In perfect timing, Rick Bain (of Portland pop superstars Spin Jupiter Spin) has released a home recorded 4 track version of Pet Sounds all played by himself. This CD rocks. He did it with no bouncing, using a lot of slightly overdriven acoustic guitar, some drum machine, occasionally distorted vocals, and a lot of gusto. It sheds a lot more light on the allure of Pet Sounds than the Beach Boys box set does, and it's a hell of a lot more shocking and fun. Rick admitted to me that he was a bit miffed with all the attention paid to everything around Pet Sounds at the exclusion of the songs themselves and I had to agree. Plus, the kicker was Janet Weiss (Quasi/Sleater-Kinney) admitting that Rick's version of "Sloop John B" actually made her like the song. Now that's cool. Double bonus: It's available on CDR, which some cool place in Seattle will do runs of for dirt cheap. Take note... ($12.99 postage paid, Evil Cream Fox, PO Box 2344, Portland, OR 97208)
Music Reviews | No. 8
Volume One
by Kevin Coral
Stop me if you've heard this one before. A couple of L.A. rich kids with too much time on their hands buy some recording equipment, rent a space and start recording their own album, which they...