American Music Club: Classic or Dud?

Unfortunately everything else - Dud. Particularly 'San Fran' and 'Mercury' - horribly produced, and the songs had gone by then.

They're not totally classic for me, "Everclear" and the "Live At Slim's" promo are damn good and pretty much all I need.

this is a band I didn't like at all when everybody was going nuts for them and then 2-3 years ago their album The Golden Age basically punched me right in the damn face and it was like, oh, eureka, I get it, this is incredible.

I remember successfully trolling cosloy via letter to conflict in '88, comparing AMC to the indigo girls. I didn't get 'em either until after it was all said and done, when I stumbled across a used copy of mercury. I guess if you don't like lyrics AMC's gonna be a hard plough to pull, but eitzel's one of those guys who at his best transcends the singer-songwriter stink.

don't really understand all the hate for mercury. the production feels like a warm woozy cocoon of whiskey, but even if you don't dig the production, three of eitzel's best songs are "apology for an accident", "I've been a mess", and "johnny mathis' feet".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTMR69pzGk0

^ I like the part where he shows johnny his old collection of punk rock posters

J0hn's take on The Golden Age is the only wholly positive one I've read, but it caused me to revisit the record earlier this year. It is perhaps cliche or at least expected to arrange the word "devastating" near an American Music Club album. The Golden Age is a different sort though--imagine Love Songs for Patriots without its political eruptions, giving way entirely to songs like "Myopic Books" and "Another Morning." Even this is wrong--those songs were captured light in an otherwise dark and wrecked ship. There is no light in The Golden Age, just a dull, ornate grey. In that way it reminds me most of the slow, contemplative songs on Everclear but less drunk, more acknowledging depression as the necessary color of life.

if that all sounds dumb as hell then my excuse is i just woke up. just trying to make sense of why The Golden Age kind of scares the hell out of me.

no you actually made me want to hear it

To restate the obvious: Mercury is awful. Holy shit, I can't make it through a single song.

it's messy but has a few great tracks - I've Been A Mess is wonderful

o_O

This reminds me of the Jeff Buckley c/d thread.

To state the obvious: Mercury is great. No question.

There's some crap on Mercury

Apology, Mess, Mathis, Gratitude are all A grade

Too much noodling, half formed songs elsewhere.

Everclear is tight, nowhere near as much filler

Oh and Hammer is great too

Keep Me Around is just a throwaway single, they never integrated the rockier and the more reflective stuff that well.

If I snap my fingers what will I get?
If I snap my fingers what will I get?
If I snap my fingers what will I get?
That's right, anything I want
Anything I want

http://markeitzel.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-people-who-ask-me-if-amc-are-touring.html

in case anyone was wondering. I wouldn't put bets on seeing AMC again, but then, that's what I thought ten years ago.

^That's a great lyric. Note to self: listen to more Eitzel

To restate the obvious: Mercury is awful. Holy shit, I can't make it through a single song.

Mercury is a complete classic. Not as much as Everclear but means almost as much to me, for various other reasons.

now listening to an AMC album through for the first time (Mercury). I like it a lot. Reminds me a bit of Red House Painters although a bit more hard edged.

Mercury is great. Means a lot to me too -- still remember buying it when it came out.

Mercury is certainly an extremely 90's sounding record, with too much Froom calliope circus noise and chamberlain and tympani and oompah and crap but the songs on it are, from top to bottom, great, and I like Froom's work on this album, in fact, I think it's his best production work. But there is an alternate, Kevin Killan version of the album around if you prefer that. The big change was making If I Had a Hammer 3/4 rather than 4/4.

I astonished by all the hate for Mercury. It might be my fave and it is certainly one of the most important albums in my life.

incidentally I saw mark last week or the week before in SF, he played with Marc Cappelle and a pickup band that included a bassist and the drummer from Loquat, and it was wonderful. Mark and Marc together are really great. It's not AMC but he's worked with Cappelle longer than anyone in his career at this point and they ahve their shit down. Mark is finishing an album right now (Vudi is on it and a bunch of other people are as well but it's not coming out as an AMC record) and I expect it will be very good.

Mark is finishing an album right now (Vudi is on it and a bunch of other people are as well but it's not coming out as an AMC record) and I expect it will be very good.

I'm sure it will be as well but unfortunately I would only buy it if it came out as an AMC record

If I snap my fingers what will I get?
If I snap my fingers what will I get?
If I snap my fingers what will I get?
That's right, anything I want
Anything I want

God, that song. Easily one of the best things Mark and the band ever did. I'm resigned to buying everything that he ever puts out, just because, but I'd love it if AMC could have another one-last-hurrah, with Kaphan back because their sound was never lovelier than with him. Can't imagine it will ever happen though.

Mark and Marc together are really great

co-sign. I saw their man and piano show in the UK a few years back and it was wonderful.

I think Mercury may be my favorite AMC album, I'm surprised it is so hated.

one more rep for 'California'

great album. sad, lonely, and drunken, but great.

