The Roches

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002KK4.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I think that album cover is what really turned me against them. They just just looked so incredibly lame in 1979.

I just did a ILM search and it's full of posts from Nathalie talking about how crap they are. Ha!

http://64.95.118.51/images/opti/1f/80/138716-music-resized200.JPG

oh man, "Hammond Song" is incredible, like, maybe the best song ever. Funny, I've had that album for a few years now, and kind of hated it for a while, but it sure hit me (especially that song) this year. I thought they sounded like a satanic a capella group, which I thought was lame. And then I realized that I REALLY LIKE satanic a capella groups. And dare I say Robert Fripp's finest moment? DARE I?
Incidentally, there's a longish essay on "Hammond Song" in the Oxford American music issue this year.

hmmm maybe i'll pull this record out today and give it another try.

yeah, do it! again, i really did not like it the first few times I heard it. A friend gave it to me randomly and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. But it kept popping up on my itunes whenever I had it on shuffle and it won me over big time. Fun fact that I learned from that Oxford America essay -- Paul Simon discovered them! They sang on Rhymin' Simon. Weird.

i do like the singing, but right after hammond is another cornball song about waitressing or whatever

"The Train" is fucking awesome. "Hammond Song" got a nice write-up in the new Music Issue of The Oxford American (by John Jeremiah Sullivan), and appears at the end of the issue's free CD.

(sorry, xpost about the OA. should've read more carefully)

i love "the boat family"

Hammond Song is indeed ridiculously amazing. "Losing True" comes close

Hammond Song is an incredible song, one of my favorites, but it's an anomaly for me. The rest of their stuff is OK to pretty awful.

Hammond Song is indeed ridiculously amazing. "Losing True" comes close

-- jaxon

otm

"Hammond Song" pwns, but "Pretty and High" is almost as good.

Cover of "Married Men" is great!

it's actually their tune (maggie wrote it?)but i guess phoebe snow recorded it first

I thought it was Janis Ian?

amg & wiki confirm maggie roche as the writer - maybe janis ian did a cover as well (married women for her amirite?)

Hm! Well, way to go Roches! It's a good song.

i love "the boat family"

Me too.

I played my friend Hammond Song and he liked it so much he used in the trailer for his movie: http://www.vimeo.com/1524737

Ha, neat, you inadvertently got me into the Roches! I found that trailer on youtube when I was going through a bit of a Rebecca Pidgeon phase a while back, and I was so taken with the song that I googled the lyrics to find out who it was. Insta-fan! I love that whole first album.

is Speak worth buying? The reviews suggest it is.

xp, haha! glad to have played a part.

speak! i haven't listened to that in 15 yrs probably. my impressions at the time - not bad. suffers from a sort of bland "updating" of their sound (which is of course oh so dated now). not dissimilar to the mcgarrigle's "heartbeats accelerating" in that sense.

"He's miserable
And I am miserable
Weeee are miserable
Can't we have a party
Would he rather have a party?
After all we have to sit here
And he's even drinking a beer
I want to ask him what's his name
But I can't 'cause I'm so afraid of the man on the train"

"I am trying not to have a bad day" all time great line

i haven't pulled out these LPs in years. remember really liking 1975's "seductive reasoning" the best. "west virginia" and "telephone bill" were good IIRC. produced by paul simon, and sounds like his first solo LP at times (that is a GOOD thing).

so odd that the s/t album was produced by robert fripp! how did that happen? anyway aside from "hammond song" i can't remember much of anything from that or any subsequent LPs.

their 80s and 90s albums were staples of bargain used CD bins for years. probably still are.

sounds like his first solo LP at times (that is a GOOD thing)

it's as good a thing in that realm as there is

yeah,

btw "seductive reasoning": http://rapidshare.com/files/197231698/RSDuo75.rar

[since it is out of print]

Do I wanna be a dog?
any diddlin' male would do
if I was a damned old dog
I wouldn't be fussy for you

Do I wanna be a housebroken dog
eat better than an Indian
I don't wanna be a damned old dog
I just wanna lick your chin again

I thought that I could convince you
I thought that I could get through
chew out a hole in the fence you
barked up between me and you

Limpin' around in the moonlight
coverin' up what I did
words decompose all around me
nuisances I committed

Do I wanna be a dog
cut the heat out of me
if I was a damned old dog
I wouldn't have to goddamn human be

I used to sing these songs with my older sister to practice harmonies, even though I am not entirely crazy about them. Roxy and I cover the song Married Men when we do our sister folk music project, Easy Company, which rarely gets any of our attention.

