The N&G Listening Club V2

I'll be posting my selection tomorrow. Here's a hint: you might need a napkin... 🤔

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the Small Circle Of Friends pick, @ThePakoBuelna ... I've listened to it a couple of times now, and watched some of their videos with my wife.

I guess that next time we go to Japan, I can look for some of their stuff, although I don't know how much of it is actually on vinyl.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
I'll be posting my selection tomorrow. Here's a hint: you might need a napkin... 🤔

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the Small Circle Of Friends pick, @ThePakoBuelna ... I've listened to it a couple of times now, and watched some of their videos with my wife.

I guess that next time we go to Japan, I can look for some of their stuff, although I don't know how much of it is actually on vinyl.
Click to expand...

They don't have much on vinyl, and what is on vinyl is hard to come by. Right now they have this available:

www.discogs.com

Small Circle Of Friends Presents Studio75 - Over Your Shoulder

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2018 Vinyl release of "Over Your Shoulder" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com

If you contact them through Instagram you can probably buy one from them directly. I also have this pressing

www.discogs.com

Small Circle Of Friends Presents Studio75 - Hand

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2005 Vinyl release of "Hand" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com

And a couple of 7" plus two remixes. There's also a vinyl pressing of Platform 5, one of their first albums but it is really hard to come by(in discogs there are two copies and both are missing Disc 1).
 
Thanks again to @Crenshaw Blvd for reviving this thread. I have been chosen to select the pick for the Listening Club this week, and after narrowing it down from about 5-10 albums, I settled on this one from one of my favorite bands of the 90's.

6CA4B250-C837-4118-BBCD-AE53B191E7C1.jpeg

Jellyfish - Spilt Milk (1993)

Jellyfish was formed in San Francisco in 1989 by Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning after the breakup of their previous band Beatnik Beatch. When their first album Bellybutton was released in 1990, the videos were all over MTV. Combining power pop and inspiration from their favorite musical acts of the 60's/70's, many of which they'd go on to cover (Badfinger, Donovan, Harry Nilsson), their sound made them stand out from other acts of the late 80's and early 90's. I remember seeing the video for "The King Is Half-Undressed" and being blown away.

The recording process for their second (and final) album Spilt Milk took so long, that they went through three second engineers, and the sessions were known in the L.A. musical community as "The Nightmare On Sunset". Unfortunately, by the time it was released in 1993, radio and MTV had moved on to grunge and hip-hop, and the singles from it received little airplay (at least in the U.S.) and the band broke up a year later.

Regardless, many consider Spilt Milk their masterpiece, although both albums are near-perfect as far as I'm concerned.

I'm excited to share this album with the forum and hear your opinions, after listening. I hope you love it as much as I do.



 
Last edited:
Bohnjaggs said:
Thanks again to @Crenshaw Blvd for reviving this thread. I have been chosen to select the pick for the Listening Club this week, and after narrowing it down from about 5-10 albums, I settled on this one from one of my favorite bands of the 90's.

View attachment 58605

Jellyfish - Spilt Milk (1993)

Jellyfish was formed in San Francisco in 1989 by Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning after the breakup of their previous band Beatnik Beatch. When their first album Bellybutton was released in 1990, the videos were all over MTV. Combining power pop and inspiration from their favorite musical acts of the 60's/70's, many of which they'd go on to cover (Badfinger, Donovan, Harry Nilsson), their sound made them stand out from other acts of the late 80's and early 90's. I remember seeing the video for "The King Is Half-Undressed" and being blown away.

The recording process for their second (and final) album Spilt Milk took so long, that they went through three second engineers, and the sessions were known in the L.A. musical community as "The Nightmare On Sunset". Unfortunately, by the time it was released in 1993, radio and MTV had moved on to grunge and hip-hop, and the singles from it received little airplay (at least in the U.S.) and the band broke up a year later.

Regardless, many consider Spilt Milk their masterpiece, although both albums are near-perfect as far as I'm concerned.

I'm excited to share this album with the forum and hear your opinions, after listening. I hope you love it as much as I do.



Click to expand...


love this album. I got into them after hearing Jason Faulkner’s solo records which are great too!
 
McGlam said:
love this album. I got into them after hearing Jason Faulkner’s solo records which are great too!
Click to expand...

Yep. Jason's albums are great, and the first two are supposedly getting vinyl pressings this year. Jason left after the first Jellyfish album but still works with Roger Manning (they're both long-time Beck collaborators). Jason was also in The Grays with Jon Brion, who plays guitar on Spilt Milk.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
Yep. Jason's albums are great, and the first two are supposedly getting vinyl pressings this year. Jason left after the first Jellyfish album but still works with Roger Manning (they're both long-time Beck collaborators). Jason was also in The Grays with Jon Brion, who plays guitar on Spilt Milk.
Click to expand...

oh thats great news. I have no idea where my CDs of those first two albums are. Some of my favorite arty power pop records ever.
 