Tim Mooney (AMC's drummer on Mercury, San Francisco, and Love Songs for Patriots, as well as being drummer for Toiling Midgets and others) passed away last night. he was 54.

sad news! he was an amazing drummer, also in The Sleepers.

Oh no! I enjoy his drumming in Toiling Midgets.

What?!? That sucks, so sad. He was a great drummer. I was bummed when he didn't appear on The Golden Age after producing and playing on Love Songs For Patriots. Was hoping he'd get back with them some day, but I guess that won't be happening.

RIP

I've just discovered this. Really gutted.

Damn. RIP.

Mark and Vudi are selling the original paintings by Jean Lowe for the Everclear and San Francisco covers, with all proceeds to Tim Mooney's family. Wonderful paintings, and a beautiful gesture by them - if had sufficient funds to spare I'd love to own either of those pieces (but esp. San Fran).

Everclear on ebay now, San Francisco to follow

wow, wish I could buy the everclear one

Have had the pleasure of listening to Mark's new album, "Don't be a Stranger". It's very nice. Maybe too nice for some people; it's a mature work, that recalls 60 Watt Silver Lining more than anything else he's done. It's missing some of the fire and intensity of Love Songs for sure, and probably has more incommon with the Golden Age, so if you liked that album (I loved it; it wasn't really meant to come out as an AMC album either) you will probably like this. He is doing a short promotional tour of the UK now with a bigger tour (backed with a band) to follow this fall.

Just picked up 'Don't Be a Stranger' this weekend, really enjoying it. '60 Watt Silver Lining' a good reference point, was listening to it earlier in the week and the new one has a similar mood to it.

FWIW 'Mercury' and 'San Fransisco' were the first full albums I owned by AMC and they didn't put me off. Easily available at the time! It was actually hearing "Another Morning" on an Uncut CD that first piqued my interest, but I'd known of them well before then.

Gotta get this new one, I never got Brannan Street, that one had a smaller print

One of my favorite songs of the year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfJKHr-OaOc

His voice is fucking amazing. I saw him live two years ago in a bar in Berlin, on his two-man with Marc Capelle, and it was one of the most memorable gigs I've attended because it suddenly occurred to me (embarrassingly, after 20 years of fandom) that he is such a great singer.

*two-man tour*

yes, the piano + mark thing totally reveals his voice as being UNBELIEVABLE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN6SpTqYeL8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN6SpTqYeL8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NPsfv6IuWQ

yes

yes yes yes fuck

as sad as it is, mark eitzel is totally my perfect life soundtrack right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1VHrK2267Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1VHrK2267Y

not an official video.

beautiful song

I preferred the solo Candy Ass version of "Sleeping Beauty". But that AMC version is great too.

I think the solo Ugly American version of "Last Harbour" is superior to the AMC original.

No AMC/Eitzel news and I've not been listening recently either...

I just wanted to talk about how strange and wonderful United Kingdom is and that it really doesnt get enough praise. The first track "Here They Roll Down" must be one of the most mysterious songs I've ever heard and I'm scared of knowing what it is really about because those words really stick in my head and come back to me every now and then and I feel like they carry so much weight that might not stay if I find out what they really mean. The mood in it is really really incredible.

It really taken me a while to find out what people liked about it so much; I've still never really got into California like other people love it.

There are some songs that the idea of them being covered or used inappropriately scares me. I hope "Kathleen" gets treated well forever.

I say this in nearly every bands thread but here I go again: I've got a lot of catching up to do with Eitzel's discography. I still dont have the first two AMC records and I dont know if there are any easy to find b-side collections.

I have "United Kingdom" and "California" on one CD, good but really, really intense. I love their debut, "The Restless Stranger", it's got more light to it, rocks a bit more too. I don't think there are any official b-side collections.

I'm sure the band used to sell a best of/b-sides compilation on their reunion tour. I imagine the singles are hard to find now.

Not a big UK fan although "Here They Roll Down" is indeed a good one. Still haven't ever heard The Restless Stranger.

restless stranger is much better than it's reputation used to be. engine is an absolute classic, sometimes I think it's their best album (though I think that about each album at different times).

there is no news on the AMC front in particular except that Tom Mallon (who recorded the albums through UK and worked as drummer and bassist at different times) is dying.

That's horrible. I feel like every time I check up on Eitzel's blog or anything about the band, people are having a rough time.

I really had no idea Eitzel had an album out last year.

I've heard there has been efforts to get the early albums reissued. I just saw that there is a pre- Restless Stranger demo/album called Inspirational Songs. Never heard of this before. Is this recently unearthed?

I have no idea what that is.

