Velocity Girl
Velocity Girl

In the early '90s, Velocity Girl were among the prominent flag-bearers of the indie movement, which was most characterized by the strong-use-of-melody/clumsy-guitar-doodles combination.

They formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland. They borrowed the title of one of Primal Scream's early historic tracks and placed it on the bass drum. Thus, after experimenting with Black Tambourine (always praised) to determine the direction to follow, Archie Moore and Brian Nelson recruited Sarah Shannon, with her far-sighted soprano vocal style, replacing the elusive Bridget Cross, and recorded the breakthrough single, "Forgotten Favorite" (1991).

Not even a month following the release of their masterpiece—one of the genre's absolute masterpieces, if not the absolute one in relative absolute (!)—"Copacetic" (Sub Pop, 1993), comes this Extended Play, also known as "6 Song Compilation" (Slumberland Records). Clarification: before the advent of Shannon and the release of "Copacetic", some of the material on this EP was released as a single (7''). Only later was it enriched and proposed as a retrospective of the band's early movements.

Nothing to complain about. The result is a handful of small gems within the gem. "Forgotten Favorite", with Shannon, is the standout track. But neither "I Don't Care If You Go" (also present in an acoustic version) nor the ungraceful, bastardized pop of "Not at All", dating back to the Cros era, disappoint. Nor do the two tracks where Moore lends his voice, especially the "Always" in which you almost get the impression you're listening to another historic Moore and his respective band.

In short, if you have room for a record to take to a desert island, take "Copacetic". If, however, you have no spaces left and "Copacetic" isn't in the "desert island" box, review your catalog because I'm sure you've missed something. If you want to get a second Velocity Girl record, don't get the second LP, but get this one instead. You won't hear tracks of the caliber of "Forgotten Favorite" again.