I always liked their song Mr. Sellack, which begs a boss to give them their old job back:

Oh Mr Sellack
Can I have my job back?
I've run out of money again
Last time I saw you
I was singing Hallelujah!
I'm so glad to be leavin' this restaurant

Now, the only thing I want
Is to have my old job back again
I'll clean the tables
I'll do the creams
I'll get down on my knees
and scrub behind the steam table

...

Now the only thing I want
Is to have my old job back again
I won't be nasty to customers no more
When they send their burger back I'll tell them that
I'm sorry

Waiting tables ain't that bad
Since I've seen you last, I've waited
For some things that you would not believe
To come true

Mr Sellack is so cute imo.

if u go down to Hammond you'll never come back iirc
imo yr on the rong track

"Jill of All Trades" is one of my favorite songs ever...I first heard it through the gorgeous cover by Liquorice, and then after hearing the original, I realized that Liquorice got some of the key lyrics wrong. For example, Jenny sings, "Running into love, south of the border. Why you wanna get stuck with a needle and a kiss?" But the original goes, "Running into *luck*, south of the border. Why you wanna get stuck with a needle and a *kid*?"...which is a completely brilliant line, obliquely referring to an abortion performed in Mexico (presumably pre-Roe v. Wade), using mid-sentence rhymes ("luck" with "stuck"), and using two meanings of "stuck" (pricked with a sewing needle, and left with a kid). You don't find songwriting this good very often, folks!

I think the Fiery Furnaces listen to the Roches. Roches + Sparks = Fiery Furnaces. Makes me like the Fiery Furnaces more, considering that, actually.

lol largest elizabeth gis
http://www.history.com/images/media/slideshow/new-jersey/new-jersey-elizabeth.jpg

Roches mix I made for my Mom:

We (The Roches, 1979)
Everyone Is Good (Speak, 1989)
The Death of Suzzy Roche (Nurds, 1980)
Bobby's Song (Nurds, 1980)
Easy (Speak, 1989)
The Married Man (The Roches, 1979)
Troubled Love (A Dove, 1992)
Ing (A Dove, 1992)
The Largest Elizabeth in the World (Keep on Doing, 1982)
Losing True (Keep on Doing, 1982)
My Sick Mind (Nurds, 1980)
Somebody's Gonna Have to Be Me (A Dove, 1992)
West Virginia (Seductive Reasoning - Maggie & Terre Roche, 1975)
The Boat Family (Nurds, 1980)
Big Nuthin' (Speak, 1989)
I Love My Mom (Speak, 1989)
Want Not Want Not (Keep on Doing, 1982)
You're the Two (A Dove, 1992)
Love Radiates Around (Another World, 1985)
Hammond Song (The Roches, 1979)

I don't know what possessed me to leave off "The Train" or "The Troubles" from The Roches.

And to answer Alfred's post from 2008, Speak is excellent. (And A Dove is pretty good too.)

i'm a big fan of their early stuff but never listened to NURDS

Took me a while to give Nurds a full listen because the title track is annoying, but it turns out most everything after that is great, esp. "My Sick Mind."

I don't really hear the Fiery Furnaces connection. Actually always thought the Roches were more a precursor to someone like Kimya Dawson, though that does them a pretty big disservice. (Hope it doesn't make you like the Roches any less!)

More and more I think "Steady with the Maestro" is one of my favorite songs ever.

Would shave my legs with a rusty razor if they'd do one more album with Fripp.

eww

woah the movie trailer that caek posted upthread features the twilight dude!!!!!!!!

the movie itself, too! a lot of youtube comments on versions of "hammond song" come from smitten little ladies named PATTINSONFAN#1 etc

crazy has your friend moved a ton of DVDs to goth chicks?

the movie trailer caek posted upthread features caek!

I really must get Speak.

I got Speak! What a marvelous domestic record -- it evokes what's best about families, the hearth without the sentimentality; Casios instead of acoustic guitars around the fire. "Easy" and "In The World" are as good as anything on the s/t.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_B9QKoFL4c

"My Sick Mind" and "The Hallelujah Chorus" from 1981.

