17th November 2009

Audio

Tin Huey - Slide
Before Obscurity: The Bushflow Tapes (Smog Veil)

This record, a compilation of live and rare recordings, was my first exposure to Akron, Ohio’s Tin Huey, an experimental rock group activated in the mid/late 1970’s that would go on to form The Waitresses (yes, The Waitresses), and I’m excited to find more.  After some research, I was not surprised to find that they include Soft Machine and Gong in their list of influences, as I hear a lot of similarities between those bands and Tin Huey, but I think I can also hear similarities to their British contemporaries X-Ray Spex.  So, fans of either groups might be able to find something to enjoy on this comp, but I should also let you know that they have a tendency to get a lot weirder than any of those groups.  Which is good.

The best cuts on this record are “Slide,” which you can find at the top of this post; “The Comb,” featuring Patty Donahue, making it the first live performance of The Waitresses ever; “Closet Bears,” a weird plucking falsetto-funk number; and their cover of Iggy & the Stooges classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” a song which I think will almost always get people like me excited, in some way or another.

The record dropped today, actually, via Smog Veil Records.  You might want to check it out (especially because LOOK AT THAT COVER).

Tagged: getting into a serious thingnever say never