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November 28, 2006
Obscurer Than Thou: (More Basking in) the Volcano Suns
While you were digging in to a big bowl of gravy, D. Klein was digging through the vaults to bring you more primal rawk. Of course his holiday included fixin's as well. Fixin's you've never heard of...
V.S. 1.0 – The Bright Orange Years
by David Klein
Nothing against Daniel Craig, but Sean Connery as James Bond cannot be improved upon. He is the best and the only one that matters. Some folks prefer Roger Moore (of course, these are the people who prefer Paul McCartney's “Live and Let Die” phase) and I’m sure if you look around, you’ll find a George Lazenby fan site out there. Similarly, (I bought this segue for $3.99 on eBay) there’s no real agreement on the definitive Volcano Suns record or incarnation. Some purists swear by the founding lineup on the band’s first two releases. Others single out the third incarnation, which put out two LPs on SST in ’88 and ‘89. I’m not just being contrarian when I say I prefer V.S. 2.0, the lineup that produced Bumper Crop (1987).
In any case, it really is all good, good, good (like Brigitte Bardot), which is why I am taking a somewhat exhaustive approach to these guys. Let’s take a look at lineup No. 1., for which Peter Prescott tapped Jeff Weigand on bass and Jon Williams on guitar, both on spirited backup vocals.
The Bright Orange Years, 1985, Homestead Records.
the Volcano Suns - “Jak”
On the first song on the debut record, the band emerges fully formed, musically and lyrically, in this sneering putdown of a dilettante:
"If you can fool yourself/ You can fool anyone"
the Volcano Suns - “Truth is Stranger Than Fishing”
Shimmering with unresolved tension before bursting into Technicolor glory about two thirds in, this could easily be taken for a great lost Mission of Burma instrumental, at least for most of it.
the Volcano Suns - “Balancing Act”
Even in a mid-tempo ballad the band has me resorting to sports metaphors, which is to say they leave it all on the field. When the trio hoarsely proclaims, “It matters, it matters, it matters to me!” in the song’s climax, they concisely enunciate the entire indie rock ethos. Oh, and Yo La Tengo has been known to cover this song.
Previously: OTT (Man Sized Action)
OTT (Volcano Suns vol. 1)
Posted by Jeff Klingman at November 28, 2006 11:40 AM
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Comments
The first Suns album remains their high point in my opinion. Great band. Nice Pretenders reference also.
Thanks for the tunes, I've been dying to track down a digital version of that record and have resorted to snaring a track here, a track there.
Posted by: sean at November 28, 2006 03:57 PM
they were one of the biggest "indie" bands of their day, really, so is it really that obscure?
likely it's just that i'm fucking old. anyway, you're right that is by far their best album, ok.
Posted by: miguel at November 28, 2006 08:39 PM
The first two albums are coming out in digital form in april...with about 18 bonus tracks....studio stuff we never released and about half of a third album...taang is doing this...we are currently remastering the things at this moment...
Posted by: jeff weigand at December 18, 2007 04:26 PM
Great news! We'll be watching for them. And if you feel like leaking a track to us early, so much the better. Are the 18 tracks all originals, or are there a couple of bizarre covers thrown in?
Posted by: david at December 19, 2007 02:01 PM