Tom owns the masters. They are in some kind of state as they were returned by WB after the first attempt to reissue the albums in kind of a mess. Tom is also sitting on a lot of other unreleased stuff, at least three songs of which he shared with people last year (demos that turned into songs on Restless Stranger). Remastering and reissuing the albums was something he'd hoped to do before he got too sick to work. Last summer I worked up a proposal with Mark's manager to reissue the four albums with bonus tracks that would have been culled by Tom; we were going to give Tom complete control of these and just work on getting the financing in place to pay for the pressings (we wanted to do vinyl issues of the albums proper and cds with a bonus cd each). Tom's response was to unfriend us both from FB. He's not an easy guy to deal with. Regardless, I do respect him. I don't know what will happen with the masters when he dies.

I think that is something Tom was maybe putting together, looking at it. I have no idea what his plans were for it and I doubt it's something anyone else has seen or heard.

Tom Mallon has died.

RIP, I loved his production work on those early AMC records.

Thats rough esp. coming after Mooney.

Re. UK, big fan of the Here They Roll Down/Heaven Of Your Hands material. Not so much the Animal Pen stuff.

California in particular has had a rough time of it with regards availability

RIP

UK was my first AMC album. Got it when it came out, loved it, then picked up California. Mallon played drums on California and bass on UK, right? My California LP has no info about band roles, but I seem to remember it was Mallon on drums.

Rest In Peace.

I like "Animal Pen" quite a bit.

Been on a huge Eitzel/AMC kick lately. He has written an incredible number of great songs, and Don't Be A Stranger contained several. "We All Have to Find Our Own Way Out" in particular is just a stone-cold stunner.

It seems a shame he'll probably never get a later-career boost a la Kozelek, who I like a lot, but isn't half the singer, arranger or songwriter.

it's especially shitty given how fucking GREAT the last couple of AMC records were

Totally. A dozen or so songs anyone would kill to have written between 'em.

Mark is playing Noisepop this year in SF, opening for Mark Mulcahey (should be the other way around) and opening for Throwing Muses.

finally got around to listening to don't be a stranger, it's totally gorgeous

YEP!

i even really dig the rerecorded "all my love," it's sounds more spacious and aching

Yeah, that threw me at first, but it's pretty wonderful. "Costumed Characters..." has been in my head lately, everything I love about his work distilled into 2.5 minutes.

! I really liked the original "All My Love"

Thread inspired me to give Klamath another spin. "I Live In This Place" was apparently the opening number for a musical he wrote?! It's an incredible song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aspneMZXNY0

he wrote the music for a musical that was done in Brighton a few years ago, yeah. That is a great song. Klamath is underrated because it's a 'home production' but several of the songs on there are excellent. I really like "Remember"

One of my favourite bands, late 80s/early 90s. I know Mark E is still doing it good.Excellent

I need to rediscover.

Slight tangent but their version of "Goodbye to Love" Carpenters always sounded just fine. I'm off for a listen now which is so boring of me.
Sorry for posting

I listen to Engine often.

I love Klamath. That album returned my enthusiasm for Mark's solo work, a joy which had waned upon the release of the Invisible Man. Okay, I've since found some affection for The Ugly American, his Greek interpretations of AMC songs. But looking back on the 2000s, it sure seems like he earmarked his stronger material for the reunited AMC.

Aquarium Drunkard has an interview with Mark Eitzel up: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/02/06/mark-eitzel-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview/

I really hope Eitzel doesn't need to keep relying on lottery winners to get records made. Would he be a good candidate for a crowdfunding effort, I wonder?

Now that Fall is here properly it's Eitzel season again.

https://youtu.be/xNVbvhM46MY

Did anything ever come of reissuing AMC's early catalogue again?
Is much of it in print.

Nothing of that nature is happening AFAIK, stalled by all that tragedy upthread I'd guess. Which is really too bad since I bet a decent number of folks would buy the fuck out of some remastered reissues.

"Help Me" might be their finest pop moment

"Did anything ever come of reissuing AMC's early catalogue again?"

I'm working with the management on this. It will happen, we are just trying to secure a few things.

!!!

Recently found a decent vinyl copy of United Kingdom, I'd kill for California and Everclear.

it'll only be the albums through UK; Alias still owns the masters for Everclear unfortunately.

Glad to hear this, Do hope that means cd too. Would love physical copies of that stuff again. Shame about Everclear since i don't think I've had a physical copy of that.

Plenty of reasonably priced vinyl and CD copies of Everclear on discogs.

What are the AMC records that sound the most like Don't Be A Stranger? (if any)

The last one, The Golden Age, is closest.

Thanks.

it'll only be the albums through UK; Alias still owns the masters for Everclear unfortunately.

wtf how does Alias still own anything

The Golden Age is an f'in' masterpiece imo

agreed, it and California are tops imo

new Eitzel album out in January, produced + accompanied by Bernard Butler (!!!)

http://www.stereogum.com/1907667/mark-eitzel-the-last-ten-years/music/

tbh the song is just OK but an album of Eitzel gone Britpop is intriguing

Eh, not much chance for Britpop. Have you heard the last two Ben Watt records?

don't forget that Butler also produced Duffy

So is AMC definitely over now? Has he said anything about that?