Dtknuckles said:
That first song reminds me of Queen and The Beach Boys. Then the second song comes in and I hear a lot of Queen. Definitely a talented vocalist.
Click to expand...

Fun fact: the album starts and ends on the same sustained note

Also, Andy's an amazing singer, although Roger sings some of it too. Andy's also the rare drummer AND lead singer.

This video from their first album shows him doing both...



He didn't do a lot after Jellyfish broke up other than producing other artists.
 
Bohnjaggs said:
Thanks again to @Crenshaw Blvd for reviving this thread. I have been chosen to select the pick for the Listening Club this week, and after narrowing it down from about 5-10 albums, I settled on this one from one of my favorite bands of the 90's.

View attachment 58605

Jellyfish - Spilt Milk (1993)

Jellyfish was formed in San Francisco in 1989 by Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning after the breakup of their previous band Beatnik Beatch. When their first album Bellybutton was released in 1990, the videos were all over MTV. Combining power pop and inspiration from their favorite musical acts of the 60's/70's, many of which they'd go on to cover (Badfinger, Donovan, Harry Nilsson), their sound made them stand out from other acts of the late 80's and early 90's. I remember seeing the video for "The King Is Half-Undressed" and being blown away.

The recording process for their second (and final) album Spilt Milk took so long, that they went through three second engineers, and the sessions were known in the L.A. musical community as "The Nightmare On Sunset". Unfortunately, by the time it was released in 1993, radio and MTV had moved on to grunge and hip-hop, and the singles from it received little airplay (at least in the U.S.) and the band broke up a year later.

Regardless, many consider Spilt Milk their masterpiece, although both albums are near-perfect as far as I'm concerned.

I'm excited to share this album with the forum and hear your opinions, after listening. I hope you love it as much as I do.



Click to expand...


This has been on my vinyl wishlist for I don't know how long.

Andy Sturmer went on to write/produce a bunch of music for J-Pop band PUFFY (aka Puffy Amiyumi), and much of it has his indelible stamp. Their album NICE. (particularly in its original Japanese incarnation), entirely written by Sturmer, is delightful, and Sturmer himself plays a ton of instruments on it.

www.youtube.com

Puffy AmiYumi - Nice

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
kvetcha said:
This has been on my vinyl wishlist for I don't know how long.

Andy Sturmer went on to write/produce a bunch of music for J-Pop band PUFFY (aka Puffy Amiyumi), and much of it has his indelible stamp. Their album NICE. (particularly in its original Japanese incarnation), entirely written by Sturmer, is delightful, and Sturmer himself plays a ton of instruments on it.

www.youtube.com

Puffy AmiYumi - Nice

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
Click to expand...

I kind of forgot about Puffy Amiyumi. They actually covered Jellyfish's "Joining A Fan Club" from Spilt Milk at some point, with Andy producing.


Which is funny because The Format (Nate Ruess' band before Fun.) later covered "The Glutton Of Sympathy" from this as well, after Roger Manning produced their Dog Problems album.



And speaking of covers, Andy did some of the production on Mandy Moore's cover album from a few years ago, and he sings on it too. You can hear him prominently on this version of XTC's "Senses Working Overtime" (doing the "1,2,3,4,5 line).

 
every few years I check to see if Sturmer has resurfaced anywhere, but he really kind of vanished after a certain point.
 
kvetcha said:
every few years I check to see if Sturmer has resurfaced anywhere, but he really kind of vanished after a certain point.
Click to expand...

It's too bad because he has such a tremendous voice. I remember when the Fan Club Jellyfish boxset came out about 15 years ago, the liner notes mentioned an Andy Sturmer solo album was imminent. It never happened though.

The last thing I know Andy to have sung on is this song "Goodbye Innocence" by L.E.O., which was heavily influenced by ELO. He sings a verse about halfway through the song.

 
Bohnjaggs said:
It's too bad because he has such a tremendous voice. I remember when the Fan Club Jellyfish boxset came out about 15 years ago, the liner notes mentioned an Andy Sturmer solo album was imminent. It never happened though.

The last thing I know Andy to have sung on is this song "Goodbye Innocence" by L.E.O., which was heavily influenced by ELO. He sings a verse about halfway through the song.

Click to expand...

I love that L.E.O. album! Saw Bleu a few years back and he played a couple tracks off of it.
 
Matt M said:
Manning is in this new band too, The Lickerish Quartet -

Click to expand...


Thanks for the reminder. I still need to check this out.

And I just looked, all of the Roger releases are now on Spotify. I saw him perform live when he released The Land Of Pure Imagination in 2006. Such a great album. Haven't listened to it in forever though.
 
Love the song New Mistake. This album reminds me of Extreme's iii sides to every story which was released in 1992 in that it is a very ambitious and creative album with a wide variety of instrumentation, vocal melodies and rocking guitar solos...and creative musical transitions within songs. There is so much content and complexity that I need to give this a few listens just to let it all sink in. This sounds to me like it could accompany a movie or musical. It is really great...thanks for sharing it!
 
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