Shady Crady >> And you can see your breath on the glass

Ω¬¬¬¬ Shady Crady - "Clamor" (Demo) ¬¬¬¬Ω

Ω (unreleased, 1988) Ω

Shady Crady were a band from Buffalo, NY, which evolved into alt/art rock/pop icons Mercury Rev.  They recorded an 8- or 9-song demo tape in 1988 in Fredonia, NY, which is known as the "Fredonia demo" among fans.  Only two of its songs have ever hit the webs, and I am posting the other one in my next post.  This one, "Clamor," is mainly intended as a teaser for the next one, "In Bloom," which is much more intense and unsettling.  But "Clamor" has its own cool charm, from its insistent, Krautrockin' beat, to its lyrics about being stuck inside a wall, to the singer's brilliant/hilarious/badass rap-style vocal phrasing, to its droning note which magically turns into an ascending psychedelic guitar riff, to the subtle bongo drum fills, to the almost orchestral, noisy finale.  Shady Crady opened for Sonic Youth in 1987, which must've been an amazing show.  You must read this whole page for all the info that is fit to print about Shady Crady, via the great Mercury Rev fansite Before The War.  I got these two songs when they first hit the internet and have been absolutely dying to hear the rest of this demo tape ever since.  I'm pretty upset that the rest of it has never been released.  For what it's worth, here is where the two songs were originally foisted upon the world.  "Clamor" found its way on to Mercury Rev's 2006 career retrospective double-CD called Stillness Breathes, so some of you may have this song and not even know it.

Interestingly, singer Dave Baker's erratic (many would say drug-fueled) behavior got him kicked out of Shady Crady, just as he later was from Mercury Rev, in '93.  And if you get kicked out of Mercury Rev for being too weird or doing too many drugs, you can rest assured that you are one weird druggie.  After this, he borrowed the word Shady from Shady Crady as his recording alias for his bizarre '94 solo album, the cult classic World, which featured song titles like "Rap Soda," "It Sucks Being An Astronaut," and "Narcotic Candy".  Note that Baker apparently did NOT sing on the Fredonia demos, so I don't even know why I'm mentioning him so much here, other than the fact that he rules.  Here's the lineup for the demos: Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak (vocals, bass), Mike Huber (drums), Jonathan Donahue (guitar), Suzanne Thorpe (flute, some backing vox).  I wish Grasshopper had gone on to be Rev's lead singer after Baker left, since I think he brought a more charismatic singing style to the table than that of Jonathan Donahue.


"The transparency of sound makes it all the more visible," "You can move the wall with your voice [force?]," and "And we feel the clamor there / And we feel the power there" are just a few of this song's cryptically cool lyrics.  "Move it!"  That would make a great line in an aerobics or Jazzercise tape, e.g. Richard Simmons' "Don't Tell Me."  Yes, that's a dope Richard Simmons song.  His niece Evelyn was in high school with me and now lives a few blocks from my parents.

Artist's depiction of funeral for the late Randy "Macho Man" Savage, via Hugging Harold Reynolds

Planets with similar climates: CAN - "I'm So Green" (1972), Pharmacy Lounge - "Building A Compound" (1996), Mercury Rev - "Trickle Down" (1993), Medium Medium - "Hungry, So Angry" (1981).


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