American Music Club: Classic or Dud?

Did Howe play any guitar at your show? I thought his set was very nice, but the shorter guitar portion stood above the lounge piano player material. His poetry and "character" is kind of distant and unfeeling, especially vs. Eitzel's intense and emotional material and performance. It's hard to imagine him communicating straightforwardly to such a degree I wonder how he orders a sandwich at a deli.

He literally is Chester Cheetah at this point.

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yeah, Gelb played a few songs on guitar, and that part of the show was much stronger (which makes me want to properly listen to Giant Sand at some point). my problem with the piano bits is that he didn't fully commit to the role of jazz crooner (by playing it straight) but he also didn't commit to deconstructing it (by going full-on over-the-top drunken Tom Waits), which left him in a '90s slacker middleground where he dabbled with the form without really engaging with it emotionally. at one point he played a few bars of "Cry Me a River", interrupted himself by saying, "nah, why don't we play something a little more modern...why don't we play a...Future Standard?" before launching into one of his new songs. it was all too meta/ironic for me, primed as I was for a night of weepy earnest catharsis. the audience seemed to like him though, so it was probably just me. I think I would have loved Eitzel's performance even if hadn't been familiar with his work, whereas Gelb's set seemed much more in-jokey and "strictly for the fans".

(guilty lols at the Chester Cheetah comparison)

I was at that same show, at Once in Somerville. At one point Eitzel announced that only 18 tix had been sold for the next night's show in Buffalo, which is kinda sad. He really does deliver the goods.

Gelb did the same schtick four months ago in SF. I found it amusing anyway since I hadn't seen him or Giant Sand in years and years and years

"does he generally draw larger crowds in the UK than in the US? there were maybe 75 people in the audience when I saw him at a small club in Boston last week."

yes, and he pretty much always has. Part of it is that the music press there is more receptive (and there is no real music press in the US that compares) and has been for a long time so he's built up more of a fan base. part of it is that his only real manager, my friend Chris, lives in London, and also manages Ray Davies/ the Kinks, and others, and is just better at dealing with things in a smaller country. Mark has no management per se in the US.

I dunno about this list at all and am already second-guessing. and I've left out 'I'm In Heaven Now'.
These first 4 are indispensable though:
California-(Probably the only album behind New Day Rising in terms of records I would love to see remastered, and never will.)
Everclear (Demos) (There are generally problems with the production in most of Eitzel's catalog, but this is the one that I find unlistenable at times. Fortunately, a few years ago Mark put out the demos of this record and it now may be my AMC, nearly every song is much more energetic than the languid version in the official release. Chanel #5 too!).
60 Watt Silver Lining (the exception to the above rule regarding production, but hey, WB).
Mercury (Interestingly the demos to this are fairly awful and cast Froom's kitchen sink production in a more flattering light).

Generally all subject to change at any time
Love Songs for Patriots
Caught in a Trap and I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby
Engine
Superhits International
United Kingdom
Songs of Love

Listening to Don't Be A Stranger.

Like how there's two songs in a row about him participating in a "fake good time". "If pixie dust is not in your heart, it becomes the dirt that buries you" is a great line.

In the first song when he sings about controlling all his body parts like a gun in a videogame is an extremely weird lyric.

"But in your snake eyes everything dies And makes a costumes seem tragic"

Pretty solid album.

Every time I listen to an AMC record or one of the latter-day Eitzel solo records, it makes me a bit sad to think that AMC still haven't gotten the appropriate reappraisal/reissue treatment basically every other band from that era has already received, including a whole lot of much less significant/worthwhile ones. I'm increasingly convinced Hey Mr. Ferryman is a low-key masterwork; I'd have never in a million years picked Bernard Butler as a collaborator but they complement each other splendidly - glam meets glum.

reissue plans for the first 4 albums are in the works. getting a hold of the master tapes (both while Tom Mallon was alive, and after he died) has been the hold up. Things are moving.

Mark is going to do his next album with Butler as well, probably; maybe more in person this time (the last one was basically recorded, then handed over for Butler to mix and track on top of). I was told it might be more acoustic this time.

Is 4 lps up to United Kingdom or is that seen to be a full lp?

stranger through UK. getting the rights to reissue everclear is a pain in the ass because Alias are a pain in the ass (who knew they even still existed).