I've had the album for a few months. It's def. not 'britpop', more akin to the last Ben Watt album if anything. Butler did a great job; he did this as a favor to our friend in London (they are neighbors) who manages Mark right now. This is probably the 'poppiest' arrangement, the rest of the album is more in the lines of the last solo Eitzel job. Butler did play almost everything but the drums on this though (and acoustic which was played by Mark).

AMC: don't hold your breath. I've been working with management on possibly doing reissues of the first four albums (fingers crossed this still happens). The dream would be to do a few shows with Danny and Vudi if/when that happens but who knows. AMC albums don't exactly make any money, and Mark feels like he needs to pay people (and people want to get paid) at this point. Vudi is a bus driver in LA at the moment.

Would be cool if you could get the tour-only albums re-released too (Atwater Afternoon/Everclear Rehearsals/Mercury Demos) since the only people making money on those are resellers and not the band.

I like the new album, too.

I like the single a lot, it reminds me of 60 Watt

Surprised how few monthly listeners on Spotify Eitzel has: ~2k, and AMC ~4K

AMC hasn't enjoyed the popular legacy of many of their inferior peers, mostly (I think) because many of their albums are not easy/cheap to find. Hoping that will be rectified as mentioned upthread.

The offering of AMC on Spotify could be better, too (the 1985-95 greatest hits, California, United Kingdom for starters) but I'm sure that's a licensing nightmare.

(but they got Songs of Love from Demon, so maybe there's hope...)

re: first four album streaming. we are working on it.

everclear/alias: alias are a fucking pain in the ass, they've never paid the band or given any accounting.

dont' know why the WB/Rhino licensed later albums aren't up there

tour albums/streaming: working on talking mark into putting these all on bandcamp at this point.

There was a great live recordin from the Mercury tour tgat came packaged with as part of a promo version of one of the single or eps. I wish I could track this down.

Brilliant. I have some of that stuff would like to have the rest of at least the AMC stuff.

Bernard Butler also worked with Bert Jansch shortly before he died. The one time i got to see Jansch was in duet with butler in one of teh Galway Art Festivals a few years ago. I never made it to Whelan's when he used to play there which I should have done.

moodles i can pass that to you if you want mp3s of it (the slim's live promo)

trying to track down the person who recorded the entire show

That would be great, I didn't realize that was the same one.

everclear/alias: alias are a fucking pain in the ass, they've never paid the band or given any accounting.

they tried to sign me waaaaay back when and when I said "I don't think so, thanks" were really insulting about how I really only considered my work a hobby

I don't know anybody who ever had a good experience with them

recall hearing that when merge re-released the archers of loaf records they had to use new artwork because alias had 'lost' the originals

the fact that alias still claim, I think, to own everclear is also bizarre. granted who knows what the original contract says; we have someone trying to track it down now and see. but owning the licensing for a recorded work in perpetuity seems....a little weird. and if they own it, you'd think they'd stick it up where people can fucking hear it, or do some reissues so people can buy it, considering, you know, it's the greatest american indie rock record of all time

amen

I enjoy the demos for Everclear and Mercury. And the 2004 live album is great as well. Amazing band

are these actual releases? where did you hear them?

Couldn't Merge do something with Everclear like the Archers releases? Although that album was a one off...

are these actual releases? where did you hear them?

― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Saturday, 29 October 2016 18:42

I bought them from the AMC website. I don't know if they're still available. The demo CDs came in slim cases, which suggests they aren't a proper release. The live album is called "A Toast To You".

https://www.discogs.com/American-Music-Club-The-Everclear-Rehearsals-Late-1990/release/3206820

the everclear rehearsals are a revelation, especially if you find the production on it a bit overboard.

the rehearsal cds were self-releases by the band/mark, limited edition. I don't even have both of them myself (legitimately); you can probably find them online somewhere like I did. These are also things we'll hopefully get on bandcamp in the coming year(s)

this all sounds very intriguing

New album from Mark Eitzel now available for pre-order. My snippy comments about vinyl editions notwithstanding, I'm very happy to see this coming to light.

it's a great album. disappointed that the vinyl edition cuts one of the best tracks though.

I asked him if he might tour Canada at all and this was his response https://twitter.com/MarkEitzel/status/812193555099762688

I domt have twitter so im assuming he said Maple Dawn?

The '1984-1995' compilation is really great, I prefer some of the demos on itto the final versions.

ok "An Answer" is totally bloody gorgeous

nice to see Eitzel get a warm Pfork review. I guess it would have killed 'em to put him above the fold since there's a new Cloud Nothings record (zzzz)

nice review, weird that it doesn't mention the Butler involvement tho

that and the need to shoehorn in Nick Cave references

anyway the album is out now and it's v good. some of the more "epic" flourishes will take some getting used to, but all in all I'm surprised how good a foil BB is. (certainly more colorful results than when he was working with REM alum etc. in the 90s). "Mr. Humphries" is an obvious standout. not sure if this matches Don't be a Stranger for impact just yet.

xxp re. the Butler connection, absolutely. This is sounding far more Fever Dream than Skeleton Tree

this album rocks

great piece by carl about it http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2017/01/on_hey_mr_ferryman_mark_eitzel_proves_he_is_leonard_cohen_s_heir.html

lol at Butler's quote

good piece, and I'm glad the primer he put together is so generous

yeah, it was nice. I hope Eitzel and AMC attract more interest.

