Human Switchboard- WHO’S LANDING IN MY HANGAR? (FAT POSSUM)
Back in the 90’s a pal, Don Rettman actually, was visiting me out in California and he had gone to a record store and found this album, handed it to me and said “I got this for you…you like melodic stuff, I think you’ll really like it.” He was right. The Cleveland, OH-based trio of Bob Pfeifer on guitar vocals, Myrna Marcarian on piano/organ/vocals and drummer Ron Metz certainly created a unique sound, one that’s hard to pin down, even today. There’s an obvious love of the Velvet Underground but I also hear garage rock of the 60’s and some snarls of the punk scene that was just getting started. The way these three (with a rotating cast of bass players) blended all of these elements into this spell binding stew is, well, unique and spell binding. They set the tone from the get go with the incredible opener “(say no to) Saturday’s Girl’ and then rip right into the classic title track. Later on “No Heart’ goes off the rails in a frenzied freakout (in the best way possible) while the Marcarian-sung “I Can Walk Alone” is a pulsing, driving monster. That’s just a handful of the tunes here but there’s 10 songs in all and not a dog in the pack. This was the band’s only full-length but they definitely made it count. It’s great to see the folks at Fat Possum doing this beautiful reissue that was long overdue (it got reissued on cd on the Bar None label in 2011). Keep this one in print now and forever. www.fatpossum.com
Disappointed that the 7” and other bonus tracks from the Bar/None reish weren’t available, but “Saturday’s Girl” and “Refrigerator Door” are worth having in print at twice the price.