This luckless, devil-may-care Chicago foursome was swallowed up by the ‘90s wave of major label signings of alterna-rock bands; after Polygram’s release of their 1995 second LP That’s What Love Songs Often Do (and MTV airplay for its single “Seeds”), poor sales for this 1997 third album — not helped by a controversial music video featuring adult film stars for its single “When Shirts Get Tight” that MTV refused to air! — led to the band being dropped and their 1998 breakup. But it deserved better, as this first-time-on-vinyl reissue proves. Behind the seething, viscous guitars of Blake Smith and Rick Ness, the crunchy, vigorous rhythms of bassist Mike Willison and drummer Bill Swartz (who replaced original stickman Andy Hamilton), Smith’s alternately fervent and sensitive croon, enthusiastic backing vocals, and perceptive, enigmatic lyrics, they blend In Utero-era Nirvana and Ash. Removed from the competing, similarly-styled bands of their heyday, songs like “Come On (Don’t Come On),” “When Shirts Get Tight,” “Pretty Never Hurts,” and Who “I Can’t Explain”-tinted “Sleep Startles” still sound fresh and stimulating.
This album will be released on June 26.
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“Come On (Don’t Come On)”
“When Shirts Get Tight”