I went to the biggest indie record store in TO on release day and they didn't even get a copy in :/

J0hn's take on The Golden Age is the only wholly positive one I've read, but it caused me to revisit the record earlier this year. It is perhaps cliche or at least expected to arrange the word "devastating" near an American Music Club album. The Golden Age is a different sort though--imagine Love Songs for Patriots without its political eruptions, giving way entirely to songs like "Myopic Books" and "Another Morning." Even this is wrong--those songs were captured light in an otherwise dark and wrecked ship. There is no light in The Golden Age, just a dull, ornate grey. In that way it reminds me most of the slow, contemplative songs on Everclear but less drunk, more acknowledging depression as the necessary color of life.

― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Thursday, June 24, 2010 7:15 PM (six years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao @ me six years ago b/w periodic reminder that the golden age is a masterpiece

definitely among the very best 2000s albums you can routinely find in clearance bins (again, :/)

I do v much like the new record (and suspect more listens will be kind to it) but I wish Don't be a Stranger had gotten more ears, I think it's his strongest collection back to front since Everclear.

Found the United Kingdom / California twofer CD at the weekend for 50p, good to be reunited with them again

i like the diversity of opinions on the entire catalog. for my money, California through Mercury are masterpieces, 60 Watt too. I really wish Golden Age didn't have the AMC name on it as it's just not an AMC album (merge insisted; Mark and Vudi wanted a different name), good as it is.

saw mark the other night in SF and will again tomorrow at a private show. I hope people make it out to his upcoming shows.

Looking forward to the Jersey City show, myself

Hope I'll see him. I haven't heard any Eitzel since Klamath.

I wish Don't be a Stranger had gotten more ears, I think it's his strongest collection back to front since Everclear.

don't be a stranger is incredible, "why are you with me" is one of his funniest songs

I'm missing about 10 Eitzel/AMC albums, I should just buy them all soon and have an Eitzelicious time. Probably won't be able to find them all at a good price.

an Eitzelicious time

idiom, meaning "a depressive episode in close proximity to a body of water"

honestly as much as I love him I do find the 90s solo albums really patchy, he only gets consistently great again starting with The Invisible Man.

There's a few things I'm not sure about how high a priority or how available they are.

AMC - Atwater Afternoon
AMC's singles, EPs and compilations

Lover's Leap USA
Words and Music
Brannan Street
Glory
The Konk Sessions

Those are all demo recordings iirc? You might be able to order some directly from the Eitzel site but I can't vouch for them myself

I think Brannan Street was a proper album and a lot of fans were saying it was better than Klamath.

it's a proper album of leftovers iirc

I...obviously need to hear that one, then cause Klamath has some amazing high points

honestly as much as I love him I do find the 90s solo albums really patchy, he only gets consistently great again starting with The Invisible Man.

hmm, I love "If You Have to Ask" and "then It Really Happens" but I've always found that one a bit monotonous. happy to give 'er another try though

Not one of my favourite albums but "Helium" is brilliant

I find it amazing that as recently as 2008, Pitchfork could refer to AMC by their acronym in an Eitzel review blurb and there was a reasonable expectation that readers would know what that referred to.

brannon st is not a proper album. it's kind of a demos companion to klamath. it is not better than klamath.

AMC - Atwater Afternoon: demos to go along with golden age. never listen to this.

AMC's singles, EPs and compilations: if you want mp3s of all of this let me know

Lover's Leap USA: mark's second 'solo self release' (after Mean Mark Eitzel gets Fat which was a cassette in the 80's), this has a few extraordinary things on it and as a venture at home recording and weird electronics stuff, it worth finding. you can't find an original though you should be able to find mp3s easily.

Words and Music: this is just him and Peter Buck talking

Glory: kind of a demos follow up to Don't Be a STranger, has a song or two that are on the new album, worth giving a listen to

The Konk Sessions: these are tracks recorded with the band that backs him in the UK. good.

'if you have to ask' and 'live or die' are the best songs on West, partly because Buck didn't cowrite them

Mark's solo 'real' release catalog, ranked IMO:

1) 60 Watt Silver Lining. An incredible album, and an amazing follow up to AMC's San Francisco.

2) Caught in a Trap... backed by James McNew and Steve Shelley, Mark's "matador lo fi indie rock album", has some of his most gut wrenchingly depressing songs

3) Hey Mr Ferryman. I love this

4) Don't be a stranger. I also love this

5) invisible man. I love all the songs on this, I wish Mark had had a real producer for it.

