The whole thing has an air of mad humour, being together again...It doesn't sound like an oldies band. I couldn't believe it when they cranked up behind me. It was the most ungodly thing...very exciting. It was like being strapped on the front of a runaway train...People are going to be very surprised. (EC)

The Schramms already had intelligence and maturity to spare when they cut their second album, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite, but the two years of seasoning that preceded the recording of 1994's Little Apocalypse is audible from the first play. While the Schramms already sounded tight on their earlier recordings, they sound positively intuitive on these sessions (especially Ron Metz, whose drumming offers lots of subtle color without calling attention to itself), and Dave Schramm's guitar playing has, if anything, grown even more striking and inventive, confirming his status as one of America's greatest unsung guitarists. And while Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite sounded like a set of great songs, Little Apocalypse is a great album, displaying a greater thematic unity and enough tonal variety to keep it compelling from start to finish. And Little Apocalypse is dark enough to live up to its title, full of casual murders, angry apparitions, songs of the sirens, and vengeful final words alongside Schramm's usual tales of romantic distress and emotional discombobulation, painting a vivid picture of a world where things aren't quite right made all the more familiar by Schramm's warm, well-worn voice. (For good measure, the band also offers up another of its stellar covers: in this case, an inspired reading of Lucinda Williams' "Side of the Road.") A striking mix of the comfortable and the troubling, Little Apocalypse is a superb album from a band just hitting the top of its form.

(by Mark Deming, All Music Guide)

Whereas Dirty and its predecessors were loud, distorted, and bordering on the fine line between pop and noise, Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star did away with the ear-bleeding guitar feedback so often attributed to the group. The group retained its quirky twist on pop/rock song structures, moving even closer to a consistent use of the verse-chorus-verse template. Of course, the disregard for mosh-friendly guitar riffs, lack of crowd-surfing intensity, and increasing traces of normalcy killed a large part of the group's momentous surge in popular acceptance, damning them once again to the status of often misunderstood artists. Popular opinion may have wanted more rock than what Sonic Youth wanted to deliver on this album, yet upon careful inspection, Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star still out-noises the majority of its peers. Butch Vig's clean production makes the album seem clean, when in actuality it is nearly as dirty as the group's preceding effort. Songs such as "Starfield Road" and the acoustic song "Winner's Blues" emanate plenty of raw spontaneity, even with Vig's crystal clear production. Relative to Sonic Youth's greater body of work, the album does seem rather sedate, though. The noises resonate subtly rather than mangle one's eardrum. In sum, this record must be considered the closest the group has ever gone to straight-ahead pop/rock. With all of the feedback, murky production, incoherent song structuring, and rambunctious charisma stripped away, what remains are odd lyrics and unique guitar nuance. In other words, Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star features the underlying foundation of the group's music standing naked, without any of their traditionally excessive static to heighten it.

(by Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide)

Robert Forster, erstwhile co-writer of The Go-Betweens, is a lanky, committed individual of Australian extraction with an occasional fondness for stage dresses, whose eclectic tastes can be enjoyed on this covers album. The lack of PC self-consciousness is applaudable - that Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow was written by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees doesn't diminish its quality, and it's time Heart's mega-ballad Alone is recognised for its dizbusting beauty. Forster also preaches the virtues of more spiritually connected, folky laments like Guy Clarke's Broken-Hearted People, Bob Dylan's Tell Me That It Isn't True and Mickey Newbury's Frisco Depot. But, like Forster's last two solo albums, the atmosphere and instrumentation can be barroom slack for a man of his poise. A case in point is ex-Husker Du Grant Hart's 2541, where the original's frayed tension is dropped but not suitably replaced likewise Martha & The Muffins' Echo Beach. An eminently playable halfway house before the next record proper.

(Martin Aston)

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Das Album, das früher unter dem Titel "I Had A New York Girlfriend" bekannt war. Nachdem Robert drei Jahrzehnte Zeit hatte, über das Album nachzudenken, nutzte er die Gelegenheit, um den Titel und das Artwork des Albums zu überdenken. "I Had A New York Girlfriend" war eine Entscheidung in letzter Minute, eine Zeile aus dem Modern Lovers Song "Old World". Der Arbeitstitel war immer "Beautiful Hearts" gewesen, eine Phrase, die von einem anderen Song, "For Those" von Tindersticks, übernommen wurde. Ohne den alten Titel machte auch das Artwork - eine New Yorker Straßenszene - keinen Sinn mehr. "Stattdessen", erklärt Robert, "gibt es ein zeitgenössisches Foto von mir, wie ich eine Gruppe von Musikern dirigiere, die in den Eröffnungssong des Albums 'Nature's Way' stürzen. Nun... das ist die Fantasie."

Neu gemastert in der Abbey Road.

