All I want is everything (Jellyfish) (LP 2851 - 2853)

Jellyfish  Bellybutton (CD, Charisma Records, 1990) ***** 

Jellyfish  Spilt Milk (CD, Charisma Records, 1993) *****  

Jellyfish  Live at Bogarts (CD, Ominvore Records, 2012) ****  

Genre: Power pop, rock 

Places I remember: HMV (Edinburgh); Real Groovy Records; Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Ghost at Number One (Spilt Milk)

Gear costume: New Mistake (Spilt Milk)

Active compensatory factors: There are an embarrassment of riches on this pair of studio albums and a live album from powerpoppers Jellyfish.

I have written about them before on this blog, but they haven't featured in this countdown till now.

The band contain three key figures: Andy Sturmer (vocals, drums, guitar); Roger Manning (vocals, keyboards, guitar); and Jason Falkner (bass, guitars) with Andy and Roger writing the songs between them.

Bellybutton was their debut and it is superb! No dud tracks anywhere but it didn't fit the trends of the time (hair metal) so was tragically ignored to an extent. I struggled to find a copy for years but finally found one on holiday in Scotland. 

The guys are super talented, musically, vocally, and in their songwriting. They are Beatles/ Queen/ Badfinger fans, so this is manna from heaven for me. My copy has bonus live tracks (Badfinger/ Macca) that are brilliant as well. They come from the live at Bogarts' gig.

Spilt Milk, their second album, may be even better. The Queen obsession is present from the first song Hush. From there on it's one inspired song after another. They throw the kitchen sink at these arrangements and the technique works like crazy.

It's hard to highlight individual songs because they all have their strengths. I've plumped for a couple from Spilt Milk. Ghost at Number One because it's the first song of theirs I heard on a compilation and fell in love with (those Beach Boy echoes at the end sealed the deal). How does it feel? Brilliant!

The live album is from a 1991 gig, so features material from Bellybutton and some fantastic covers. It kicks off with Argent's Hold Your Head Up and segues into their own song - Hello. More terrific songs follow; the flow and pace is perfectly judged throughout the gig. Gush gush. I love Jellyfish!

Where do they all belong? A trio of power pop gems!

So serene (Jellyfish)

I know a lot of Jellyfish's 1993 album Spilt Milk album off by heart because it was on high rotate in the late 90s, early 00s as I was working on university assignments for a post grad degree in school management. For a lot of that time I was struggling with a thesis and Spilt Milk got me through!

I bought the CD from Real Groovy in Auckland and later tracked down their other album Bellybutton from Edinburgh's HMV in 2003.

Anyway...I'd put the album on as I started my labours for the day and hit repeat. The songs merged into a cohesive whole and the vocals by Andy Sturmer are really easy on the ear. So it was the perfect study music for me.

I'm a big big fan of the obscurely slurred,  muddy vocal delivery . Think Michael Stipe on early REM albums or Mick Jagger on Stones classics like Street Fighting Man. Andy is not that bad but he's close.

Andy has a great, distinctive voice and the backing vocals are so layered that at times it is nigh on impossible to make out what the lyrics are. Great!!

Jellyfish at times sound like The Beach Boys, Queen, The High Llamas, early Radiohead, Supertramp, and they are clearly influenced by The Fabs (the cover of Macca's Jet is note for note on the Bellybutton album) as well as powerpop outfits like The Raspberries, Badfinger and Big Star.

Usually that makes for a very derivative sound but Jellyfish forge a clear identity of their own.

The closest the San Francisco band ever came to a hit was The Ghost At Number One. A perfect little pop song.