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Rating: As you well know, there's a big black hole that mercilessly swallows up artists, trends, films that weren't fortunate enough to extend their 15 minutes of fame, or didn't get it at all: the oblivion. Very often it happens that (staying in the musical field) groups or artists who didn't deserve it end up there, and it's worth rediscovering them (and DeBaser, let me say, is a great site for retrieving!); other times, it’s characters who weren't worth saving that fall into oblivion: the so-called meteors. This category includes the band in question, Letters to Cleo.
Who remembers them? In America, they achieved moderate success around the mid-'90s with "Here and Now," from their debut album "Aurora Gory Alice," also featured in "Melrose Place" (those were the days!). After that, three other albums went increasingly unnoticed, an inevitable breakup in 2000, various avoidable solo careers (we'll only keep track of the singer Kay Hanley's career, consisting of 4 albums and various EPs) and a completely unnecessary reunion in 2008. But back to us: the subject in question is the band's second album dated 1995. Following the success of the mentioned "Here and Now," they release this second effort that shifts the sound towards a rock that’s even more pop than its predecessor, following the more commercial holes. It starts with "Demon Rock" and "Fast Way," truly enjoyable, the former with its fast punk-like pace and the latter with its more sustained rhythm: two good examples of what would later be called power pop, often inappropriately. The beginning looks promising: unfortunately, by the fourth track (and first single) "Awake", the level plummets: "Laudanum" is a whiny ballad for depressed thirteen-year-olds, "St. Peter," "Little Rosa" and the concluding "The Wuss Song" are pathetic in their banality and in wanting to be (the first two) forcibly rock: unfortunately for LTC it's not enough to have the usual distorted guitar similar to grunge to camouflage a pop broth not of the worst kind, mind you, but two steps higher to be honest.
And the worst hasn't been reached yet: as the penultimate song, in a sort of coup de grace, comes the horrendous "He's Got an Answer," a track that seems to come straight out of a boy scout choir from catechism, armed with a deadly mono-chord acoustic guitar. Help!
It must be said, however, that not everything should be thrown away from "Wholesale Meats and Fish". Besides "Demon Rock" and "Fast Way", it's worth saving from the muck the cheerful and acerbic "Acid Jed," complete with organ, and the fast and catchy "Pizza Cutter." Unfortunately, four nice songs aren't enough to save a group from oblivion, and it's best for Letters to Cleo to stay where they are: in the niche of more or less useful and more or less forgotten bands that Beavis and Butthead excellently commented on in their show (that's how I discovered them).
There’s much more to rediscover in the depths of the '90s!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Fast Way (03:58)
Why you gotta sit in my easychair. What makes you
think that I would care? When I say to you - what are
you going to do? So I got you to at least say please, that's
how I know that you're on your knees. But I'm thinking
too. What am I gonna do. To not take the fast way it evens
out every time. God how I love a boy on the go and what
you've got I just have to know. [And] 'cause what else is there to
say [when] it's such a sunny day. So I got you to at least
say please that's how I know that you're on you knees. But
I'm thinking too, baby, are we through? To not take the
fast way it evens out every time.
04 Awake (03:54)
I guess it's been awhile
And a long time too
Everything's still the same
And so are you
It's only in this light
That I could see what you'd be like
If it took a million years,
Well, this is what I am.
You're awake and I'm asleep
And we are so complete that way.
You're asleep and I'm awake and
Everything is so great.
Everything is so great
Oh yeah
Heavy.
I wash my hands of you
I wash my dirty feet too
And when I wash my hair the
Dust clouds disappear
You're leaning out the window,
You're beating down a path real slow
With your heavy plastic bags
And heavy head
You're awake... (I wish we had a laugh but you're just
not funny. Baby, I'm leaving out the irony.
You're awake.)
07 Pizza Cutter (04:01)
I was on youre side
and I can't believe that it's coming back to haunt me.
You were on that side too
and I can't, no I can't go back and save you.
Why didn't you do as you were told?
Why didn't you just go home?
And what you got in the bag?
Non-recognition is the way to keep everything you want to hide.
You stay on that side now
'cause I won't, no I won't go back and bail you out.
Closer to the thing we had before.
And what you got in the bag?
You were closer than you thought.
Closer than you thought you'd get.
Don't you worry that pretty head now.
Never thought that's what you'd get.
Non-recognition is the way to keep everything you want to hide.
You stay on that side now
'cause I won't, no I won't go back and bail you out.
Why didn't you do as you were told?
Why didn't you just go home?
Now you're never coming back.
You were closer than you thought.
Closer than you thought you'd get.
Don't you worry that pretty head now.
Never thought that's what you'd get.
ahaaa X4
a X31
12 I Could Sleep (The Wuss Song) (03:09)
It's okay that you forget. It's alright that you don't
wanna remember. In your hands you've got a
martyr's head, in your mind, I know that's what you
wish you were. Turn my blue sky black, you're such
a hard luck baby. Yeah. That's what's the matter, with you.
But I could sleep through this. I am mystified as I
am in it. If that's your ride, well then you ought to get
it. It's just as if I wasn't dreaming. It's all the same,
'cause I still wake up screaming. Turn my blue sky
black... You're pilgrim in the boxcar. You can never
look back too far. You can't ever look back.
Turn my blue... I could sleep through anything
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