Fans of The dB`s, listen up! Sneakers, if you don`t already know, is your
long lost dB`s album! Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter, and Will Rigby formed the
core of the Sneakers, writing well-crafted, guitar-driven pop rockers; their
self-titled debut EP was engineered by Don Dixon. If you own 1992`s
"Racket" from Sneakers you probably are set, even though there`s at least 4
tracks that I can tell that are not on that one. Whether it`s worth a pick
up, that is your call. This one has excellent, extensive liners from Scott
Schindler and new remastered sound, at the least. Okay, found this
excellent review for you, which really says it all extremely well: "
Founded by future dB`s Chris Stamey and Will Rigby, Sneakers released two
indie EPs, Sneakers and In the Red, both of which received kudos in rockfan
forums like Trouser Press and New York Rocker, but largely went unnoticed
beyond the fanzine press. The first six-song EP was the work of a four-man
unit -- Stamey, drummer Rigby, guitarist Rob Slater & bassist Robert Keely ‹
while the second was the creation of a band in name only. Stamey and Easter
(who`d joined the group for a gig at Max`s Kansas City) put together Red as
a duo, utilizing a few archival tracks featuring the rest of the players,
along with future dB`s bassist Gene Holder, but primarily playing most of
the instruments themselves. With Easter sharing vocal responsibilities, the
six-song set sounds as much like nascent Let`s Active as it does pre-formed
dB`s. Both EPs, along with nine other tracks initially produced around
the same time, are now being re-issued by Collectors` Choice under the
collegially pretentious title Nonsequitur of Silence. For fans of the sound,
the collection provides a splendorous earful of early D.I.Y. popmaking. (A
historically contextual parenthetical should probably be inserted here: when
Sneakers was first released in `76, the best-known indie tracks were by the
likes of Patti Smith, Television & Pere Ubu. The power pop boom that brought
all those skinny tie bands into the public limelight wouldn`t flower for at
least another year, so this stuff was really ahead of its time.) Though the
first six tracks of Nonsequitur, recorded lo-fi and mostly live by another
name-to-be, performer/producer Don Dixon, primarily reveal a young band
whose reach exceeds its grasp, Stamey`s early compositions show the man`s
sense of minor key hookery was already keenly developed. Opener track
"Ruby" gives a good idea of what we`re in for. While it just barely holds
together instrumentally -- though Rigby`s solid drumming grounds the track,
Stamey and Slater`s ramshackle guitar hooks struggle in spots to stay in
place -- the song also contains an irrepressibly catchy "talk is cheap"
chorus. If some of Sneakers` experimental flourishes (in "Driving," the
song`s atonal guitar embellishments threaten to overwhelm Stamey`s
characteristically light vocals) take getting used to, by the fifth track
("Crisis"), the sound coalesces and pure poppery prevails. Lyrically, the
songs ‹ with their refs to Kennedy era America ‹ owe a debt to John Cale at
his most geopolitical: even when he writes a paean to an unattainable girl,
Stamey can`t resist comparing it to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The debut`s
aural peak is its finale, "On the Brink," which just smashes through its
tinny production right into yer living room. Makes you wonder what the full
group could`ve produced if it`d stayed together longer. This is not to put
down the follow-up In the Red, which in many ways shows quantum sonic leaps
above its predecessor. It begins on a melancholy acoustic track, "Story of A
Girl," about a suicidal young Eleanor Rigby type (nifty sitar by Stamey
slipped in this `un), then kicks up with the rollicking "What I Dig," which
even manages to toss rockabilly hiccoughs into the mix. Stamey and Easter
regularly throw in small off-kilter touches without (as in the first EP)
overbalancing the songs. "Some Kinda Fool," for example, includes a bridge
that hints of a previously unheard spy movie theme, but when it breaks into
a Stamey/Easter sung chorus about a young heartbreaker who "likes girls,"
the song approaches harmony pop nirvana. More than in the first disc, you
can really hear where these two pop smarties are headed: Easter`s "Decline
and Fall," f`rinstance, wouldn`t have sounded out of place on Let`s Active`s
own glisteningly creative EP debut, Afoot, five years later.
Most of the bonus material is on the same sweet level as Red, two stand-outs
being "The Perfect Stranger," which has the kinda wuzzy harmonies Stamey
would stretch even further in his solo work, and "Be My Ambulance," a
proto-psychedelic song that you can imagine the Soft Boys recording. Of
course, you get a coupla goofy throwaway tracks: in this case, a brief
instrumental snippet of a more explicit faux spy theme ("Mark Peril Theme")
and what appears to be a radio spot for B&G Pies, which sounds like a
throwback to the days when bands like Shadows of Knight used to churn out
radio jingles for potato chips or the "sold-out" Who sang about "Coke after
Coke after Coke." "Love`s Like A Cuban Crisis" even shows up in its original
demo form, more simply entitled "Love that Girl" after its hooky chorus.
This is probably not the disc to introduce neophytes to either the sounds of
the dB`s or Let`s Active. For that, I`d recommend the two Collectors Choice
reissues of Decibels/Repercussion and Cypress/Afoot (though if you also
happen upon the CD reissue of the Peter Holsapple-led deeBs, Like This, I`d
advise you to snap it up, if only for "Spy in the House of Love"). But for
those who`ve kept the chorus to "Ask for Jill" and "Make Up with Me" in
their head for decades now, Nonsequitur of Silence is a revelation: a sign
of greater things to come and a purty sweet deal all by itself. As the lads
themselves croon, this is what I dig. "-Bill Sherman, BlogCritics.org. An
historical document of the power pop sound you have been listening to since
the mid 70`s, Sneakers is the real, true deal and a must for fans of The
dB`s and Let`s Active, most definitely!
 Stuck On You - mp3
The Perfect Stranger - mp3
Decline And Fall - mp3
Ruby - mp3
What I Dig - mp3 |
