One Last Wish
1986

Before talking about One Last Wish, we must inevitably discuss Rites Of Spring, a band that had a very brief existence, formed immediately after Rites disbanded in 1986, and dissolved a few months later after performing 6 concerts and recording their only album. As mentioned with Rites Of Spring, three-quarters of the Wish lineup consisted of former Rites members: Guy Picciotto (vocals, guitar), Eddie Janney (vocals, bass), Brendan Canty (drums), and Michael Hampton (guitar, backing vocals). In those winter days of '86, they created one of Washington D.C.'s most beautiful albums, which remained unreleased until 1999 on Dischord records (who else indeed?). Washington D.C., as mentioned, was a truly vibrant and independent musical scene at the time. In 1986, Fugazi was not yet in the conversation, but the time was (almost) ripe. Ian Mackaye, who produced both the Rites and the Wish album, was busy (besides running his Dischord Records) with Embrace, another essential formation of the scene. After the disbandment of the phenomenal Rites, Picciotto was crafting something equally fantastic with these One Last Wish. The comparison with Rites is inevitable, of course, and the sound, in some ways, especially upon first listening, may appear very similar to the previous band. The zeal, that tortured and emotional executive zeal, is present, and in a certain sense, the album shifts the Rites sound towards a more melodic direction, doing so in a sharp, instinctive, minimalist manner. Picciotto's voice (which, in the opinion of the writer, remains one of the best things ever heard by the human ear) is torn, deformed, totally expressionist, driven into the distorted and melodious whirlwinds of the wall of guitars and the derailing rhythmic section. The sounds are muddy and disordered, powerful and vibrant. The band's talent appears in each of these 12 brief tracks, encapsulated in just about 24 minutes, from the extraordinary melodies of "Hide," "Burning In The Undertow," or "Three Unkind Silences," to the fiery "Break To Broken" or the outstanding "Home Is The Place" and "One Last Wish." And then there's "My Better Half," capable, in under 2 minutes, of tearing your guts apart, satisfying your senses, and sending you to heaven simultaneously. An album filled with great emotion, the result of a band comprised of immense talents at a key moment in their musical existence.