Hearing the album for the first time. Hard to think of another record that goes from unendurably irritating to total classic in the space of its first two songs.

Now playing The Troubles - not sure what the hell they're trying to do there.

get some strawberry-apricot pie

Well I guess they succeeded on that front.

Everything about that record is A++++, even the jokey songs.

For me it's a straight split between beautifully affecting and unbelievably irritating.

dunno if you mean that as a criticism, but i think that's a nice line to walk

Revive because Real Gone Music is re-issuing Maggie and Terre's "Seductive Reasoning" and because the Roches were kick-ass. If you don't like the silly stuff then you don't deserve the serious stuff. #rockism

Kinda outta nowhere:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/opinion/sunday/music-takes-a-back-seat-to-fund-raising.html

She even writes op-eds like a Roche.

Here's a Spotify playlist I put together from this thread, including Hideous Lump's Roches Playlist for Mom (sans anything from A Dove which isn't available on Spotify):

http://open.spotify.com/user/124420673/playlist/0iXz3aEWFAupPqmPaS3xD5

the TRUE first album, seductive reasoning, is by far the best IMO (I always think of ma nuit chez maud with that title). esp. the ballads.

lots of unexpected melodic twists in here. malachy's is great, so is down the dream.

if i had to place their sensibility i'd say the closest thing would be loudon wainwright III. he's an acquired taste too.

their albums are more fully developed musically imo. how could it be otherwise w/ those harmonies?

And of course, Loudon was with Suzzy for a long time and had a daughter with her.

ok, that I did _not_ know. it makes almost too much sense.

Yeah, their daughter is a singer-songwriter too, Lucy Wainwright-Roche. She's started recording, but U haven't heard her much yet (also performs with her Mom in the Mountain Stage archives).

Gotta say the first (trio) Roches album was the only thing that got me up and going to an early morning class I dreaded: as written, "Man on a Train"'s verses were so scared (next to a beer-drinking, NY Post-reading man, and wanting, somewhat desperately sounding, "to say, 'Let's have a party,' but I can't because I'm so afraid/Of the man on the train," and shoving into the chorus, "Once you get on, you can never get off/Of the commuter train," so why should that get my ass all the way to class? Admitting the need for company, fear of bridging gaps, and those harmonies rising up, taking me, and the singers' own hopes/fears---aw, it worked, every time, even though I did as badly in the class as prophesied (what the hell, I passed).
"Quitting Time" was real good too, the sound of freeedom; balancing "Man" and the one about "can I have my old job back"--- just about the whole LP was fine ( producer Fripp occasionally used a bit of his own guitar and Larry Fast's Synergy synth, thus maybe inventing folktronica in passing).

That first trio album is one of my favorite records of all time.

when we say the first trio album, we're talking about the one from 1979, fripp-produced?
i love the roches.

Yeah, that's the one I mean.

ok! i actually haven't heard that earlier duo LP -- worth seeking out?

& yeah, comparing loudon and the roches makes a lot of sense aesthetically to me. something about the almost self-sabotaging sense of humor (like a weird joke in the middle of what seems like an utterly serious song) that makes them totally fascinating/unique. probably what makes them an acquired taste too.

Yeah, it's good, and still around, though maybe as cut-out. Maggie and Terre took Paul Simon's class on songwriting, and then they made this (dunno if he helped 'em get a deal).

"seductive reasoning" LP was produced by simon/roy halee (sp?) and there are the same nice and oddball production touches you find on the first few paul simon solo LPs. like a glass harmonica coming in on the verses of one song. but not as inventive as the fripp production of the first proper "roches" album.

"west virginia" and "malachy" are for all time. lots of songs on that record about a young woman's emerging sexuality. à la wainwright, it mixes lyricism with funny frankness. amusingly distanced description of old boyfriends, etc.

Forgot Simon co-produced it. Speaking of Wainwrights and emergence, The McGarrigle Hour, from 1999, is a family get-together, with sonically amicable Loudie and Kate, Anna, maybe the recording debut of Rufus and Martha, plus other relatives and friends, incl. Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Pretty, sometimes luvly, wry, contemplative, taking a turn with young Martha's epic "Year of The Dragon," written to/at Dad---reminds me of Sally and Don on Mad Men (last scenes of the latest ep notwithstanding).

