Behind the Door I Keep the Universe

Starting the month off with my penultimate Dentists post.

Behind the Door I Keep the Universe (1994)

Here it is. Their major label debut which came and went with nary a whimper. It's still very much the same band, but now with added production which may or may not have actually been a bad thing. Personally, I'm less a fan of late 80's and early 90's production values and in a sense this long player lacks some of the immediacy of previous releases. But working in a proper studio with a budget is I suppose a learning curve and there is the sophomore slump. Perhaps not the first Dentists item I'll pull out but not one that will cause me to change if it crops up randomly.
Before this cd was released there was a special 3x7" box set called "Bigbangredshiftblackholes" put out with just about the entire album on it's six sides along with a few extra miscellaneous things including a pretty credible version of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" I'm pretty sure I tacked that onto  this. (If not and somebody's interested just leave a message. I'm around.)

Caroline Know.

I have mixed feelings about the Caroline Know.
I kind of  like them some days.  Less so others.
Today is more or less one of the former.

 

Nail (1990)

Both of these seven inches were on the Bus Stop Label which generally catered pretty well to my aesthetics for most of the 90's. So I picked up the first one and sort of liked it and snagged the other later on for the sake of keeping up with the Bus Stop discography. About all I know is that they're from Western Massachusetts. 

You can google more if you're really curious.

 

Popsicle 'C' (1993)

Since I'm going to digitize all the Bus Stop singles I have eventually, I may as well just share them as I do  them. Like I said. I have mixed feelings about these two but a deep sense of a need for completeness.

It's indie pop. You know the drill. Sometimes it takes time for things to grow on you. Sometimes longer than others.

Slogging on.

I'm slowly catching up today with stuff that's been sitting around in a folder for a while waiting for a chance to be posted.

 

the Brainiacs (1979)

  The label for this LA band is based in Gilroy California. The garlic capital of the world and home to the famous Gilroy Garlic Festival. You already missed it for this year. I think that "Don't Tell Me Why" was comped somewhere on one of those silly and bottomless punk rock compilations. Certainly deserving. The rest of the ep seems to follow more or less the law of diminishing returns, but it's nothing that's going to keep me from listening to the whole thing. Is the world clamoring for a reunion and deluxe reissues? No. But don't let that you stop you from giving it a spin in the old digital entertainment device.

 

 Test Tube Baby (1978) 

1978 and In Vitro fertilization was new and exciting. So were the Chronics. This is their sole contribution to recorded music that has been available. I like both sides.
There must have been something the water in Ohio.

Pigs

 

Bountiful Living (1978)

Chi-Pig were from Akron, Ohio. Akron had a really great and very strange music scene in the late 70's that's never really gotten the credit it deserves. Pere Ubu and Devo get the hipster namechecks but there was a lot of really good and really strange shit bubbling under the surface that nobody knew about at the time. If this had been released in NYC or London, somebody'd be waxing rhapsodic about it. It wasn't. They don't. I like it a lot. It's got that something about it. It's got that certain joy in making music for the sake of having fun vibe about it. They seem like very nice folks too.

If you're really ambitious and want to spend money Soul Jazz put out decent compilation of Akron stuff recently that's as good an introduction as you're likely to find until I get around to digitizing all the Clone Records that I've got. (Including a pile NOS things I dug up in Chicago last month.) Buy that first and salivate a bit to build up your appetite.

Happy Birthday Sweet 16 (1979)

Clive Pig is apparently a children's entertainer now. Good for him.

The A-side of this is a fucking brilliant ode to the various trials, tribulations and awkward frustrations being a teenager without any of the sentimental bullshit. Because they may end up being the best years of your life, but that generally just goes to show how fucking dismal the rest of your existence gets.

It's got a toe tapping beat too.

It's Been a Month

More Dentists.


Three singles on three labels in 1992.

 

See No Evil (1992)

I got kind of a bum copy of this one so the little "See No Evil" poem didn't play. It was cheap and I'll upgrade at some point. Until then enjoy what you get. It's not like you shelled out any cash for it. It's on Homestead.

 

Hear No Evil (1992)

Another Independent Projects Record in a fine hand letter pressed sleeve. It sure is pretty special. Also  "Charms and the Girl" is likely my favorite song from this later period of Dentistry.

 

Speak No Evil (1992)

This one's on Bus Stop. "Outside Your Inside" is a bit of an earworm. You've been warned.