SPOONER - Every Corner Dance

Having just been to a vinyl show and almost picking this up, but passing because the seller wanted too much, the AZ Local blog tapped into my mind and has made it available.

Spooner is most widely known for the fact that Garbage drummer Butch Vig and guitarist Duke Erikson started out in it. The band was a pure power pop outfit that formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1979 and lasted through three LPs into 1990. The first album, Every Corner Dance, came out in 1982 and sounded something like a more aggressive Shoes or a less experimental dB's. In fact, the album was produced by Gary Klebe of Shoes.

Every Corner Dance has a few moments that hold up among the power pop greats, including opener Will You Remember Me?, as well as Jackie and Poor Harold. The entire LP is an enjoyable slice of power pop history that any fan of the genre is sure to enjoy.

A big "thank you" to AZ Local for posting! Head on over to check it out.

Track listing:
1 - Will You Remember Me?
2 - Temptations
3 - Member of the Family
4 - Jackie
5 - Doing Time
6 - Every Corner Dance
7 - Cruel School
8 - Poor Harold
9 - Oo My My
10 - Way the Stories Go

FOR FANS OF:
Shoes, The dB's, The Plimsouls

TOM DICKIE AND THE DESIRES - The Eleventh Hour

Tom Dickie and the Desires were a New York City band that released two LPs, Competition in 1981 and The Eleventh Hour in 1982. I recently picked up the latter in record shop for just 25 cents (!!) simply because I thought the album art was interesting and seemed pretty new wave-ish.

It's difficult to pinpoint this album as new wave, power pop, or anything else because it doesn't follow a single direction. It jumps from blatantly 80s new wave (Victimless Crime, So Mystified) to pure power pop (I Don't Want to Live Without You, Gone to Stay, Twisted Years) to earnest slow tunes (If I Could Paint, They Don't Know Anymore).

That being said, there's some fantastic moments here - namely the tracks on which the band aims for a more straightforward power pop approach. The best is arguably I Don't Want to Live Without You, which is melodic ear candy through and through and boasts the record's strongest hook. Gone to Stay and Twisted Years take a similar approach and are almost as good, while Stolen Time has a great sing-along chorus.

The copy I picked up was a DJ promo, which included a biography from PolyGram Records that had this to say:

If one feels an urgency in the second album by Tom Dickie and the Desires, appropriately titled "The Eleventh Hour," it probably stems from this important new group's intention to make rock 'n' roll that matters. "There was this general feeling about everything that was going on while we were making this album," explains Dickie, "almost like - will we get it down on vinyl in time?"
"It's something we not only felt in our lives, but everywhere around us - in New York City, with the Yankees, in the Falklands...everywhere. That sense is found in the songs on the album, the urgency of people trying to accomplish something before their time is up."
...Dickie feels "The Eleventh Hour" reflects the band's experiences "living in New York where everything is always happening. You sometimes feel like you're living a day ahead of everything else, always on the eleventh hour."

Tom Dickie & the Desires - The Eleventh Hour (LP, 1982)

Track listing:
1 - Victimless Crime
2 - Stolen Time
3 - Gone to Stay
4 - Our Eyes
5 - So Mystified
6 - I Don't Want to Live Without You
7 - What Happened
8 - Twisted Years
9 - Patience Is a Virtue
10 - They Don't Know Anymore
11 - If I Could Paint

MAURICE & THE CLICHES - C'est La Vie

Vancouver, Canada's Maurice & the Cliches had one minor hit in 1982 with the spoken-word new wave gem Soft Core, but the band is quite obscure today, even among the genre's enthusiasts. I probably would have never found out about them had it not been for randomly buying a copy of their second LP, C'est La Vie, after seeing the cover in a record store and going with my gut that it would be good.

Fortunately, my gut was right. C'est La Vie is a great record that I can best describe as a fusion of theatrical new wave, sardonic punk and energetic power pop. Album opener Soft Core is indeed a classic and probably the catchiest number, but C'est La Vie has many highlights. It's All Talk, Reach for the Top, Beautiful Girls and Social Casualties are quirky, energetic power pop with instant hooks. Working Girls and Skyline are dramatic slow songs that add a change of pace and showcase the versatility of lead vocalist Maurice DePas. Unschuld is a dark post-punk instrumental. The title track is a punky new wave workout that sputters along with an aggressive, multi-language vocal until coming to an intentional abrupt stop.

Apparently, Maurice & the Cliches gathered a pretty dedicated following during their heyday, as stated on their official site:

M&TC became favorites on the thriving Vancouver alternative music scene. Even in these early days there always an element of the unexpected at their shows, many of which became elaborate events incorporating multi media, theatrical sets, props and actors. They also made frequent cameo appearances as themselves in the ongoing avant-garde theatre production, “the West End”, a live weekly improvisational soap opera.

After touring the USA and Canada in support of C'est La Vie, the band moved to Los Angeles in 1984 and recorded a third album - which was never released - before splitting in 1987. They recently released a collection of greatest hits and unreleased material titled Flogging a Dead Horse. It is available for download on CD Baby and itunes, or in CD form through the official Maurice & the Cliches site.

Neither of the band's proper albums has been released on CD. Below is my vinyl rip of the excellent C'est La Vie LP. Don't forget to support Maurice and co. and check out Flogging a Dead Horse!

Maurice & the Cliches - "C'est La Vie" (1982)

Track listing:
1 - Soft Core
2 - It's All Talk
3 - Reach for the Top
4 - Working Girls
5 - Unschuld
6 - Social Casualties
7 - Beautiful Girls
8 - Dead Reckoning
9 - Skyline
10 - C'est La Vie


MAURICE AND THE CLICHES LINEUP:
- Maurice DePas - vocals
- Jay Johnson - drums
- Gary Westlake - guitar
- Paul Wilson-Brown - keyboards
- Barry Muir - bass

WEB LINKS:
- Maurice & the Cliches official site
- Maurice & the Cliches on MySpace
- Soft Core (audio only) on Youtube
- Maurice & the Cliches on RateYourMusic