Hello, does anybody know of the meaning of the Hammond Song? Also was there really a Mr. Sellack?

if you go down to Hammond…

Holy shit, that's an awesome performance.

i just heard "hammond song" for the first time. what a remarkable song. the odd lyrics and those harmonies playing around with the guitar Frippery. yum

Amazing song, definitely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h84PS-CQ6ag

Basically what Michael B posted in the last revive... I like the hip camp counsellor vibe. The harmonies are weird, unexpected, super-polished in places and clashy in others. Sometimes the girls sing the same notes, sometimes two drop out quite suddenly to leave just one. Other times they scatter and make the most beautiful sound. And yeah, Fripp just turns up and does his thing and it's like the future being beamed into a 1970s American kitchen.

"Hammond Song" is just the best. A magical song.

This song cannot be invoked without me listening to it like 3 or 4 times in a row.

Also a jam: "The Married Men"

Distinct Roche-harmonies vibes from London-based act The Drink (esp notable about 30 seconds in here):

http://youtu.be/EjMK6hMIFuo

thoughts?

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

xp oh! I played a gig with The Drink once. Glad to see they're doing well.

To the original poster...you only need to sit through two and a half minutes and you get to one of the most beautiful transitions/songs in recorded music!

https://devonrecordclub.com/2016/07/11/the-roches-the-roches-round-91-toms-selection/

RIP Maggie

ah, shit. I really need to pick up some more Roches records beyond the debut.

love them but she was always my favorite, amazing songwriter. very sad to hear this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBqhigRvplo

https://youtu.be/oh9nlTTygmQ

love them but she was always my favorite, amazing songwriter. very sad to hear this.
📹

Also, embedded link here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh9nlTTygmQ&feature=youtu.be

I was too pat and dismissive in my earlier posts on this thread, although yeah, I still think they were too cutesy at times. Maybe it's just another example of the self-indulgence that you sometimes have to indulge (at least to the extent of setting it aside) in artists you enjoy.

Anyway, she was a great songwriter, overall.

RIP. My favorite of her songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MyJIQkdruo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBQSJLRb-mw

My favorite of hers, written from the point of view of her father who was in the late stages of Alzheimer's; the "she" in the song is her mother.

Thanks, and good to know that kid sister Suzzy is still active, touring in '16 w daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche, who also works solo and with Martha as The Wainwright Sisters. Mom and daughter did this song and video, re Suzzy's novel Wayward Saints:
http://www.roches.com/suzzy/

So sorry to hear this, I grew up listening to the first two Roches albums - the first is covered very well upthread, but the 'Nurds' is also absolutely worth checking out. The title track starts off sort of MOR and almost gets like Roches do Kleenex/LiLiPUT after a bit which is pretty unexpected if you're going through their LPs in order.

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

Does anyone know the story behind the stuff they shout it in "Nurds?" I'm guessing some of it might be actual school girl taunts.

My pal Steve just uploaded this, it's apparently an off air copy and has a Q&A that was never broadcasted, the second part is uploading as we speak I believe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsRB0xH55P4&feature=youtu.be

Dang, one more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsRB0xH55P4

the prince was confused, so he asked the magician

i just heard "hammond song" for the first time. what a remarkable song. the odd lyrics and those harmonies playing around with the guitar Frippery. yum

― tayto fan (Michael B), Wednesday, October 28, 2015 10:35 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^ Me right now.

absolutely love Hammond Song. Go-to drinking song tbh

Don't know if the Roches have any true heiresses, but The Unthanks come to mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyAPZaey7PQ

Soz, meant this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPnDO4gJk84

Folk evolving into British Sea Power-esque proggy bliss where stakes are honestly high.

