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Rating:
I found this true gem at a stall, and only God knows how long I had been searching for it. This now-unobtainable piece is by the Beta Band, a band that was misaligned and inconsistent, which released three more works after this one from 1997. These were discontinuous, transversal, and difficult to define (which is why I find them magnificent).
What I'm presenting to you is a collection of their first three EPs, a sort of mini disc with four tracks, much easier to produce, distribute, and sell at concerts (the CD therefore has 12 tracks). Therefore, they present themselves showing off all their slow and mellifluous south rock verve, which, combined with perfectly imperfect vocal harmonies, give a true trademark to a band that still struggles today to find its precise place in the contemporary music scene (historically, during the press presentation of their first album, the singer called the album a "real piece of crap," something I believe was not true then, nor now).
Here we are at the initial drafts of the project and, amidst various naïveties, there is a strong sense of "playful goofing off" that gives the 12 tracks the feel of a Great Dress Rehearsal awaiting the true "debut album" (which would come three years later indeed with the aforementioned historic quip) and renders them incredibly free and spontaneous, as if we were in their rehearsal room, without too much polish or refinement. Thus, you can hear the background voices, pauses, off-theme improvisations, and arrangements that transition with nonchalance from soft rock to bossa nova, with the inclusion of hand claps, whistles, Beach Boys-like choruses, reverberations, laughter, and many things that would make the beloved Beck from Odelay rejoice. In short, an extremely varied album, although fairly "flat" in the harmonic setup and in the construction of the tracks, always strictly slow, which gives the tracks a single recognizable and very enjoyable matrix. Hence emerges the post-cylum trip (the track "Monolith", appropriately lysergic and psychedelic, that is, over 15 minutes long!) or the Lennon-esque "She's The One", or the off-kilter "Push It Out" solely a cappella, with plate claps and hand-claps (?), the west-coast songs of "It's Over", worthy of the best Neil Young meeting Morricone, the chaotic "Dr. Baker" where vocal intertwining becomes experimentation leading to exercises on the edge of progressive, but always in a playful and never pedantic way, without instrumental virtuosity but always favoring the group spirit, and so on throughout the entire work, full and brimming with "other" references and citations.
An album that I find beautiful and visionary that, despite the technical limits of the band, sounds like a long and wonderful psychedelic, noise, and post-rock journey in the best tradition, giving the voices and their strange sound mix, the title of true protagonists of the "Three E. P. S." project. A truly great discovery indeed.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Dry the Rain (06:07)
This is the definition of my life
Lying in bed in the sunrise
Choking on a vitamin tablet the doctor gave
In the hope of saving me
In the hope of saving me
Mott's in the corner of the room
Junkyard fool with eyes of [glue/gloom/blue]
I asked him time again,
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain,
Take me in and dry the rain,
The rain, the rain, the rain, the rain, my rain now
Dusty brown boots in the corner by the ironing board
Spray-on dust is the greatest thing
Sure is the greatest thing
Since the [light/lie], since the [light/lie]
Mott's in the corner of the room
Junkyard fool with eyes of [glue/gloom/blue]
I asked him time again
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain
The rain, the rain, the rain, the rain, my rain now
I asked him time again,
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain
Take me in and dry the rain
The rain, the rain, the rain, the rain, my rain now
If there's something inside that you wanna say
Say it out loud it'll be okay
I will be alright, I will be alright
I will be your light, I will be your light
If there's something inside that you wanna say
You can say it out loud it will be okay
I will be alright, I will be your light
I will be your light, I will be your light
I need love
I need love
05 Inner Meet Me (06:19)
Inner meet me, oh you can't decide [repeated 10 times]
Last night I dreamt somebody fell asleep between my knees
I couldn't help it [?] rejected by a boy called me
Last night I dreamt somebody fell asleep between my knees
I couldn't help it [?] rejected by a boy called me
Last night I dreamt somebody fell asleep between my knees
I couldn't help it [?] rejected by a boy called me
Say what you feel
[help!]
Never dream alone
Never dream alone
09 Push It Out (03:49)
Push it out [repeated approx 70 times]
I wanna beat ya wanna hug ya wanna hold ya to me
Gone to hell thats where I'll be
I'll be fine then come with me
With a double shot of power and he's over me
11 Dr. Baker (04:32)
Dr. Baker phoned me in the morning
He left a note, he's still yawning
Dr. Baker phoned me in the morning
He left a note, she couldn't make it
How did she ever take a lesson outside his head?
Dr. Baker phoned me in the morning
He couldn't understand, he was a busy man
Tried to reach him again, plead with him:
"Please come please come please come
Please come please come please come"
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
overandoverandover
hovering and hovering and hollering home
Dr. Baker phoned me again later that day
Said he cried and he really sounded out of it
His wife was dead and his dog was dead
And misery planned inside his head
I tried to reason with him, tried singing
He said: "No boy you'll never listen"
Try it again
Try it again
Try it againgaingaingaingain
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
See me lost inside
You will see me lost how high
overandoverandover
overandoverandover
I'm a overandoverandover
I'm hoveringhovering oh
I'm a hoveringhovering oh
I'm a hoveringhovering oh
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Other reviews
By uffa
Refined melodies and exquisite vocal harmonies, from melancholic sources to joyful endings.
"Push It Out" is undoubtedly one of the most representative pieces of B.B., showcasing fresh vocal experiments.
