Starflyer 59 - "Gold (Extended Edition)"

Starflyer 59 - Gold (Extended Edition)
1995/2005, Tooth & Nail

1. A Housewife Love Song
2. Dual Overhead Cam
3. When You Feel Miserable
4. You're Mean
5. Stop Wasting Your Whole Life/Messed Up and Down
6. Messed Up Over You
7. When You Feel the Mess
8. Somewhere When Your Heart Glowed the Hope
9. Indiana
10. Do You Ever Feel That Way?
11. One Shot Juanita
Bonus Tracks
12. Next Time Around
13. Goodbyes Are Sad
14. When No One Calls
15. The Starflyer 2000 Reprise
16. Le Vainqueur

When Gold originally came out people did not like it. I didn't really like it. It was really, really different. Not a different style or anything but certainly a different tone. Whereas the first album was more upbeat and the songs peppier, this album is dour, morose, and slow. While the "wall of sound" distortion and shoegazery-ness (I know that's not a word) is still there, the entire thing is so downbeat and depressed. Back in the day I really only liked three tracks: "A Housewife Love Song," "You're Mean," and "Do You Ever Feel That Way?" - these songs sound the closest to Silver. This album has aged well though and people (including myself) have come to enjoy it a lot more over the years. There's a lot to dig into if you're willing. Though, honestly, I really do have to be in the mood to listen to this one. My edition is the reissue from 2005 with the extra tracks from a couple of EPs from the era, the names of which escape me.

Useless Fact: Rumor has it that this album is about Jason Martin's break-up with Leigh Nash (then Bingham) from Sixpence None the Richer. I think it's a little hilarious that a sweetheart like Leah would get this whole morose album written about her. Maybe someone can confirm or deny the rumor...

Starflyer 59 - "Silver"

Starflyer 59 - Silver
2005, Tooth and Nail

1. Blue Collar Love
2. Monterey
3. Sled
4. Hazel Would
5. The Zenith
6. 2nd Space Song
7. Droned
8. Happy Days Are Here Again
9. She Only Knows
10. The Dungeon
Bonus Tracks:
11. She's The Queen
12. She Was My Sweetheart
13. Blue Collar Love (Joy Electric Dub Mix)
14. Monterey (Lounge Version)
15. Canary Row
16. Salinas
17. The Drop
18. Droned (In Love Version)

Talk about different! One good thing I can say about Tooth & Nail is they brought some fresh music into the scene back in the early nineties. One of the best bands was Starflyer 59. Their style is usually referred to as "shoegazer." I'm not sure what that is or how it got its name but let me tell you what it sounds like: huge, thick, walls of distortion with trippy guitar parts over it and Jason Martin almost whisper-singing the lyrics. I know that doesn't sound appealing but trust me, it's probably one of the most unique things I've ever heard. I'm sure the bands' effects pedals got quite a workout on this one. As you can see there's only one SF59 disc here but that's because I never cared for the ones that came after this one. Also, my version is the reissue that includes the She's The Queen EP. That's cool to have on disc even though the artwork on this edition is cheap with a no-page insert! Lame!

Useless Fact: Starflyer 59 had a habit of not actually making cover art. Even though there's cover art shown the original Silver just had a silver cover (unless you got the tape). The Gold album had just a gold cover and Americana had just a plain red cover. They eventually got over that but I will say it made them just that much more peculiar.