I am probably half of the dedicated Unthanks thread at this point

Suzzy & Lucy got a new alb out Oct. 30, details here (didn't know this site, got a lot of Roche-Wainwright-and-otherwise-relateds/compatibles):http://storysoundrecords.com/news

Nice. I've been meaning to check out the others they've done, or really any of the various solo and duo Roche albums. So much stuff released between A Dove and Moonswept, in particular, and those are both great.

oops, just saw this:
hello from NYC!
just wanted to let you know that my mom and I will be doing an online show from my apartment - tonight at 7:30 eastern!

don't worry - if you can't make that time, the concert will remain up and watchable for a few days. if you CAN make it, YAY!
Here's how to find us tonight:

Suzzy and Lucy
Songs From Home - November 18 - 7:30pm

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWH0NNf98hY
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/lucy.w.roche

Instagram :
@lucywainwrightroche

Sending love from Brooklyn!
xo Lucy (and Suzzy!)

Maggie Roche wrote an 8-minute song about how much she loves her winter coat, and it's utterly delightful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3SBuAqbxz4

So charming! I'm not familiar with much of their stuff beyond the first few albums (and Seductive Reasoning), but I came across this song at some point and it's been a favorite of mine ever since.

Roches' Christmas album is a longtime favorite.

That was, indeed, charming.

Don't always like that first song they play on that Song From Home concert, but they got through to me.

Okay, “My Winter Coat” is great.

Mountain Stage recently re-broadcast Suzzy & Lucy's December set from home, and it's pretty involving,in some unexpected ways, like when voices infiltrate the big acoustic guitar---not boomy guitar, just something about the home recording plus the typically quirky Mountain Stage sound, at least on radio---haven't listened to the archived set yet, though incl. songs that didn't make the broadcast time constraints, from a very strong, variegated, cohesive li'l trip through originals and covers (Connie Converse, from the 50s, I think they said, comes across like a Roche, Suzzy's hip youngest aunt maybe), also "Factory Girl," not the Stones alas, but a vivid British folk song: Audio and playlist are herehttps://www.mountainstage.org/archives/Pages/playlist.aspx?playlistid=212

"when voices infilrate" that's mainly a passage in one song, I think; voices are up front most of the time.

Mother's Day show ov Lucy & Suzzy will be up for a while; if this link don't work check their Facebook:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExW86ZJ7b5U

Wow. Sounds incredible. Thank you

Oh, hi. Probably not quite the time or the place, butch thinking of doing a poll in Lucy’s dad in the near future, if there is any interest. Happy Mother’s Day!

Butch = been.

in=on

I wish you were butch until...sorry

Maggie Roche wrote an 8-minute song about how much she loves her winter coat, and it's utterly delightful

The 8+ minute title track is also amazing. Starting to think that's secretly one of their best albums.

Bracing live track here: https://pathwaytoparis.bandcamp.com/track/cold-october-day-live-lucy-wainwright-roche-and-suzzy-roche Some others here by them, Martha, Nicole Atkins (whom curmudgeon and I think sounds like 60s Laura Nyro, but def w her own songwriting style), David Johansen, others, sep and together--might have to get this benefit.
Which led me to the original "Cold October Day" and a lot more:https://lucywainwrightrochesuzzyroche.bandcamp.com/album/mud-apples

That was pretty great.

Singer-songwriter Terre Roche of the legendary NYC sibling folk trio, The Roches has announced the release of Kin Ya See That Sun, a collection of previously unreleased live recordings and original songs written and performed by Terre and her late sister Maggie. The 15-track album arrives digitally Friday, October 21.

Kin Ya See That Sun will also be released as a limited-edition book featuring illustrations by Terre, song lyrics, rare photographs, exclusive new interview excerpts, and additional background about the project (all book purchases receive a digital download of the album). The book is available for pre-order now.

Kin Ya See That Sun is heralded by today’s premiere of the title track which is the first song Terre and Maggie wrote together as children.

“I was 12 years old, and Maggie was 13,” says Terre Roche. “We were just learning to play guitar. We’d learned off a PBS special called ‘Folk Guitar with Laura Weber’ – I’ve always regretted that I never wrote Laura Weber a fan letter, and sadly she has passed away, but she taught us a bunch of guitar chords, strums and very cool folk songs we had never heard before. Maggie gave me this set of lyrics and I wrote the music for it. Though we had never traveled beyond our New Jersey home we had a longing to go out West.”