By the time of 1994's Mars Audiac Quintet, Stereolab had already highlighted the rock and experimental sides of its music; now the band concentrated on perfecting its space-age pop. Sweetly bouncy songs like "Ping Pong" and "L' Enfer des Formes" streamline the band's sound without sacrificing its essence; track for track, this may be the group's most accessible, tightly written album. The groove-driven "Outer Accelerator," "Wow and Flutter," and "Transona Five" (which sounds strangely like Canned Heat's "Goin' Up the Country") reaffirm Stereolab's Krautrock roots, but the band's sweet synth melodies and vocal arrangements give it a pop patina. Even extended pieces like "Anamorphose" and "Nihilist Assault Group" -- which could have appeared on Transient Random Noise-Bursts With Announcements if they had a rawer production -- are more sensual and voluptuous than edgy and challenging. It's equally apparent on layered, complex songs such as "New Orthophony" and "The Stars Our Destination," as well as spare, minimal tracks like "Des Etoiles Electroniques," that the members of Stereolab focused their experimental energies on production tricks, vocal interplay, and increasingly electronic-based arrangements. The charming final track "Fiery Yellow" takes the band's fondness for lounge pop and experimentation to the limit; a delicate, marimba-driven piece featuring the High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan, it sounds like the kind of music Esquivel or Martin Denny would be proud to make in the '90s. While it's not as overtly innovative as some of Stereolab's earlier albums, Mars Audiac Quintet is an enjoyable, accessible forerunner to the intricate, cerebral direction the group's music would take in the mid- and late '90s.

(by Heather Phares, All Music Guide)

Bounded by an elegantly moulded song construction and perfectly realised arrangements, The Bathers' majestic album is almost scuppered by its own penchant for poncification and pretension. The song titles alone (Venice Shoes, Pissoir, Via D'Oro, Ave The Leopards) are worthy nominees for Pseuds Corner. Chief Bather, singer and songwriter Chris Thompson somehow manages to brazen it out, and with the gentlest of nods to Van Morrison, Tom Waits and The Blue Nile delivers these sumptuous tunes with the born again soul intensity of a genuine Celtic troubadour, his octave-defying, swoony vocals cruise across a smoothly textured undertow of warmly caressed strings and mesmerising piano melodies on an LP which is quietly awesome.

Paul Davies Q Magazine (4 Stars)

Butch Hancock ist einer der legendären Texas-Folkies. Ehedem mit den Flatlanders aktiv (Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore) veröffentlichte er sieben Solo-LP´s auf seinem eigenen Label, bevor er nach 8 Jahren Pause mit "Eats Away The Night" im Herbst `94 sein Meisterwerk vorlegt. Produziert von Gurf Morlix und mit Charlie Sexton, Jesse Taylor und Lucinda Williams´ Backingband eingespielt. Die Recordings haben ein Flair, wie sie nur eine Texas-Platte haben kann. Mit einer unbezwingbar guten Version von "Boxcars" und natürlich seinem Übersong "(If You Were) A Bluebird". Einer der besten lebenden Songwriter und ein Sympath dazu. Die CD kommt im Digipak.

(Glitterhouse)

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After about 20 years, Butch Hancock has released his first produced studio album for a national label not compiled from his previously released Rainlight Records LPs. In many ways, Hancock set his style down with his very first self-produced album, West Texas Waltz. All the elements from that period remain — the Dylanesque vocal sound, his love of wordplay, and a deep feeling for the stories that make up an individual's life. The warm sound of this album makes it easier for newcomers to get past his dry voice, and the inclusion of his hit "If You Were a Bluebird" will help a new audience locate him properly in the contemporary Texas songwriting scene. The band is tight and steps back enough to let Hancock's stories and personality shine through.

(by Richard Meyer, All Music Guide)

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"Prallvoll mit erstklassigen Folksong-Perlen." (City Journal)

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"Nicht nur deswegen, weil sein Sound ähnlich folkrockig ist wie der damals von Dylan, sondern weil die Qualität der Songs nicht viel geringer ist als das, was der Meister schrieb. Mit anderen Worten: Ein veritabler Klassiker der Legende aus Austin." (Oldiemarkt)

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"Ein Muß für alle Freunde des texanischen Outlaw-Countrys." (Rec Rec-Newslist)

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“Die Wiederentdeckung eines großen Einzelkämpfers.” (Spex)

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If he's among the most underappreciated singer/songwriter in America, it's Butch Hancock's own fault. Never taking his own recordings very seriously; for years he's simply taped live performances or similarly lo-fi, impromptu events in a studio and then released them on his own poorly distributed label. This is the first Hancock album to be thoughtfully conceived, carefully recorded with a rehearsed band and efficiently distributed, and the results throw the best possible light on Hancock's raucous sense of humor and his passionate embrace of the world's most far-fetched possibilities.
"Eats Away the Night" was produced by Gurf Morlix, who brought a similarly understated folk-rock to Lucinda Williams' albums, with musicians drawn from Williams' current band and Joe Ely's old group. The producer and players add rhythmic muscle and harmonic flesh to Hancock's songs without ever getting in the way of the words, which are the main attraction. Sometimes Hancock is slyly witty, as when he complains of a woman whose "paid vacations always fell on April Fools"; at other times, he finds the words for shapeless fears, as when he warns that "time never does make things right or wrong; it just eats away the night". Four of his older songs ("If You Were a Bluebird", "Boxcars", "One Kiss" and "Baby Be Mine") finally receive worthy arrangements, and the seven new songs include such winners as the title tune, the Dylanesque blues "Junkyard in the Sun" and the live-and-let-live anthem, "To Each His Own".