Album Review

Before even discussing this album, you have to give New York based indie powerhouse Matador Records some serious credit for choosing an ingenious method for unveiling their newest team player, Jay Lindsey (aka Jay Reatard.)

Over the course of this past year, Matador has been releasing a series of seven inch singles by the young, southern-based garage rocker. Of course the singles have been selling like hot cakes. Coincidentally, they seem to have arrived just in time for the recent mass resurrection of the vinyl format. I mean even Best Buy is stocking records all of a sudden.

So the timing was right, and the rollout seems to have succeeded in creating a mountain of hype for Mr. Reatard (note the retarded spelling) but does the music live up to the buzz?

Yes…yes…and yes.

This is a truly colossal album that matches the greatness of many of the classic singles collections of yesteryear. And talk about a format back from the dead – does anyone even remember singles collections? If ever there was a tell-tale sign for the short shelf life of current bands, the fact that hardly anyone even lasts long enough to compile enough of these for a full-length release is a sure sign of limited exposure.

Looking back on it, some of the greatest underground bands have had their reputations secured by the quality of their singles collections. The Clash, whose shining vinyl moment is without a doubt the double LP London Calling, proved they could easily compete on the FM frequency with their incredible compilation The Singles. It is arguable that Superchunk’s greatest moment was their first ragtag singles collection Tossing Seeds, and, who can forget the classic collections by the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys.

One must note, of course, that Jay cheated the traditional formula in that all of these “singles” were not exactly serviced to radio, and represent only a year long creative burst in his already prolific career. But, at the same time, what an incredibly productive period to document! Coming off another singles collection, the worthy but not spectacular Singles 06-07, and a much heavier full-length, Blood Visions, Matador Singles ‘08 showcases an artist in the midst of a key transition.

The feeling (and general consensus judging from Jay’s recent interviews) is that his next full-length is going to be something entirely different from Blood Visions. This batch of singles is intriguing because it is certainly one of those “best of both worlds” albums. It hasn’t completely abandoned the old style as of yet, but it’s tempered with a healthy batch of new experiments. The result is an album akin to The Beatles Revolver, Face to Face by The Kinks, or even Meddle by Pink Floyd. It is the precursor to a big jump, and, like all the aforementioned albums, it is groundbreaking in its own right.

To my ears, much of this album reeks of Kiwi-Pop, namely The Clean and fellow Flying Nun bands. And, wow, what a great combination. The opener, “See-Saw,” “Painted Shut,” “Always Wanting More,” and, especially those keyboards on “You Mean Nothing To Me” just bleed The Clean. Meanwhile, the punkier stuff, “Screaming Hand,” “Trapped Here,” “D.O.A.” and even the foreboding “Fluorescent Grey” are easily of equal quality to the Blood Visions output.

The wildcards may be the final three tracks – three acoustic numbers, two of which (“No Time” and “You Were Sleeping”) actually sound a whole lot like quality lo-fi Portastatic to me. The closing song on the album is its gold star achievement. “I’m Watching You” is a hypnotic gem driven by a vocal with so much echo it sounds like it’s from another dimension, and a guitar break so damn perfect it’s tough to believe a Reatard came up with it. An amazing ending to a stellar collection and a mouth-watering precursor for what is to come.

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