Listen to "Kin Ya See That Sun"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32KEU2dCPXE

Terre and Maggie Roche grew up in Park Ridge, NJ where they first fell in love with folk music before setting off to perform their own songs at college campuses around the country. The sisters toured the US by themselves, for more than two years, with 17-year-old Terre completing her senior year of high school by doing homework and exams while on the road. Paul Simon met them when they crashed his songwriting class at NYU. He would come to produce part of their album Seductive Reasoning and enlist them to sing background harmonies on his blockbuster third solo album, 1973’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. With his support, the sisters made their official debut with 1975’s now-classic Seductive Reasoning, featuring production from Simon and the renowned Paul Samwell-Smith (Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Jethro Tull), with backing by the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

Terre and Maggie were soon joined by youngest sister Suzzy as The Roches. Hailed for their irreverent, beguiling, and original approach to traditional folk songcraft and three-part harmony, the trio made a spectacular debut with 1979’s The Roches (produced by Robert Fripp, with whom Terre also collaborated on that same year’s milestone LP, Exposure), followed by a long series of recordings, tours, and TV appearances (including a memorable 1979 performance on Saturday Night Live).http://www.roches.com/television/snl79.html

Sadly, Maggie Roche passed away in 2017. Two years later, out of the blue, Terre received live recordings from two different people who had recorded her and Maggie performing in 1975 and 2000. Here were many of the songs from Seductive Reasoning as they were originally arranged, just two voices and two guitars. Highlights include powerful performances of fan favorites like “Telephone Bill” and “Damned Old Dog” (recorded during a 1975 promotional tour) and the classic “If You Emptied Out All Your Pockets You Could Not Make the Change,” the latter recorded during Terre and Maggie’s acclaimed run of concerts in 2000. All live recordings featured on Kin Ya See That Sun were restored and mastered by Thomas Millioto.

Kin Ya See That Sun further collects never-before-heard songs such as “The Colleges” and “Apostrophe to the Wind” alongside exclusive outtakes from Seductive Reasoning including “Pretty and High” (later re-recorded for The Roches’ eponymous debut) and the previously unreleased gem, “Moonruns,” both produced in London by Samwell-Smith.

“Working on this project has brought me back in touch with the deep spiritual connection Maggie and I shared at a point in our lives,” Terre Roche says. “You can hear that connection in these songs. Hearing the music we made together amazes me after all these years. And I feel her gratitude toward me, wherever she is now, for shepherding the songs in their pure form through some tough terrain and on out into the light for everyone to hear.”

Terre will celebrate the release of Kin Ya See That Sun with a special performance at New York City’s City Winery on October 18 at 7:30pm. Tickets are on sale now.

Tracklist:

Apostrophe to the Wind

Damned Old Dog

Down the Dream

If You Emptied Out All Your Pockets You Could Not Make the Change

Kin Ya See That Sun

Malachy’s

Moonruns

Pretty and High

Telephone Bill

The Burden of Proof

The Colleges

The Mountain People

West Virginia

Wigglin Man

Blabbermouth

www.terreroche.com

Press Contact:

Ken Weinstein

weinstein at bighassle.com

This has eight of the ten songs from Seductive Reasoning, which I think may be better than any of their first three records as the Roches. They're not relying as much as they would later on cleverness and whimsy, and there's a ghostly quality to a song like "West Virginia" that they didn't quite recapture later. Maybe the harmonic variety of writing and performing on piano as well as guitar gives it a greater range, too.

Seductive Reasoning was the first one I heard and the others were disappointing in comparison.

I first heard (and saw) them in 1979 on SNL. My 14 year old self had no idea what to make of them. I thought it was some kind of joke.

Buying this for my mom. Am I to understand that there will be no physical audio release? Just the book and digital? If this is the case, I'd say they are leaving some money on the table, given the age of their fanbase. Maybe I'm missing something. The website isn't super clear

This has eight of the ten songs from _Seductive Reasoning_, which I think may be better than any of their first three records as the Roches. They're not relying as much as they would later on cleverness and whimsy, and there's a ghostly quality to a song like "West Virginia" that they didn't quite recapture later. Maybe the harmonic variety of writing and performing on piano as well as guitar gives it a greater range, too.

Everything about that record is A++++, even the jokey songs.

