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January 30, 2007
Obscurer Than Thou: Volcano Sunset
by David Klein
“I wanna make the whole world grow/Just like Barry Man-i-low”
A thousand pardons for my long absence from MS, but I have been attending an Obscurity Summit held in…oh, you probably never heard of it, but anyway, keynote speakers included Willie Alexander (Lou Reed’s replacement in the Velvet Underground); Deerfrance, backup vocalist (on one track) on Tom Verlaine’s first solo record, and Leif Bondarenko, drummer/accordionist for the Alabama-based jangle-pop quartet The Primitons. In the midst of a fascinating presentation on Norwegian power trios of late 1966, I was reminded that I had yet to delve into what I consider the Volcano Suns ultimate bucolic, bombastic moment in the sun, so I jumped on my scooter (vintage Mattell) and raced home. And then, just as Kool Moe Dee does in a similar situation, I go to work.
On Bumper Crop (1987), the band’s third release, drummer/bandleader Peter Prescott took a firmer hold of the reins, doing most of the songwriting himself this time, and opting for a more unified sonic approach. Overall it’s several notches more melodic than the skronked-out sprawl of their previous full-length release, All Night Lotus Party, and more in line with the terse, chugging riffs of the stopgap “Sea Cruise” single (rhapsodized over in a previous column). Not that the sense of sprawl, of glorious messiness, is gone. As the liner notes indicate, the record was very much a haphazard affair, but like a bevy of ocelots in a thatched satchel, it somehow hangs together.
the Volcano Suns - “Bumper Crop”
So much to love about a song that starts off saluting a piece of farm equipment, “on a job well done.” From the all-over-the-fretboard opening salvo, “Bumper Crop” pulls over long enough to yank you into the car and takes you on a sweaty drunken joyride, and the hysteria keeps building until you almost can almost feel the amphetamines, taste the homemade firewater, smell the barn. The whole thing keeps threatening to fall apart, and eventually it does, only to get back to its crazed feet and keep charging ahead until the whole thing, piano and all, seems to run headlong off a cliff somewhere. Just like every perfect song. Why the soybean growers of America haven’t decided to make a play for public recognition, with this as their theme song, I don’t know.
the Volcano Suns - “Peel Out”
I know what you’re thinking. “Bumper Crop” lacked pep. Well, here’s a paean to speed that should appeal to the closet NASCAR fans who frequent this site. The singer doesn’t just want to be the fastest man alive, he also wants to get far, far away from his present surroundings, to a place where the scenery is always blurred. But if he can’t get there, he’ll settle for being the fastest.
“It’s not to make pedestrians look / It’s not for the record book
It’s all about a little thing I call velocity.”
the Volcano Suns - "Needles in the Camel’s Eye"
(Brian Eno cover, Boston, MA 1989)
There haven’t been too many great versions of Eno songs. Maybe they’re a bit intimidating to try to improve on. Ultravox did a nifty “Kings Lead Hat,” and I’m told Don Ho’s “Mother Whale Eyeless” was surprisingly poignant, but not many smokin’ Eno covers leap to mind. Leave it to the Volcano Suns to come through with one that can actually stand shoulder to epaulet-emblazoned shoulder with Mr E. himself. Here it is then, from 1989’s Thing of Beauty (the Suns’ penultimate release): a song that begs to be shouted, covered by the epoch’s preeminent shouting outfit. Surprisingly faithful to the original, the Suns nevertheless grab the song by the horns and remove all vestiges of glam (try to imagine a man in overalls roughly wiping away a bull’s mascara) before completely filtering it through their own sound and sensibility, and making it their own.
Previously: Obscurer Than Thous of Christmas Past...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at January 30, 2007 09:10 AM
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Comments
Wow. A perfect evocation/summation of the VS's ethos and sweaty-overalled appeal. Anxiously awaiting the next over-ripe fruit from the Obscure Tree that you choose to toss at us.
Posted by: jonny bullets at January 30, 2007 11:07 AM
