Tag: 1993

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Best tunes of 1993: #4 The Boo Radleys “Lazarus”

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Here’s a song with which I will always and forever connect with The Dance Cave.

Some of you who live, have lived in, or frequently visit Tarannah will likely have heard of or know of Lee’s Palace. It’s a long-standing concert venue in the Annex neighbourhood that has seen a great many alternative and rock acts grace its stage since opening in the mid 80s. If you’ve never been there, you likely remember its garish paint job that looked like a Ralph Bakshi cartoon exploded all over the face of the building, long since pared down to a mere memory of itself after years of weather did its worst. Upstairs from said venue, they had a big open space that served more as a rough and tumble looking club that often played alternative and indie rock, served $1.50 glasses of mystery draft, and was packed most days of the week throughout the 90s. This was The Dance Cave.

It was the first club I went to with any regularity because it played “my music”. Music I loved and music that I was destined to love. “Lazarus” by The Boo Radleys is one of these latter tunes that was played there pretty much any night that I attended and that I danced to every time, countless times before I even knew the name of the song or its performing artist.

The Boo Radleys formed in 1988 and broke up just over a decade later having released six full length albums. They started off firmly planted in the shoegaze realm for the first half of their career before embracing the inescapable wave of britpop for their last three albums and actually saw a modicum of commercial success during this latter period. And though I loved “Lazarus” through and through during the late 90s, I never really explored their catalogue into well after their break up. My first stop was, of course, 1993’s “Giant steps” and that album took me a long time to digest and fathom because it was so expansive and diverse in sound and scope. Some would call it an unheralded masterpiece of shoegaze and I couldn’t disagree.

In amongst the noise, “Lazarus” is lucky 13 of 17 tracks. It starts off with alien waves of guitars, strings fed through pedals charged with laser beams. This just sets the stage, allows you time to put down your beverage and rush out into the crush of sweaty bodies on the heaving dance floor and at the same time, plays the decoy for the incredible explosions yet to come. Then, everything vaults skyward and the dancing begins in earnest. And just when you think you might have to take a break, the vocals start in to calm the mood some, soothing the energy, allowing the spray of perspiration to settle, just before kicking it all up again. It’s the classic loud-quiet-loud, disruptive energy, a blurry anthem and cause for happiness and bliss for its entirety.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1993 list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 1993: #5 Teenage Fanclub “Hang on”

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I’ve previously shared words on how I discovered Scottish alt-rock quartet Teenage Fanclub while watching music videos on CityLimits back in 1991. It wasn’t long after this that someone in my group of friends picked up a copy of the band’s third album, “Bandwagonesque”, and I was able to record a copy to cassette for constant consumption in my walkman. To say that I became a fan of the fannies was only putting it mildly*. And I wasn’t the only one, obviously, because the album actually did surprisingly well here in North America. And although their success continued afterwards in Europe, interest mostly waned after ears were mostly tuned to everything coming out of Seattle.

For my part, I was practically foaming at the mouth when word came of the impending release of “Thirteen” and I wasn’t disappointed in the least**. I purchased it on compact disc as soon as I was able and put it through its paces, not caring in the least that the raw and often shambolic messes from the previous record had been cleaned up some, the juvenile pranks replaced by well-crafted pop songs, each tip-toeing along the razor wire between rough and smooth sounds. I caught these differences right away, with track one, “Hang on”, a beautiful (almost) ballad penned by Gerard Love.

“Been bought and I’ve been sold
And I’ve forgot what I’ve been told
And now I need someone”

Those are the words that kick off Love’s crooning. But before that, we are awoken by a muscular guitar lick and punishing drums to match. It builds in power, threatening some metal antics, drumming becomes rapid fire and guitars speed up towards thrash zone. And then suddenly, it all melts away into Beatle-esque heaven, complete with angelic harmonies to Love’s own soft touch. The muscular guitars are still there but they just a backdrop and then, when the flutes kick in towards the last third of the song, it doesn’t seem out of place at all. You just close your eyes and get lost in the melody.

*Indeed, it’s still my second favourite album in a great year for music releases.

**I also jumped at the chance a ticket to see them live for the tour for this album, with Yo La Tengo opening, my second ever concert!!!

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1993 list, click here.

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Best tunes of 1993: #6 Mazzy Star “Fade into you”

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A tired, late night acoustic strum is accompanied by the ghost of a slide guitar and what sounds like a tired pianist playing one-handed so as not to spill his half-empty mug of beer. And up there onstage with this motley crew of musicians is Hope Sandoval, trying to hide in the shade of the microphone stand, eyes closed and crooning softly, singing about someone that sounds like her, but isn’t her, perhaps someone she loved that never noticed her, never took the time to understand where she stood.

“Fade into you,
I think it’s strange you never knew.”

This is the sound of Mazzy Star’s big hit, the unexpected catapult into the mainstream. It was an unassuming song that somehow captured the imagination of many and encapsulated a feeling at the time. It boosted sales of the group’s sophomore album, “So tonight that I might see”, on which “Fade into you” was track one, so that two years after its release, it garnered platinum status in the States and Gold in the UK.

Mazzy Star was formed in Santa Monica, California in 1988 when David Roback enlisted the vocal help of his friend Hope Sandoval when his previous group, Opal, lost their lead vocalist. The duo released three albums between 1990 and 1997 before dissolving due to their collective unhappiness with the music industry. They reformed in 2012 and released another album the following year but things stalled after that, even more so after David Roback passed away from cancer in 2020.

Much of their sound remained steadfastly in the dream pop realm, a slow and lilting environment in which Sandoval hides behind behind the echoes of her lovelorn and breathy vocals. It is music that continues to haunt long after it is played but none of their songs, for better or for worse, have quite had the impact of “Fade into you”.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1993 list, click here.