Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Hide & Seek

(Candy Floss/Tangible, 1994)

It’s back to that dense shoegazey sound on “Hide & Seek,” this time with more fast-paced dreamrock action than we’ve heard previously. Great tom-heavy drumming and feedback-laced guitar, and, finally, there’s appropriate emphasis on the vocals. With that catchy lead-gtr part and vocal line, “Hide & Seek” is among the best of the early BJM songs, and you can count your lucky whatevers that it’s now widely available in HOT-POOP fidelity on the CD reissue of Spacegirl and Other Favorites, though that seems to be a radically different (and inferior!) mix – if not a totally different take. Gimme the CD’s clarity and the single’s mix... who can do that for me? WHO?

Next up is a live recording of “Methodrone” (NOT included on the Methodrone album; go figger), a song that has a lot in common with the era’s crop of blissed-out spacerockers in its delicate, guitars-only beginning that eventually builds to a pounding, repetitive, fuzz-laden climax. There is, however, a humorous, mood-puncturing curveball at the end as the whole thing dissolves into lounge piano – well done. Top-notch single overall, and the first hands-down winner of a disc in the BJM catalog. Hard to find a copy these days, but you could do worse than paying a few extra bucks to have one of these handy.

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