I’m pretty sure I don’t need to share with you my excitement over this,really some bad days are cured by roars through some buddy’s garage powering through a hand full of chords slathered with fuzz, thanks John…
Hardcore Thee Oh Sees fans get this glint in their eyes, sometimes, that stirs a certain reflexive distrust in me. “What’s the one I need?” I will ask, seeking to get a hold of a discography as pervasive as mist. “Oh, they’re all good,” comes the too-often, earnest reply, as my heart sinks. They’re all good? That’s not an answer; that’s a “Keep Out” sign. There are mediocre Beatles LPs, unnecessary Miles Davis records, lesser works by Mozart and Beethoven. How can they all be good?
For their devoted followers, though, Thee Oh Sees have become the only band they’ll ever need. This is a tremendous achievement, requiring a demented level of commitment, both to a glass-eating touring and release schedule and to a narrow aesthetic. Dwyer’s got both, in spades, and it has brought him to where he is now: “It took me 35 years, but I was able to make art for a living,” he told Evan Minsker in 2012. The Singles Collections are a periodic Hoover vac-ing of the couch-cushion change that tumbles from view during John Dwyer’s frantic music dispersal, but they are also a service to people on the sidelines like us. They make an excellent tasting-platter way to engage with a band that usually demands steak-for-two (for one) levels of commitment.
If you can make generalizations about John Dwyer’s output with Thee Oh Sees, it’s that he likes the sound of bad feelings, cheerfully expressed, and he’s drawn to explore the spot where vamps harden into palsies. You can hear both of these preoccupations at work in the ten songs here (plus one live cut), collected from Flexi discs, split 7″s, artist compilations, and elsewhere. A few of the songs on this collection are recognizably “singles” in tone and form— “Ugly Man,” “Wait Let’s Go,” “Always Flying,” “Devil Again” all have at least three chords, run four minutes or less, and have “ba-ba-ba” choruses. But most of them head directly into that kinked-up corner of the song that repeatedly pulls at Dwyer’s imagination, the spot where the song’s narrative action swings shut and the groove hinges open.
The vamp is where the action is for Dwyer, and Thee Oh Sees have as many different ways to vamp as the National have to sound regal, as Richard Pryor had to say “motherfucker.” “What You Need” is jerky and brittle, evoking the neural-damage sense of “rocking.” “Burning Spear” creaks and protests like a rusty mattress coil. “FB12” rides a repeating bass-note octave like a low-grade migraine. The vamp is Dwyer personified: A mixture of mania and stasis, a way of pacing while standing still. For Dwyer, it’s a reason for living.
It’s also a template: If you are given to maintaining a breakneck and frankly absurd creative clip, keeping a mental catalog of vamps proves handy—a few of the biggest, boldest lines are already down when you start working. The album concludes with two ten minute pieces—”Block Of Ice (Live at the SF Eagle)” and a live version of “Destroyed Fortress” from 2009’s Help—that boil Thee Oh Sees all the way down to their purest essence. The drums thump a back beat with the determination of a toddler wielding a toy hammer, the bass line jigs in place, and Dwyer rips open his guitar to the skies. The idea of “song” disintegrates, and the long straight line of the vamp takes over. For him and for his faithful, it’s a gathering place.
For their devoted followers, though, Thee Oh Sees have become the only band they’ll ever need. This is a tremendous achievement, requiring a demented level of commitment, both to a glass-eating touring and release schedule and to a narrow aesthetic. Dwyer’s got both, in spades, and it has brought him to where he is now: “It took me 35 years, but I was able to make art for a living,” he told Evan Minsker in 2012. The Singles Collections are a periodic Hoover vac-ing of the couch-cushion change that tumbles from view during John Dwyer’s frantic music dispersal, but they are also a service to people on the sidelines like us. They make an excellent tasting-platter way to engage with a band that usually demands steak-for-two (for one) levels of commitment.
If you can make generalizations about John Dwyer’s output with Thee Oh Sees, it’s that he likes the sound of bad feelings, cheerfully expressed, and he’s drawn to explore the spot where vamps harden into palsies. You can hear both of these preoccupations at work in the ten songs here (plus one live cut), collected from Flexi discs, split 7″s, artist compilations, and elsewhere. A few of the songs on this collection are recognizably “singles” in tone and form— “Ugly Man,” “Wait Let’s Go,” “Always Flying,” “Devil Again” all have at least three chords, run four minutes or less, and have “ba-ba-ba” choruses. But most of them head directly into that kinked-up corner of the song that repeatedly pulls at Dwyer’s imagination, the spot where the song’s narrative action swings shut and the groove hinges open.
The vamp is where the action is for Dwyer, and Thee Oh Sees have as many different ways to vamp as the National have to sound regal, as Richard Pryor had to say “motherfucker.” “What You Need” is jerky and brittle, evoking the neural-damage sense of “rocking.” “Burning Spear” creaks and protests like a rusty mattress coil. “FB12” rides a repeating bass-note octave like a low-grade migraine. The vamp is Dwyer personified: A mixture of mania and stasis, a way of pacing while standing still. For Dwyer, it’s a reason for living.
It’s also a template: If you are given to maintaining a breakneck and frankly absurd creative clip, keeping a mental catalog of vamps proves handy—a few of the biggest, boldest lines are already down when you start working. The album concludes with two ten minute pieces—”Block Of Ice (Live at the SF Eagle)” and a live version of “Destroyed Fortress” from 2009’s Help—that boil Thee Oh Sees all the way down to their purest essence. The drums thump a back beat with the determination of a toddler wielding a toy hammer, the bass line jigs in place, and Dwyer rips open his guitar to the skies. The idea of “song” disintegrates, and the long straight line of the vamp takes over. For him and for his faithful, it’s a gathering place.
Thee Oh Sees – Singles Collection Volume 3
Label:Castle Face
Format:Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Red, Pink, Purple Edition
Country:US
Released:2013
RED Ultra Clear with Strawberry Haze vinyl. Limited to 300 copies.
PINK- Half Pepto Pink, Half Coke Bottle Green vinyl. Limited to 600 copies.
PURPLE Edition – A Side Grape Soda, B Side French Vanilla vinyl. Limited to 600 copies.
One-offs, covers, and rarities from 2011-2013 by Thee Oh Sees collected in one place for your fancies. The brightest most metallic chrome printing available to man, with three color original artwork by Shalo P. On colored vinyl the sticker denotes color configuration.
CDs include an extra live track that couldn’t fit on the LP, a medley of Destroyed Fortress/No Spell recorded at Death By Audio.
Tracklist
1 Ugly Man
2 Girls Who Smile
3 Crushed Grass
4 Burning Spear
5 What You Need
6 FBI2
7 Wait Let’s Go
8 Always Flying
9 Devil Again
10 Block of Ice (Live at the SF Eagle)
11 Destroyed Fortress/No Spell (Live at Death by Audio)
Thee Oh Sees – Singles Collection Volume 3
Ultra Clear Vinyl with Strawberry Haze VinylA Side Grape Soda B Side French VanillaHalf Pepto Pink Half Coke Bottle Green VinylCD in digipak
Ultra Clear Vinyl with Strawberry Haze Vinyl – $16.00A Side Grape Soda B Side French Vanilla – $16.00Half Pepto Pink Half Coke Bottle Green Vinyl – $16.00CD in digipak – $12.00
$16.00 USD
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