The Werefrogs >> We could be so young

-_ The Werefrogs - "Don't Slip Away" _-

~~ (Ultimate Records, 1992) ~~

Despite their name, The Werefrogs were not a joke band like The Frogs, Dead Milkmen, Ween, etc., but rather a dynamic rock band, with songs veering from passionate and dramatic to meandering and atmospheric.  Perhaps due to their British sound/aesthetic/influences, they were the only U.S. band signed to British indie label Ultimate Records.  Before that, they formed their own little indie label called Part Trance and released two singles, "It's Real" and "Pearl Baby Flower."  I might add that the "It's Real" single (with b-side "Tin The World") is stunning and essential, but I haven't heard that other single yet.  I'll be posting a song from the "It's Real" single later, or you can just go download it now from the same place where I originally got it.  The band then put out four 7"s on Ultimate, including the surprisingly aggressive "Nixie Concussion".  (Check out the trippy visual effect starting about the 2:07 mark.)  For some reason, the back of the "Don't Slip Away" single, the cover of their album, and this video all feature an oscillating fan; the video also has several other oscillating things.

They played live with some heavyweights who were also stylistic peers.  Their website says "The band toured the U.K. with various bands including the Kitchens of Distinction.  Their last major tour was with Radiohead, on the Creep tour, of the eastern U.S.  After this tour the band returned to the U.K. for a final time, performing in support of Yo La Tengo."  They also opened for Lush at SUNY-Purchase College in New York.  Despite this exposure, but probably owing more to the fact they released only one album that never got much radio play, they remain almost completely unknown, even amongst indie rock archaeologists.  I consider myself an obsessive seeker of this kind of music, but had never even heard of them until I bought this CD single for $1 last year on a complete whim.  Needless to say, I was blown away.  I like to imagine "Don't Slip Away" having been used over the closing credits of some dramatic movie (Titanic, anyone?), and hence being super-famous all these years later.

7"

Back cover of CD single

You can see in the pic above that it was recorded & produced by fairly famous shoegaze producer (and Laika member) Guy Fixsen.  I should mention that the b-side "Between Tomorrow & Sleep" is freakin' awesome.  I googled that phrase "All Sorrow Belongs To Hate" on the back cover, but found nothing.  The Werefrogs broke up in 1994 after six years of activity, but like I said, they were doomed by releasing only one LP which, in my eyes, was too much of a departure from their earlier stuff.  (And did not even contain "Don't Slip Away"!  Talk about a boneheaded omission...)  Bassist Matt Valentine has gone on to become a leading light in the underground/experimental folk scene, first with the bands Memphis Luxure and The Tower Recordings, and later as a solo artist and as half of the duo MV + EE (Matt Valentine + Erika Elder).  Long story short, I was into The Tower Recordings for 13 years before I even heard of the Werefrogs.  I'm not sure what the Werefrogs' singer/guitarist, Marc Wolf, is up to, but the young man could sure belt out a song like his life depended on it.  He could've been the Morrissey of this side of the pond.

The drought that I mentioned in a few earlier posts, which is now up to around the two month mark, has had an unexpectedly positive consequence: The parched earth has been able to absorb lots of the water unleashed at the Morganza Spillway, thus saving the state millions, if not billions, in flood damages.  After playing basketball in Thibodaux on Wednesday, I made an impromptu drive down to beautiful Morgan City.  It was only my fourth time ever going there.  There was a pretty grim feel in the air, with lots of shops closed up and people going up on the concrete levees to take pictures of the rising river, which had already covered the main wharf.  I bought a dwarf Key Lime tree for 10 bucks in Pierre Part on the way back.  It's only about a foot tall and wide, with tiny limes starting to form on it.  Badass.  I listened to disc one of The Orb's first album over and over.

This song obviously goes out to the people of the Atchafalaya Basin in the path of the Morganza Spillway.  I figured that the reason for me posting it might be too subtle, so I decided to go ahead and point it out.  It also can go out to everyone on earth, since we luckily evaded the predicted May 21st apocalypse.

Eerie update, May 24th: I just found out that the episode of the post-Katrina-based HBO series Treme from this night, May 22nd, was entitled Slip Away!  

Planets with similar climates: The Veldt - "Until You're Forever" (1994), The Smiths - "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" (1986), Glide [Australia] - "Taste Of You" (1992), The Sound - "Love Is Not A Ghost" (1984) & "Golden Soldiers" (1984), Catherine Wheel - "Salt" (1992), Talk Talk - "Living In Another World" (1985), Goo Goo Dolls - "Long Way Down" (1995).