SOUNDTRACK: THE VASELINES-The Way of the Vaselines (1992).
I had never heard of The Vaselines until Kurt Cobain praised them so much back in 1992. SubPop quickly issued Way of the Vaselines, a fairly comprehensive collection of their recordings.
I bought it and thought it was okay. Not revolutionary or anything, but decent indie pop. And I think my lackluster response is in part because I often react the same way to what you’d call originators of a scene when I’ve already been in the scene for a while. Once people have blown the fundamentals away, it’s hard to appreciate the fundamentals anymore.
And so I’ve given them a new listen with more appreciative ears. I also enjoyed poppier music a lot more now than I did in 1992 (it’s funny how poppy The Vaselines are and yet how noisy Cobain was).
The songs really hold up quite well in a Velvet Underground way (“Rory Rides Me Raw”), or the left field dance anthem cover of Divine’s “You Think You’re a Man.” They also have some fast punk songs (“Dying for It”).
Nirvana covered three of their songs, “Son of a Gun” and more famously “Molly’s Lips.” (The Vaselines version of “Molly” is much cuter (with a bike horn in the chorus)). And, perhaps most famously, “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” (which is pretty close to the original).
The Vaselines sang a lot about sex, (“Sex Sux,” “Monsterpussy”) that was disguised in a largely pop context. But they also had inclinations towards fuzzy punk.
I think what’s so wonderful about this collection is that it’s four Scottish kids who had good pop sensibilities (and some talent) playing what they liked. They’re an amateur love to the whole disc, and yet for all of their lo-fi ness, the songs sound good–even if you can’t always understand the lyrics. (Sub Pop remastered and re-released the package with bonus tracks as Enter the Vaselines, but I’ll not be getting that).
Were they, as Allmusic says, the best pop band from 1986 to 1989? I don’t know. But they sure played some great songs. I’m don’t think I need to hear their reunited selves, because there’s something about the charm of these Edinburgh kids playing these songs in something of a vacuum that I rather like. It only took two listens to this record (probably the first time in ten years) for me to see how much was here.
[READ: April 16, 2011] “Underachievers Please Try Harder”
The subtitle of this article is “Indie Rock Reunites on the English Coast,” and I’m mentioning it because it got me to listen to the Vaselines record again.
It was an interesting article about the state of music and “festival” tours, specifically All Tomorrow’s Parties. (This year’s ATP spinoff, I’ll Be Your Mirror will be in Asbury Park, New Jersey! and features Portishead, Mogwai and A Silver Mount Zion among others–were I 20 years younger, I’d be there). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 