Intel and dreams (Nada Surf) (LP 3408 - 3411)

John Lennon  Telecasts (Vinyl, Bootleg, no date) *** 

Nada Surf  Moon Mirror (Vinyl, New West Records, 2024) ****  

Mike Nesmith  Mike Nesmith Presents The Wichita Train Whistle Sings (Vinyl, Dot Records, 1968) * 

Mike Nesmith and his Second National Band  Tantamount To Treason Volume One (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1972) ****

Genre: Pop/ rock 

Places I remember: Amoeba Music, Music store in San Luis Obispo, Wax Trax Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: In Front Of Me Now (Nada Surf)

Gear costume: Wax Minute (Mike Nesmith) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: The last installment of my American haul (the P to Z albums will come up in the countdown in due course).

I owned a copy of the Lennon bootleg Telecasts but lost it in a house move. It's a compilation of material from John's TV appearances. Given its bootleg status, the sound quality is variable, but mostly very good. 

The Mike Douglas Show material with Chuck Berry is not well performed but the rest is interesting (even if the Dick Cavett Show stuff is sped up a bit). Regardless of all that, it's good to have a copy back in the Lennon collection.

I listened to Nada Surf's Moon Mirror (their latest album) when I re-listened to their albums for my entry on them a while back (here if you want to catch up). I was immediately impressed and put it on my list. 

I was thrilled to find a cheap new copy in a store in San Luis Obispo (I forget its name - most of the stores I went into there had a huge number of CDs and only a few bins of secondhand albums - which is weirdly where I found this brand new copy).

It's an excellent example of their melodic power pop approach.

I managed to find both of the Nez albums going cheap in Wax Trax Records in Denver. Cheap is $US14.00 for the two. Unbelievable!

Wichita Train Whistle Sings is his first solo album, made while he was still a Monkee. It has interesting, instrumental versions of Monkee's songs, but is still strictly for completists/ obsessives.

Tantamount To Treason Volume 1 (there was never a volume 2) was his fifth solo album. It sets out a different sound - more psychedelic crooner than country hick (of the previous 3 before this one), and points toward his future releases. As a transitional record, it has feet in both the past and future.

Where do they all belong? Back to the regular countdown for the next post - a couple of Yoko Ono posts upcoming.

Zen brain (Nada Surf) (LP 3330 - 3336)

Nada Surf  high/low (CD, Elektra Records, 1996) ***  

Nada Surf  The Proximity Effect (CD, Elektra Records, 1998) ** 

Nada Surf  Let Go (CD, Barsuk Records, 2002) **** 

Nada Surf  Let Go (CD, Barsuk Records, 2002) **** 

Nada Surf  Lucky (CD, Barsuk Records, 2008) **** 

Nada Surf  if i had a hi-fi (CD, Mardev Records, 2010) **** 

Nada Surf  Live In Brussels (CD, Mardev Records, 2010) **** 

Genre: Alt-rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records; Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi); HMV; Fopp.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: 80 Windows, Stalemate (Live in Brussels)

Gear costume: Inside of Love (Let Go) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: High/low was the debut album by this American alt-rock band, produced by The Cars' Ric Ocasek. He has pop smarts and he helps the guys produce an excellent opening salvo.

Nada Surf are: Matthew Caws (guitar/vocals), Daniel Lorca (bass) and Ira Elliot (drums). Caws and Lorca are the Lennon/McCartney of the band.

The songs on the mid nineties debut are punchy in a Weezer sort of way. Helps that I like Weezer as well! I actually prefer Nada Surf though, as they seem to be happy to play around with their sound and song structures more.

The Proximity Effect suffers a bit from second album syndrome. There's nothing wrong with it as such but the songs aren't as memorable as those on their debut and Fred Maher's production isn't as poppy as Ric's. It's fine as it goes but it doesn't make any advances on High/Low.

Third album, Let Go, has a more mannered sound and shows a few different looks that weren't visible on the previous two albums. It's the best of their first three albums, and even gained some traction via TV and commercials. It's a much more mellow affair and is a successful reset for the band.

Lucky is their fifth studio album, and although the album cover looks black, it isn't - just a very low horizon shot that is quite stunning when you tilt the cover a certain way.

It's a reward for those like me, who stuck with the band - it's a mature sound, a long way from High/Low and (especially) The Proximity Effect. It's a tad heavier than Let Go, but only a tad. The Nada Surf pop hooks remain from that earlier record.

If i had a hi-fi (all lower case) signals a slight sideways movement, in that it's an album of cover versions. Thanks to the mostly obscure songs, it's one of those cool cover albums that sounds like the band's own work. Until The Moody Blues' Question pops up, that is. No mistaking that one.

Final album in my list is the Live In Brussels set. It's great! An excellent setlist that takes in the full range of their career. They are obviously an excellent live band and Matthew's French is flawless!

There are plenty of highlights but Stalemate is superb with the band morphing into Love Will Tear Us Apart, and Popular (from their first album) is given a great punk pop polish.

Where do they all belong? Keen to get the missing albums - The Weight Is A Gift, Never Not Together and Moon Mirror.