I second this, though my 8yo absolutely hates this record

Another World is puzzling, it's hard to tell what they were trying to do with the production or whether they just acquiesced to it. It's simultaneously slick and cheap, which is a particularly bad combination in terms of 1985 sonics. There isn't even a lot of the goofy stuff that sometimes weighed down the previous records, but it's not generic enough to actual imagine it breaking through on the radio of the era.
This came out the same year as Suzanne Vega's debut, which I've heard discussed as a spearhead of a folk revival; I wonder if that would have been a better sound for them.

unexpected youtube comment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6zXhDUrZU8

@suzzyrocheandlucywainwrigh3600
5 months ago

Love this! xox -suzzy roche

(NB: not the best cover imho, but points for Hammond organ solo + drummer using the "Ashley's Roachclip" pattern)

Lol

I first heard Hammond Song through the Colourfield's version, which isn't very good, but it's funny to think of miserable post-punker Terry Hall digging the Roches in the early 80s. Perhaps Jane Wiedlin introduced him to them.

one more:

@moonsweptvilla5842
2 years ago

Wow, what a beautiful job you ladies have done. And a real honor for me to hear. I am Terre Roche. Your version of Hammond Song gave me goosebumps. Good luck with everything...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_vw58ooxCM

much better cover imho

(I think... maybe frogbs can confirm, but that might be Yumiko from Buffalo Daughter/Havana Exotica on Moog)

(I think... maybe frogbs can confirm, but that might be Yumiko from Buffalo Daughter/Havana Exotica on Moog)

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, March 11, 2024 11:07 AM (eleven hours ago)

confirming this is indeed Yumiko, but what amazing tones... massive props for doing the Frippertronics on a hand-modeled Moog with bass pedals.

ok, last one I promise:

@RobertFrippVEVO
3 years ago

Thank you Goblin Cock for your amazing rendition which brought me to my knees... I can't imagine a better cover exists than this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tM65kpHzz0

lol

i love that one (and the I Love Your Smile cover on the same album). i do wish the DFH drums were a little less stationary though...

still weird to how people seem to connect with Hammond Song and not get The Roches otherwise though

I love Keep on Doing (their third album, second colab with Fripp + bonus Tony Levin and Bill Bruford). I think it's better than the debut, especially the song Losing True that has a killer Fripp spolo. They got better at singing somehow. But it ain't got a Hammond Song on it.

Also I love this video for Big Nuthin' one of my fav videos of all time - apparently written after a Johnny Carson appearance (he was a big fan!) When you're on Carson your whole life is supposed to change, but it was a big nuthin! We've all been there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbb5mSomdV8

Keep on Doing was my first one and probably my overall favourite too. i can understand when people recoil from the "really annoying hip camp counselor vibe" on things like Want Not Want Not (though I love that one) but there's I Fell in Love, Keep on Doing / Jerks on the Loose, Losing True with all those same long keening harmonising lines that make you feel funny.

my controp might wishing there was no Robert Fripp guitar on these albums...

people disappointed by Another World should check out the Speak album. there's some great (chintzy) stuff on that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0gvW-OyFrQ

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

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

Love their Christmas album, We Three Kings. “Star of Wonder” has such an indelible melody that I always assumed it was a cover of an old hymn or something! But Terre wrote it - it’s such a gem.

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

YESSSS! I love their version of Walking In A Winter Wonderland too

they played actual roches on tiny toons!

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

the Roches hate that kicks off this thread is wild. they are wonderful

xp AH that's so awesome!!!

It had a really annoying hip camp counselor vibe.

I mean, "hip camp counselor vibe" is sort of OTM but not 'annoying'

Warner Bros really should have done a full out "Warner Years" box/reissue series with all the outtakes/extras when that was still a thing, maybe Light in the Attic could but i don't know how rights work for this kind of thing and i feel outside of The Hammond Song mini-cult they don't have much of a profile these days. At least can someone upload a clean rip of this to youtube, I'm not asking much?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMD1O8W9ujU

I think there have been discussions about this elsewhere, but I think you need a boutique to license this material. (Rhino Handmade would be ideal if they were still around.) The fact that even the CD for their debut album was allowed to go out-of-print before the market really tanked was a bad sign of how little WB was invested in them by the time the '00s rolled around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aBF_v0gvpQ

hammond song heavily featured here

Some additional stuff (marimba, piano, strings, brass?) added in post.

I will say that when I listen I remember that the highs are so high they make you forget some pretty duff material