The band Coldplay released its album Parachutes 22 years ago
and the band No One Sphere has taken this opportunity to release a cover of
that album’s title track. No One Sphere plans on releasing their own takes on all of the songs
from the Coldplay album over the course of the next 12 to 24 months.
If NOS's earlier work is any indication, the proposed Parachutes covers album will be a complete reimagining of the original. Because the songs on their excellent Isn’t Everything About Somethingalbum (released earlier this year) run the gamut from the synth pop of “Where I Was” to the nearly 34-minute Eno-esque soundscape of “Motivation Pt. 2” we can certainly expect their forthcoming Parachutes tracks to be very interesting.
The first track to
see the light of day is “Parachutes” in which NOS has turned a 45-second song
into an entrancing five minutes. I’m guessing the band was intrigued
by the lyrics “in a haze/a stormy haze” to create a terrific hazy, shoe-gazey
sound. As for the length of the NOS version, the lyrics “Here I am and I’ll take
my time” gave them permission to expand the original and by repeating the short
lyric and melody they’ve created an hypnotic drone.
NOS’s “Parachutes” cover is available on Bandcamp as a
pay-what-you-want download. But if you like what you hear (and why wouldn’t you?)
you can support the band by buying a download or a CD of one of the other releases on their site.
The vinyl reissue of Blake Babies’ second album, the wonderful 1990 Sunburn, by American Laundromat Records is a reason to upgrade your
original CD with a record that you probably couldn’t buy when the album was
released. I bought the Sunburn CD around the time it came out but even my local
independent record store (shout out to Siren Records of Doylestown PA!!) mostly
carried compact discs. In fact, as of the late 80s most “record” stores
suddenly only carried CDs and for someone who grew up on vinyl it was a game
changer and not in a good way.
So why did I buy the Sunburn reissue? When I found out about
it, I pulled out my CD copy and played it on my stereo. It sounded just as good
as it always had but something in the back of my mind told me perhaps it would
sound even better on vinyl.
And it does,
One of the great things about reissues (if they are done
well) is that you hear things you didn’t hear before and that’s the case with
this marvelous release. In addition to the care American Laundromat has taken
in the album’s packaging as well as the mastering and pressing, this edition of
Sunburn is for more than long-time fans of the album; it’s a must-have for
lovers of great pop music. And this reissue is the first time the
album has been available on vinyl for over 30 years.
What have I heard that I didn’t notice before? First of all,
there’s a new clarity to the mix and the reissue highlights what made Blake
Babies so special.
From the start of “I’m Not Your Mother” Juliana Hatfield’s
bass playing is even more impressive, the many phases/faces of John Strohm’s guitar
work continues to amaze (a blast of sound at the opening, a glistening solo, and
jangle fills), and Freda Love Smith’s simple but consistently high-quality drumming
is the glue holding the whole thing together. There’s the full band freakout on
“Look Away” and “Sanctify” as well as a "girl-who's-boyfriend-just-left-with-another-girl" vocal from Hatfield on "Look Away." There's the simplicity and underlying horror of “Girl
in a Box” and the joyous pop of "I'll Take Anything" and "Kiss and Make Up" just because.
There are also lyrics I may not have fully appreciated the many
other times I’ve listened to the album (but isn’t that the magic of songs?). I
certainly wasn’t a kid when I first heard the album, but the reissue has given me
a completely different take on one of my favorites from Sunburn, the brilliant,
multi-part “Train.” For the longest time I thought it was about a breakup with the sadness at seeing
a former loved one leaving to joy at their departure. Now, hearing lines like “strung
out on the floor” and “my blood runs free from an open vein,” I’m coming around
to thinking it’s a drug song and, with the line “this is the last time,” turns
into a song about recovery with Hatfield’s full-throated vocal celebrating freedom on “runaway (run away?) train.”
The reissue of Sunburn is only limited to 2000 units worldwide
and some of the different vinyl colors have already sold out. You can find out
which ones are still available on the American Laundromat website.
