Friday, March 16, 2007

Nick Rudd - the very beginning

Nick Rudd seems destined to be one of those exceptionally talented musicians who, be it through laziness, not meeting like-minded musicians often enough or sheer bad luck, will probably only merit a footnote in pop’s annals.

It’s a shame, because he’s made some great records in his time. If you don’t know his outing as The Big Maybe, Some Things Never Change/It Should Be Alright By Now (hell, you pick a favrouite), then finding it now will make your weekend all the better; the classic One In A Million single as Blown is $0.50 at parasol.com- you couldn’t, I swear to god, find a better way to spend a few pennies than that.

Back in 1982, at the very start, Nick released an ep, "Ok...Go!" by the B-Lovers on Sabine Records. Those fine folk at Messthestics have, I understand, released one of the b-sides. The A-side, Inside Out, is worth your hearing, trust me on this.

After that, Nick made a decent album as Turning Curious, "Soul Light Season", which was produced by Mitch Easter, and promoted with a sticker on the front claiming it as being “from the heartland of American rock”. What it was, in fact, was a charming, mid-80s REM affair and the first signs that Rudd had an unerring knack for power pop greatness.

His next outfit, Weird Summer, I have only the one album by, Homer. I don’t like this record much. If you, dear reader, know if Weird Summer got better, please offer me recommendations.

NB This song is only up for a week. Hey, I don't make the rules.

3 comments:

The Rain Fell Down said...

i bought that 7" a few weeks ago, after hearing it on the beat for two blog. i've been catching up on the chastain/menck-related bands, and i was very happy to find the nines song here! as steve commented the download link are all to one song. it would be nice with some e4 mp4s too!

thanks,
chris

The Rain Fell Down said...

hello again!
i just got the cd. it was a treasued moment hearing those other three songs! as you said, they're not as good as the cream of the east village output, but definitely better than 'drop out'.

thanks

Fire Escape said...

Really? I rate Drop Out a fair bit higher than I do the Episode Four single.