6) Candy Ass. A failed experiment that none the less has two brilliant songs on it

7) Music for courage and confidence. I forgot about this. He played a lot of these live for a while and they were a good time.

8) Ugly American: This is a really interesting take on AMC songs. Probably deserves to be higher, I just don't listen to it much

oh I forgot about West. I guess I'd put that after invisible man.

The best thing to search out is "superhit international' which is an album he recorded (quickly) as a demo for a label and was rejected everywhere, but is nonetheless better than everything but the top 4 on this list.

Ugly American is gorgeous imo

I would love to hear that singles/ep comp

Oddly there is two totally different versions of Superhits International.

there is the actual superhits international and there is something else that ryko publishing put together which is just a compilation and they used that name for some weird reason

(superhits international was the name he gave that band at the time)

where's the compassion
to make your tired heart sing?
because i'm tired of being a spokesman
for every tired thing

"Blue and Grey Shirt" is indeed one of the most beautiful songs ever written. but then I would have a hard time making a top 10 most beautiful eitzel tracks.

The new Eitzel album produced by Bernard Butler is becoming one of my favs of the year

"I spent the last 10 years
Trying to kill half an hour"

Is sort of haunting in the smartphone era

I just saw his Glasgow gig, it was good. Bought Hey Mr Ferryman and Don't Be A Stranger there but I wish I brought more money for the other 3 discs of live stuff and demos.

Anyone else been to his recent gigs?

Going to the one in Jersey City pretty soon... looking forward to it!

Eitzel kept saying he was going to finish early because his voice was nearly done but he kept going with more and more songs than he promised and he sounded good to me.

I don't like dissing venues, it sounded fine and I'm not someone who needs to see everything onstage but when the majority of the audience can't even see the band... It's a little weak for my taste.

in touch with many friends and mark's manager in the UK who attended the whole tour, sounds like it was thrillingly successful this time; been a while since he had a very successful tour. He also played the biggest show he's played in London a few weeks ago (at bush hall). Butler was kidnapped for most of the tour as well; what I heard of it he really added a lot to the texture the way Vudi used to.

the album is wonderful of course

Robert, I was at the Glasgow gig too. I thought the venue was awful - ceiling about 7 foot high, impossible to see the band, and the sound was just OK. But Eitzel was in good form - so well worth it.

I was unexpectedly in London last Tuesday but too late to get a ticket for Bush Hall and I was stricken with man flu at the weekend or would have attended the Hebden Bridge gig - sounds like I missed out! Ferryman is the best thing he's done in years.

Really? I bought it and Don't Be A Stranger on the same day and whilst I like Ferryman, I find it to be a patchy affair whereas I love DBAS throughout.

That said, Eitzel has always made albums that sneak up on you, so I may well change my mind in the future!

"Laughingstock" knocks me out every time I hear it. In a good way!

in touch with many friends and mark's manager in the UK who attended the whole tour, sounds like it was thrillingly successful this time; been a while since he had a very successful tour. He also played the biggest show he's played in London a few weeks ago (at bush hall). Butler was kidnapped for most of the tour as well; what I heard of it he really added a lot to the texture the way Vudi used to.

― akm, Wednesday, March 15, 2017 11:05 AM (one month ago)

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. no Butler and no full band (just Mark and a keyboardist) but the performance was as amazing and spookily intense as I'd hoped it would be. Mark seemed weirdly passive-aggressive about performing, though, apologizing for his (witty, well-received) between-song banter, saying the show was almost over 30 minutes into the set, and claiming he didn't want to do an encore because he was disappointed that the assigned seats in the front row were empty (he relented when some people stepped up to sit in them). I'm sure a lot of of this was tongue-in-cheek sad clown theatrics, but I wonder how much he actually enjoys performing these days.

Howe Gelb was the other headliner at the show (which seems to be the case for many of their other US dates), and to be honest his idgaf cowboy jazzman shtick did absolutely nothing for me. maybe you have to be a longtime Giant Sand fan to appreciate his recent direction...

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.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/714549398915694595/c-BRMJ8l.jpg
http://www.cuttingedge.be/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_medium/public/Howe-Gelb-credit-Daniel-Diaz-still1.jpg

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.

For me it's Mercury>California>Everclear>Engine>LSFP.

That's the most love I can score for a reunion album, the rest are unranked, as is SF. (Though 60 Watt would probably go ahead of California).

Mercury, Everclear and United Kingdom are my top3

Hey Mr Ferryman.

My favorites are "An Answer", "Mr Humphries" (which I think is similar to "Johnny Mathis' Feet") and "An Angel's Wing Brushed The Penny Slots".

"Nothing And Everything" is one of the bleakest things I've ever heard by anyone.

It's a great album.

Tis the season.

Yeah that album rules

I enjoyed Songs Of Love. That version of "Western Sky" is amazing. "Crabwalk" works surprisingly well without a band, still amuses me when he goes "ooh-oohhhh"

I have that one on LP. the number of times he apologizes never fails to crack me up.

