is a nice little documentary about the American Music Club. I remember downloading and watching this years ago but it seems its available on YouTube now. I guess it's a promotional film from around the time of Mercury. It is worth watching just to hear Vudi say something.

Holiday Destinations

If you are looking for somewhere different to go on holiday this year then here are a few places to try.
Myopic Books.
This is a bookstore in Chicago where as legend has it the staff are "super skinny and they play Dinosaur Jr".
Mission Rock
"Lets have a drink at the Mission rock ...". Well, you won't be alone as its one of the more popular restaurants in San Francisco.
Sacre Coeur
Well worth a visit if you ever go to Paris. You get a lovely view of the city from there. Messiaen on the walkman is entirely optional.
Southend On Sea
One of the UKs finest holiday resorts. Not! Seems Mark had a really bad experience there judging by the song.
Hotel Utah
San Francisco venue where some of the live tracks on United Kingdom were recorded.
Make Out Room
Another venue song though this one never got officially released.
Bernal Heights
There was a "Memo from Bernal Heights" on the b-side of one of the Mercury singles.

Finally, from what I gather, the Mission District was once a dodgy part of San Francisco but is now its equivalent to Camden/Greenwich Village. Here is a nice tour round the area by Marc Capelle, the trumpet player on 60 Watt.

Have I missed anywhere?

Everclear Review

Here is a nice review of Everclear. "It’s definitely the most emotional, sad, bittersweet, and depressingly beautiful album of all time ..." he says and we wouldn't disagree with that. The site is a music site called Mog which also has another member of note.

Anyone else out there want to review their favourite Mark Eitzel related album? Send them in and I will post the best.

Another California Review

Here is another review of the classic American Music Club album California. It seems to be the critics choice as it has a nice selection of sounds and lyrics to anlyse. Having said that, I was raised on the CD version which came with the "United Kingdom" album tacked on the end as bonus tracks. The two are merged into one for me. It's only now I have my iPod that I have separated them out. This review is by Tony Heyward at the HighwayFive music blog. Tony is a regular contributor to the FireFly mailing list.

"Ten Years of Tears" Review

My copy turned up in the post today, #260 of 500. It is a white CDR with a rubber stamp on the front. It does actually say Vol.2 which implies Mark may have released a Vol.1. If he has then I have missed it. The front cover is a portrait of a small uni-browed child who might possibly be Mark.

So, what does it sound like? It is all good quality recordings. Mainly all originals except for his covers of Joy Divisions "Heart & Soul", Springsteens "My Fathers Place" and a couple of tracks from the solo albums.

It starts with 4 Music Club tracks with the Undertow Orchestra and then jumps back 10 years to a couple of "60 Watt" tracks. Next there is a track from "West". I don't know if that is Pete Buck on guitar is it? Then comes my fave bit, 3 tracks with the band that toured "Invisible Man". They only played one gig in the UK supporting J Mascis and they rocked. Big time. Next come the covers and finally there are 3 of the old classic.

It could easily have been an hour of Mark and his guitar so it is good to hear a nice selections of bands playing on there. At 64 mins they could have stuck some auidence banter on there or possibly a couple more unreleased tracks. Still, worth getting as a document of the man in his prime.

A review of California

Here is a nice overview of the Music Clubs album "California" from Julian Copes HeadHeritage site. The reviewer places it at the tail end of all those West Coast Hippy albums about that state which I am not sure I agree with. He also gives a nice track by track run down of it.

The site seems to have more going on than when I last looked at it. There seems to be more general content with reviews and features not necessarily about Mr Cope. Check it out.

Eitzel v Mould

In a change for the usual news posts, today will be more of an opinion post. I was flicking through my iPod the other day and it struck me that two of my favourite singers were following rather similar career paths. The two chaps in question being Mark Eitzel and Bob Mould. As I see it, their careers go something like this.

• Start as singer in an influential underground band (American music Club and Husker Du respectively) that briefly flirt with success and major labels.
• Split the band up for music influence/ego problems.
• Get a reputation as a really miserable git. When "Black Sheets of Rain" came out the Guardian called Bob "the most miserable man in rock" and Mark of course wrote "If I Had a Gun".
• Release great debut solo album and then a series of patchy follow ups.
• In Bobs case, do the same again with a band call Sugar.
• Endlessly tour with solo acoustic shows.
• Come out of the closet, start hanging around clubs like Trade (or the US equivalent), think that Soft Cell are fab and re-invent yourself as a "electronic" artist.
• Release a series of electronic/dance albums to various amounts of critical praise.
• Finally make a decent comeback album. In Marks case it was "Love Songs for Patriots" and in Bobs case it was "Body of Song".

I just find it strange that the singers of my two fave bands of the late 80s/early 90s both had such similar career paths. They have both gone electronic and produced Pro-Tools albums though the albums have been most different. Marks are still singer/songwriter albums while Bobs still have that hint of power pop guitar in them.