Nominated by: Kev
Music club: WTWMC
Playlist addition: Someone Else's Eyes
This album came out in 1984 and to be fair - music was not on my mind very much during that year. There was the marriage of the century in April, Jacky was pregnant with Keegan for much of 1984 and he was born late in December. Plus I was in my second year of teaching - that's a big year as you get a lot of attention leading up to the end of your two year probation period.
I still listened to my old records of course but I didn't have the time or cash for expansive new purchases. I can list all 14 purchases of new albums from that year for you: Van Halen (appropriately called 1984); Lennon's posthumous Milk and Honey; Grace Slick (Software); David Gilmour (About Face); REM (Reckoning) - played this one a lot; Jefferson Starship (Nuclear Furniture); Springsteen (Born in the USA); Prince (Purple Rain); U2 (Unforgettable Fire); Zappa (Them or Us); Big Country (Steeltown); Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Welcome to the Pleasure Dome); The Smiths (Hatful of Hollow); and Paul McCartney's Give My Regards to Broad St (terrible album).
So - you'll notice a couple of things (if I was the spreadsheet king I would do a much better job of this - sorry GK) - a 50/50 split between UK and US albums but no NZ albums. Nun. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing. Genres - mainly rock, pop or indie pop - Smiths and REM. Overwhelmingly, white male.
NZ alt-pop was not on my radar. I had no idea there were bands in Dunedin feverishly recording stuff on reel to reels in their bedrooms while I was heading off to teach English at New Plymouth Boys' High School. Flying Nun was a TV programme I remembered watching back in the day. Sally Field. Much better as Gidget, but I digress.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in Nu Zild - K Simms (Esq) was hoovering up indie-pop content by the shedful. Starting with this one - obviously you are heavily invested in this album Kevy.
You've lived with it and loved it for nearly 40 years. I haven't - my first listen to this album was this week. Context. Just saying.
Byrds and Beatles influences. This mention from your preamble notes intrigued me. Rightly or wrongly, I neglected to catch up with the Dunedin scene for so long because of a belief that the scene was in thrall to the lo-fi dark grungy Velvet Underground, rather than the bright Byrds/Beatles pop fulcrum. Maybe there was some music snobbery involved there early on (I remember having an argument at school with guys who crazily rated McCartney over Lennon), but it's also because I grew up more with that pop fulcrum and it's aftermath. As Elaine says in Seinfeld - I'm a day person!
As it turns out - I'm partly right and partly wrong. Lo-fi? Oh yes, dark and grungy? - not so much. Look Blue, Go Purple and The Chills provide evidence for the defense. Velvet Underground-y? Yes and no. I hear VU in The Bats for instance but generally VU and Beatle pop sit side by side in the catalogue it appears. I also have grown to like Lou Reed and VU over the years. So it blurs.
The Sneaky Feelings choice is interesting. Definitely lo-fi. The drum sound is a dead give away. I think that's one of the key differences between lo-fi and hi-fi recordings - the amount of studio time lavished on getting the drum sound right. These sibilant drum sounds on the snare drum (I think it's the snare - GK will know) are mos def lo-fi but that's part of the charm of the Dunedin sound I guess. Time and place are crucial. If it sounded like John Bonham on the drums it wouldn't be the same time and place.
1984 is a long time ago in the world of sound recording. My general feeling is that the optimum time period for albums to sound great was from 1964 to 1980. Ish. The eighties and nineties have definite distinctive production qualities to my ears. Since then, perversely, too much time and too much technology has interfered with how great records can sound. Who knows what's good or bad.
Sneaky Feelings kind of exist out side of all that though - holed up in Dunedin with only number eight fencing wire via Chris Knox's tape recorder (I hate to think what state that was in after The Enemy et al) to create a sound, they forged their own identity and created their own music which owed nothing to those 14 new albums I bought in 1984. Bravo!! That's part of a great Kiwi DIY tradition and I applaud them for it. Seriously.
A star rating for this feels a little superfluous given it is so much it's own thing but I'll go with a 4 star rating - 'flawed genius', for Send You. It's grown on me more and more with repeat listens. Thanks for this choice Kevy - there is so much music out there - so much stuff we can never listen to in a lifetime, and I'm pleased to make their acquaintance finally.
Favourite tracks: Throwing Stones - this reminds me a bit of The Lemonheads - similar kind of indie pop jangle but then again a few bands in the alt world sound a tad similar; Someone Else's Eyes (well done on correct use of the apostrophe first up, good catchy Byrdsian guitar jangle to this one, cheesy organ and infectious/enthusiastic vocals); Not To Take Sides (a valiant effort at Beatle-ish harmonies - think This boy or Yes it is); Ready Or Not (it's on the Spotify playlist so fair game for comment, it wasn't on the original album but subsequently added as a bonus track - listen to those drums! Was it the same drummer? Made me wonder what those first 8 songs would sound like with that boss drum sound).
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