Forgot to mention "Nothing Can Bring me Down" (an early version of "What Godzilla Said...") is quite special too, I cant quite describe the difference, perhaps a little more mysterious?

Mark is playing a living room show in Detroit in mid-April for 25 ppl btw. I really wish I could go

https://undertowshows.com/collections/mark-eitzel/products/detroit-mi-april-17

His solo performances are very emotionally intense

I'm still bummed about him saying he won't tour canada due to (perceived?) lack of demand :( :( :(

I've never been to an AMC or Eitzel show that was particularly well-attended.

He'll play in Canada if he's invited, the issue lies with local promoters. xp

all london shows have been small but packed. and yes, always intense. which is good!

His current live shows are pretty amazing, he really throws himself into his songs with an emotional intensity that I didn't detect when I used to see him with AMC back in the day.

I am going to see a living room Eitzel show next week and goddamn I am excited...been listening to AMC and his last solo album a lot, I kinda forgot how big of a thing they were for me at a certain point in time

this really holds up well

extremely jealous. I actually pondered making a road trip to one of those gigs but I just couldn't make it work w my schedule+budget.

I've got two coming up in the bay area; maybe a third as well. feeling spoiled again as I used to when he still lived here and actually played out.

Any news on those AMC reissues, akm?

Where is Eitzel based these days?

Went last night, so amazing

Was sitting about 10 feet from him

Opened with Western Sky, did pretty much everything I wanted to hear

Mark lives in LA with his soon-to-be husband.

I'll follow up on the reissues. I know they got all the tapes transferred.

extremely jealous, ums

He plays Seattle tonight at Boeing's Museum of Flight. Cool switch for a 'living room' tour. Bummed that I'm elsewhere, as the location doesn't get much more convenient for me.

without going into too much detail on the reissues, I can say: tapes have all been transfered but there are further bumps with contracts and ownership and some disagreements and lawyers giving poor advice.

This is probably what will happen:

https://futureofmusic.org/article/fact-sheet/right-terminate-musicians%E2%80%99-guide-copyright-reversion

So the re-releases will be 35 years after the first release? Or am I being stupid? California in 2023?

Would fully welcome this if the band finally seems some reward for their work.

THast's what I was hoping not to be true from what was being said. Hoping things would be coming a bit faster, BUt at least that would be a finite time.
JUst hope to get it in decent sound on a medium I can play. & not 4 years from now.

Or taht is to say, the heavy delay.

I've all the early releases on both LP and CD. I'm also not unhappy about how they sound. So I can wait. But I'm still excited by the prospect of reissues. Such an important band to me.

the albums will either come out 35 years after their first release or Mark will bit the bullet and just put them out and then deal with whatever blowback occurs.

"if the band finally seems some reward for their work"

"the band" at this point is just Mallon's estate, Danny, and Vudi. Mark is giving up his share of whatever these make from sales the them. But there are still some feelings somewhere that this isn't good enough and some thought that these albums are worth more than we know they are on the marketplace. Anyone who has released an album on this board knows the reality of the marketplace is that there is shit little money in physical releases now and streaming revenue doesn't bring in very much either. Mark will always own any royalties for the actual licensing of the songs should that ever happen (which he says it never will; in his words, "when I die it's not going to be Pink Moon in a VW commercial, it just isn't") because he was the songwriter. So in a rational world this is easily solved but there are some irrational feelings at play. My recommendation has always been to self-release this and don't take it to a label because what good is a label at this point for something like this? We can put some money toward PR when they come out to help sales. But a label is just going to siphon off money frankly.

Well shit, I guess I have to give up on my dream of hearing "Patriot's Heart" used as the theme song for my favorite NFL team.

revision on all of this though: I think things are moving along better than how Mark portrayed it to me the other night. So fingers crossed this stuff will be happening soon(ish)

Chanel No 5, hello?

Headed to the UK in a week to do another recording with @Bernard_Butler Looking forward to it!

— Sir Arthur Palgrove (@MarkEitzel) June 6, 2019

hell yeah

Nice piece, don't think it's been posted here before:

https://www.toppermost.co.uk/american-music-club/

Fantastic!

any word on whether we should expect a new Eitzel/Butler joint this year?

an album has been recorded, I'm not sure if Butler worked on it or not. if anyone follows Mark on social media you'll know that he loudly proclaimed his album terrible and stated he was quitting music then deleted all his social media accounts. I think he's calmed down about it now.

I saw a bit of that, yeah. I hope he's alright.

he's playing SF next week but I'm already busy so I can't check in on how that goes. He played LA the other week but didn't get any reports on it. FWIW his complaint about the album was solely around the mix of two songs.

Ditto. Someone should give him Kozelek's latest albums for perspective on terrible.

Re: LA, think someone gave a short review on the Facebook Firefly page.

I hope the next one gets him some new fans. He's way overdue a proper rediscovery, and despite v good reviews, Ferryman didn't appear to do the trick.

