Soft Boys – “Insanely Jealous” MP3/download
Soft Boys “Kingdom of Love” MP3/download
I’ve never written, blogged or otherwise drooled over The Soft Boys on the Grove (or anywhere else, by-cracky) before so I figured I’d better share some Robyn Hitchcock-led goodness with you. It’s a timely decision, because I just plunked down some hard-earned cheddar to purchase both Underwater Moonlight AND Can of Bees (which is underwhelming so far; hopefully a few beers ‘ll open ‘er up) on vinyl via the recent reissue campaign.
I was first exposed to Soft Boys via the extremely discriminating Scott Johnston (who was known in 90.7 KZUU FM circles as “Gigglebush”), who extolled the virtues of Underwater Moonlight to anyone who would listen and quite a few who wouldn’t. His strong opinions used to rub me the wrong way, but his staunch defense of the indie-rock bands he felt were important (he most fervently stumped for: Unwound, Archers Of Loaf, Guided By Voices, The Walkmen, Sonic Youth, Biography Of Ferns, Land Of The Loops and, perhaps by dint of his friendship with its principle member, Talkdemonic) made an impact on the way I view music regardless of whether I disagreed with him on certain points.
And besides, he was right — Underwater Moonlight is a classic album. There are millions of bands around these days, and I’m not sure three of them COMBINED have the songwriting gumption to come up with tunes like “I’ve Got the Hots,” “I Wanna Destroy You” and, most of all, “Positive Vibrations,” which contains one of the catchiest guitar lines I’ve ever heard and a bubblin’ bassline to match.
If you’re a young ‘un claiming indie-rock knowledge and haven’t delved into Hitchcock’s work with the Boys and solo, you’re kidding yourself. SO GET ON IT!
Hey! Periodically I search on Biography of Ferns to see if people were talking about us or what have you. I saw that you said there was a DJ who seemed to like us. Cool! We don’t really think anyone outside of Seattle even knows who we are. Can you give us more info about Scott and his radio show? Do you want a CD or anything? -Justin H, Biography of Ferns
oh wow, so cool to hear from you! The friend i was referring to is no longer a DJ at 90.7 KZUU FM (as far as I know), but he used to play you guys a lot and he even had a T-shirt (which, of course, he wore a LOT) that we all saw often. I was always in awe of the band name “Biography of Ferns” … it’s just so perfectly Indie! So are/were you guys affiliated with any labels in Seattle or elsewhere? Just curious …
Tell you what, send promos to the address on the http://www.gumshoegrove.com title page (on the right side; it’s in Corpus Christi, TX!) and I’ll either blog it or write it up somewhere else … nice to make your acquaintance!