VARIOUS – THE SOUNDS MACHINE EP 1 (SOUNDS)
Dating from 1988 and originally given away free with Sounds magazine (ask your parents) this four song seven inch is a pretty stark display of where alternative music was at in the late eighties and the extreme gulf there appeared to be comparing the United Kingdom with the United States. The fact that one side is taken up by The Mission while the US side manages to squeeze in the Throwing Muses, Pixies and Dinosaur Jr just displays who was taking quality over quantity more seriously.
The Mission track (a live version of “Shelter From The Storm”) is as to be expected even though it begins with John Paul Jones joining them onstage to, I guess, add more bass guitar to proceedings. Taking in its grey Goth legacy I would say though that this music for the time I would imagine to be more MTV and radio friendly that what is/was coming on the other side. Ultimately it sounds bloated, sounds like The Cult.
Sounding more streamlined and generally more exciting, unsurprisingly the three American bands blow their British counterpart away on this occasion. I’m probably biased by nature but there truly is no competition here.
The suitably named “Mania” sees Throwing Muses galloping through a live version of their contribution at a hectic rate that sounds straight from the prairie, complete with vocal warbles. Not their finest moment. More inspiring is the live version of “Hey” from the Pixies which has always been one of their true slow delights prior to flipping its wig and firing off.
Finally Dinosaur Jr close proceedings with the suitably scrappy and slack filled contribution of “Throw Down” that is semi acoustic and inhabited by the trademark J Mascis drawl that barely clocks in at a minute (if that). Some things never changed.
America beat us.
Thesaurus moment: moment.
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