Thanks for the updates akm! Very appreciated.

update today actually, tapes are now sorted so we should see some kind of movement on reissues for these within the year. desire has always been to rescue the hours and hours of outtakes and other stuff Mallon had in his possession (like, the entirety of the show excerpted for United Kingdom; there are also lots of things recorded around Restless Stranger that were never released though Mallon leaked a few before he died). whether that all comes out on official releases or some kind of bandcamp thing dunno.

the entirety of the show excerpted for United Kingdom

woah!

tbh I'm not _that_ personally excited for a deep dive into the Restless Stranger / Engine era since those albums were already pretty patchy but I'm certainly excited for the rest

honestly it will just be nice to get the main albums out again, even to streaming services. that's where everyone listens now and when they're not available it's a bit of a shame.

man I hope California gets remastered.

Good news regarding the reissues, would be awesome to see some AMC shows to go with them as was briefly alluded to upthread.

what Simon said above (all his posts!)

Am super excited for this.

Saw an amazing Mark/Vudi acoustic set at a record store here in ATL in the mid 90s and it was recorded on DAT, transferred...and the guy who did it won't give me a copy.

"would be awesome to see some AMC shows to go with "

that's highly, highly unlikely at this point.

Excited about the reissues!

Engine probably contains my favorite AMC songs

I never did get around to Restless Stranger and Engine, so this is very welcome. Hope all the other plans come to fruition too.

Engine is great. Restless Stranger is the one I've still never heard. Couldn't even find that one way back when most of their CDs were readily available at record shops.

you can easily hear these things on youtube or illict downloads until then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjNgLH0WyrE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn6_MH70OTw

Engine is incredible. Outside This Bar and Nightwatchmen are my amc songs methinks. definitely not patchy in the slightest.

Engine is the beginning of an amazing four record run. 'Mom's TV' is easily one of Eitzel's most vulnerable, terrifying and beautiful songs.

This is great news. I own them all, but would happily buy again just cos AMC are such a great band

yeah i’d def buy these reissues. some of the amc mp3s i have are from v decayed cds

I have Engine and United Kingdom on LP but I'd love California for sure. (For anyone who's impatient, it seems like they're still selling dead stock here. 20 bucks USD plus int'l shipping is a bit rich for my blood, though.)

I'm making my annual attempt to get into San Francisco today.

most of SF is great, but there are def some duff tracks on there. I could do without "it's your birthday", "six packs", "hello amsterdam", and swap in "i just took my two sleeping pills" which is on the vinyl version. "cape canaveral' is one of my favorite overlooked AMC songs (to the extent that any one of them is 'overlooked', really, all amc songs are overlooked)

Didn't they perform "Hello Amsterdam" quite often?

I love San Francisco, probably their strongest from a production and musicianship perspective, but a bit overlong and lacking the emotional impact of Everclear and Mercury.

The first time I ever dropped acid was the night this was released. I spent the whole night lying in bed listening to this and Miles Davis Pangaea on my headphones.

Eitzel still performs "What Holds the World Together".

The vinyl version of SF was so messed up in that it didn't include either Cape Canaveral or The Shadow Of The Valley, which I still think are the two strongest songs on the album. And yeah, the CD should've closed with Two Sleeping Pills (with California Dreaming remaining as the encore.)

Weird, can't imagine leaving off those tracks

I'm making my annual attempt to get into San Francisco today.

I've never been able to divorce it from it's context where it was obviously a last gasp.
I like 'Hello Amsterdam', but then I like the 'Crabwalk'/'Gary's Song'/'The Horsehoe Wreath In Bloom' songs.

Who doesn't like "Crabwalk"?

The sad sack version on his solo acoustic CD is pretty good too

It's the upbeat songs (esp "Wish the World Away") that make San Francisco a bummer for me

Yeah. Fearless is a brilliant opener but the album gets derailed fairly quickly with It's Your Birthday. That and Six Packs are the big duds for me. Hello Amsterdam gets a pass for purely nostalgic purposes.

Engine. Patchy? You're having a giggle...California has Bad Liquor, Jenny and Now You're Defeated - far patchier, even though the rest of the album is wonderful.

I like San Francisco because even its less good songs are intriguing. It's probably the weakest of the discography from Engine up to it though.

Everclear > Engine> Mercury> California> United Kingdom>San Francisco....possibly.

I need to give Engine another try.

Front to back, the "reunion" records are more consistently great than everything that came before besides Everclear, though there are fewer hallelujah peaks.

California is their best. Because I heard it first.

Agreed the reunion albums are great.

I found the Eitzel "demos of shame" on slsk and it's very cool. (What on earth is going on with "Royal Cafe"?) This version of "Kathleen" sounds like Benoit Pioulard or something.