Firstly I must apologise to Bruce, I'm getting this sent to my workplace = & my Boss didn't know what Postal was all about and sent a stupid questio= n in my name.."Why are you telling me about this RE: GBV instore gig ?" o= r something like that. so sorry... and thanks for PB.. it's HUGE..
I've really enjoyed reading how carried away (and rightly so) we are gett= ing with the mighty GBV,you are lucky, you can see them... I don't imagin= e we'll see them down under for a long time,if at all.I've made up for th= is obviously by obtaining in May '94 the now legendary STATIC AIRPLANE JI= VE,I don't know if anyone has painted an indepth mental image of it befor= e.. so I shall. Firstly I'm a bit of a 7" collectin' freak & nearly alway= s buy on sight, only occasionally being disappointed... we have a great i= ndie record store in Sydney.. Waterfront Records who seem to track down e= very label in existence..so I got SAJ & couldn't believe my ears..I then = found Fast Japanese et al & was really hooked.. then Clown Prince (both 7= " & cd)..Bee Thousand and you know the rest.
Back to SAJ...it was released on the City Slang label 1993..the front cov= er featured the title in good ol' rub on Letraset (with little bits missi= ng) at the top..the bands name partially appears in pencil trace fashion = (like a coin rubbed through paper)...bottom left hand corner has some old= geezer with what looks like a TV aerial with wooden handles..all in glorious black and white.. The back cover has the song titles written in large texta scribble . underneath a female gymnast leaps above a 3 star halo.. eminating fro m the centre is a spiral yellow whirlpool... The single has no other information (inserts etc.) other than what appears on the silver center..all
6 tracks were recorded by Tobin Sprout on 4 track.. it plays at 33rpm although i did try it at 45..(you thought some of their songs were too short???)
Side A has 2 songs "Big School"(R.Pollard) this is one of THE BEST GBV SO NGS EVER...the lyric is a winner..
"Servant to master sinister bastard
All the world's colliding all around you
Knowledge escapes you, society rapes you
I've got my notebooks and I'm going back to Big School"
This is the boys in Power Pop mode..super catchy hook..Bob screamin the chorus as the song gushes to it's climax..reminds a bit of a Who song but
I don't know which one...it's a real "up" song & wouldn't be out of place
on Bee T..it clocks in at 2'24 so you can take it from me it's classic G
BV.. the bass really grooves with crappy hissy drum machine & raw scratch
y guitar..
"Damn Good Mr.Jam"(Sprout/R.Pollard/Campbell) is based on a slow repetiti ve bass line with double tracked guitar..a snippet of which can be heard on Propller's "Back To Saturn X" (the mysterious "anything for free" snip pet of which there are 2 grabs cause it's good..) it runs 3'31
SIDE B features 4 shorter songs "Rubber Man"(R.Pollard/Fennell) features Bob singing through a megaphone..or maybe a peg on his nose..it's gritty and lasts about 40 secs.."HeyAardvark!" (R.Pollard/J.Pollard/Mitchell) is in the "3rd World Birdwatching" mould..it's very short..extremely silly and sounds like a Beatles pisstake..it's also VERY CATCHY..it features ba ckground chatter..simple
acoustic guitar..Bob's vocals very upfront..bit sea shantyish.. the lyric is beyond bizarre..
"Hey Aardvark! where's my ashtray
put it in my room so I can smoke
Let's hire a race car driver
drive through the park & just tell jokes
and if it costs too much
I'll foot the bill because I will...Oooh oh
I would like that"
At this point the song fades and sound fx like a muffled jackhammer come
s up...winner! I love the recording quality too..sounds like it was recor
ded on a 15 year old deoxidised cheap cassette..probably was..
"Glow Boy Butlers"(R.Pollard) is GBV in rockin mode..the lyric is hard to fathom but forunately the title is sung frequently..sounds like a lost P ebbles track..but with GBV hip.. slightly in the "Unleashed.." vein.."GEL ATIN ICECREAM PLUM" (R.Pollard) is a little like the former with more of a pop bent..super
hissy hidden vocal featuring the great lyric
"as long as you've had your fun
you've still got your gelatin,ice cream,plum"
Someone recently spoke of recurring phrases in GBV songs/cd titles etc..I realised that "what about it" from "Propeller" features a reference to " Static"..
"Time is money,though not well spent
ain't no doubt,it takes pratice
to reprogram the static jive
and fly away like Grandfather 5"
Anyway this is my obsessive little piece on SAJ..it really is worth hunti
ng down..I don't know your legal laws re:copying etc..however I'm willing
to share this much needed release in exchange for any GBV live boots,the
y are very hard to come by here..I bought "Crying my Knife away" but it c
ost me $60 aus..(about $48 US) A tape for a tape perhaps..good quality as
sured..I'll even do DAT if you send me one..
My last indulgence is my top 10 GBV tunes in no particular order... Duste d (Fast Jap version)..Hardcore UFO's.. Queen of Cans & Jars.. Captain's D ead.. Game of Pricks... Big School... Johnny Appleseed.. Goldheart... Chi cken Blows.. + all the rest...it's too hard to choose..
One last thing.. the australian release of "@lien lanes" comes with a bon us CD to help promote the lads down here...it's a whopping 24 track selec tion from BOX..too big to give track listing now...if you want i could pr ovide that info next issue..but if you really want perhaps we could arrag e for a copy or 3 to be sent...not too many..no profit to me just postag e and exchange rate difference see if anyone's interested.. also if "get out of my stations" or "Clown Prince" need reviewing..I'm your freakin fr eak who's happy to oblige..
Keep coming into town with the giggling faggots
Paul Gough