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(Slumberland, 2000)My oh my, this fi is lo. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! …Ha? Well it is! And that’s OK, because these three songs are rough mixes of the entire recorded output (1992) of Bright Coloured Lights. BCL consisted of two ex-members of Black Tambourine, plus a few folks from fellow Slumberlanders Lorelei. Perhaps predictably, given the presence of the lead vocalist (Pam Berry) and lead guitarist (Mike Schulman), this record indeed sounds an awful lot like fuzz-faves Black Tambourine: dark poprock with near-icy reverb-heavy girl vox wrapped in driving fuzz guitar, all of it underpinned by a no-frills rhythm section. You know what you’re getting into with this stuff, and if you like that kind of thing, you’re obv gonna love Bright Coloured Lights just fine. Some highlights: The doomy churchbell-style bass blasts giving the top-shelf “Count the Raindrops” a heavier feel than any other BCL or Black Tambourine songs. The vocals. The weird sawing guitar drone in the background of “Open Your Eyes.” Heck, all of the guitarwork on here is excellent. Just drop $3.50 on it and hear for yourself, moneybags.
(Audrey’s Diary, 1992)Well I was washing my hands at work this afternoon when I happened to glance into the mirror and exclaim, “Hey! I don’t look nearly enough like a ten year-old girl!” And I didn’t! So I sprinted forth and entered the area haircuttery, which is, oddly enough, staffed by the former personal stylist for Joey Ramone (dat’s NYC, I s’pose). When I emerged thirty minutes later, I was a dead ringer for old pal Ramona Quimby, sure to be called “miss” at Starbucks and carded at bars all ’round the town for the next many months. And here I am at home, getting ready to review a Black Tambourine record, when it is with SHRIEKING MAD LAUGHTER that I realize I now bear an unsettling resemblance (hair-wise) to the luvlee lady of this fine rock band. Time to grow a beard! While I’m doing that, I’ll give this single – their second and last – some serious thought, follically linked to it as I am. Though the three songs on here were recorded during the same month as those on the “By Tomorrow” 7”, they show a sillier, punkier, rockin’er side of Black Tambourine that reminds me quite a bit of the Pooh Sticks in the total careening pop wackiness. Cluttered drumming, frenzied noise guitar, wonderful vocal melodies, and, best of all, death wishes for Stephen Pastel’s girlfriend sung with Pam Berry’s cheerful innocence on “Throw Aggi Off the Bridge.” Plus a rather crunching, trebly Love cover (“Can’t Explain”)! Wha?! Fun, the whole thing, start to finish. Please just buy that darn Complete Recordings comp already; there is no good reason not to own this music. Do you like my beard?
(Slumberland, 1991)First a helpful collectorfreak note on the artwork, since this single was released with three different covers. There’s one with a tiger jumping through a glow-in-the-dark hoop (probably the rarest; mine is numbered 11/100), another with a girl splashing in a puddle (mine is hand-crayoned), and a third with a raindrop photo sleeve (oops, I don’t own this one). Find ’em all and love ’em all! Because the MUSIC is early-90s US pop underground at its best: Fuzz and reverb overlaid with roaring guitars, plus a hint of jangle underneath... strictly the good stuff. There’s some intriguing pre-Beatle girl-group influence at work as well, especially on the vocal patterns of the swinging “Drown” (and, to a lesser extent, the record’s lyrical concerns as a whole). Still, while catchy, concise, and inviting, these four songs are less cutesy than what European cousins like the Pastels or Vaselines were getting up to at the time, and a track like “Pack You Up” is downright dark shoegaze. Noisy pop simply doesn’t get much better than Black Tambourine, and these guys ’n’ gals were only around long enough to release two singles and a few stray tracks, all of ’em (plus a demo) now collected on the Complete Recordings CD/10”. Genius single, genius band. Really.
(Slumberland, 2000)
