Bottle's Thankgiving Day Massacre - QuarterFlash


Happy Thanksgiving. Normally we'd listen to Arlo Guthrie today, but i still have a stack of records and a long weekend to be thankful for, so why don't we all be a quarter flash, three quarters foolish and listen to the self-titled debut from QuarterFlash? 

If you like The Motels and old-school Sax solos, then you're gonna love most of this album. Critical Times is a bit of an anachronism to my ears. It's in the right place for a track-3 change of direction, but going from New Wave to an Elton John style ballad that sounds disturbingly like Cristopher Cross's Sailing is weird. Plus it's the only Jack Charles song on the album; obligatory inclusion or not it just doesn't fit here. 

Completely bizarre and interesting fact, "this album is dedicated to all the Seafood lovers in the Northwest." Some people just don't like turkey, you know? Ah, man, here's Jack again on Cruisin' with the Deuce. At least Marv wrote this song (so it totally fits the album), but why's he keep bring sausage to the clam bake? No, no, don't get up, i'll see my own innuendo out. 

Obviously this is a "hi, we're QuarterFlash" album, and it's 1981, and Rindy play Saxophone, and there's also a violin solo on the light Jazz-Funk closer Williams Street, but the Noir is pretty stellar and nothing comes across as embarrassing. 

I'll try to describe the bouquet for you. Equal parts The Motels and Gerry Rafferty, with an undercurrent of Jackson Brown and that one brief moment of Elton John. It is undeniably 80s, but in a highly enjoyable way, and i'm thankful i have a copy of it. Turkey, ham, or scallops, enjoy whatever feast lies in front of you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 4 Seasons - The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette

Image
This might be my longest  album review ever. But i swear a couple times, so it's worth the read ;) How could i possibly mention Jefferson Airplane, The 4 Seasons, and Frank Zappa in the same context? Zappa said "this is rediculous" and a few years later The 4 Seasons said "you know what, Frank is right. This IS ridiculous." To which Jefferson Airplane said, "Oh. Ok. Got it." The real question is: which one is the most transgressive? Zappa said stop fighting, you look like idiots. Jefferson Airplane said i guess if love and community is a bad thing, then sure we're criminals and we'd be happy to move out into the fields and live peaceful lives without your garbage, let us go already. The 4 Seasons said hold my champagne for a moment. In 1969, The 4 Seasons released the single most ironic, acidic, extravagant, and downright befuddling album ever created, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette. Zappa was accused of writing "shitty doo-w...
Read more

Welcome to my blog, and my record collection.

This is a blog about my love of listening to albums. It started off as a nightly perusal of my dad's record collection (which sadly became mine) on my personal facebook page. Over the last two months it has become quite an enjoyable process of simply ranting about what i think is a real art form, the album. It needs a more permanent home. Some of my reviews are positive, some negative. They might not be what you expect from album reviews, but i hope you at least find them entertaining. For the most part i do very little research, and they tend to be train of thought reactions rather than calculated essays. If nothing else, know that i'm really listening to them and whether they are amazing or abysmal i want you to go listen to them too.  I'll start migrating the 60+ i've written so far over here in the next few days, and hopefully get to the point where i just start writing them here. I'd probably even take suggestions if you're just dying to know my tho...
Read more

J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame

Image
Speaking of New Wave, I just listened to the penultimate J. Geils Band album, Feeze Frame, and it is awesome. You know the title track and Centerfold, but i highly doubt you know the album closer, Piss On The Wall.  It's not even really reviewable, to be honest, it's Freeze Frame, couple songs, Centerfold, couple more songs, and Piss On The Wall. I guess i could rehash what Post-Punk/New Wave New Wave was all about (actual dance club Rock & Roll with quirkily expensive synth leads), but you know The Cars and The Motels and Talking Heads. Believe it or not, the Ramones were considered New Wave rather than Punk in the beginning. Now we'd call them Pop Punk, but the point is that Rock in the late 70s existed on a spectrum from Corporate Cock to Nerdly Neurotic Pocket Protector, and in 1980/81 J. Geils Band said hold my beer, I gotta take a leak, how's this for "radio-friendly, twitchy nerd Rock with huge sing-along choruses?" Freakin' awesome, dude, freak...
Read more