...yeah, Eitzel/AMC have 4k/8k monthly listeners on Spotify. I know some of the albums are missing but that's still tragic.

But most of the good albums only recently added? Maybe word hasn't gotten around?

well hopefully the reissue campaign will bring some more attention. that said obviously the market for this type of music is what it is.

xp

those are only availble in the EU and UK, not the US for whatever reason I haven't pressed anyone on.

Any news on the mooted AMC reissues?

xp lol

lucky us in the UK and EU then

So the versions of the first four albums that are currently on Spotify in the EU, have they been remastered?

no, they're the old versions. Remasters are still being finalized.

there is some chance there may be a (probably one off) reunion show in SF in the coming months. Can't say much more because I don't know much more.

The bankers, the liars and the thieves
They want to sell you into a life of fear
They call it a plan that will make you free
But nothing's free
You taught me that, my dear

I notice date of previous info and wonder if anything changed since then. Since pandemic probably hadn't quite hit by then.

The first time I saw Eitzel live, The Invisible Man had come out the year priot and he was doing a set of dates opening for Low, who were about to release Trust. I was a prospective student at a college and it was my 18th birthday. Needless to say, my mind was sufficiently blown and I ended up a student at said college the next fall.

Anyway, I still don't think I'll ever get over how much I loved the first few songs on The Invisible Man, and still kind of wish he'd done more weird folktronica stuff...if he has, I've missed it.

iirc there's some of that on the demo-y releases he did between the more widely released albums, eg Candy Ass, but I don't think there's much of it on his fully produced output. I love those songs a lot too. The Invisible Man should have been a bigger deal.

Hmmm, will check it out. Thanks for the tip!

things are moving very slowly, right now the work is around collecting and vetting outtakes and live material for bonus tracks.

I personally think all of that stuff should just go on bandcamp (like, ALL of it) and the albums should just be reissued as originally released, but I don't have much influence there.

I would spend more money than I care to admit on a proper release of the 4-Track Demos of Shame

the last time I checked the original tape(s) were nowhere to be found. funnily I was listening to this last night myself and thought the same thing (it's likely whatever mp3s anyone has of that are from the same source that I got mine, and they sound like 3rd of 4th generation)

I'm listening to Copenhagen 2009 for the first time - definitely a worthy listen for the converted, spare (piano + voice) but confident versions of a bunch of his best songs, with a lot of pretty funny and lewd banter. Franz Nicolay, bless him, turns up on accordion. (Not too many people have played with both Eitzel and Leftover Crack.)

Mainly once again just thinking, as I often do when I listen to his stuff, about how criminally underheard these amazing songs are.

Had a really countryish track pop up on my walkman yesterday that I couldn't quite place. had True West running through my head but turned out to be AMC from the 1984-94 compi so I assume it must have been around teh time of Restless Stranger. Mark didn't even sound much like himself.

which song was it?

I can't remember. THought I'd recognise Mark's voice after knowing it for so long. Know it was from that compilation buut can't think song.

Gonna guess the country-hick version of "Art of Love" from Engine, based on nothing in particular.

wonder, has been a while since i had a copy of taht lp on cd which I need to remedy.
Looking back at what was on Restless Stranger it seems less different than I thought it was even hasa couple of tracks i thought were on Engine

Could it be "Crabwalk"?

I was thinking Crabwalk

god I wish United Kingdom, California and Engine were on Spotify. (I never got into Restless Stranger tbh)

I watched the version of Mission Rock in Copenhagen 09. the studio Version is so much better

UK, california, and engine are on Spotify everywhere but the US I think, now.

and poor Canada :(

hmmmm

https://www.musicdirect.com/vinyl/Mark-Eitzel-The-Ugly-American-%28Colored-Vinyl-LP%29

ah I see it was reissued in the UK in sept of last year. huh!

Listening to the new-to-me 2001 tribute album makes it clear that AMC are a very, very tough band to cover well. Calexico are a great fit for "Chanel #5", though:

https://casadecalexico.bandcamp.com/track/chanel-no-5

Portastic doing "firefly" otoh is shite as you can imagine

OTM, an utter disaster

Everything but the Girl used to play a decent cover of 'Firefly' live although I don't think they ever committed it to tape. 'Come on Beautiful' is a bizarre compilation e.g. Lambchop's version of 'Why won't you stay' delivered as a spoken word piece.

update for anyone caring: there will likely be some solo eitzel releases (the limited tour ones) available on bandcamp before too long, as well as some live AMC stuff. Trying to get some stuff out to people before the reissues are finalized (plan is to simply reissue the albums by themselves; cds might have a bonus cd of extra tracks or they might be on bandcamp, hasn't been decided yet)

I always appreciate these lil updates!

I recall Eitzel saying he loved The Divine Comedy's cover of "Johnny Mathis' Feet"

oh man how had I never heard this? faithful but very rousing.

Great update! Happy that Bandcamp is continuing their first Fridays fee-waving. Hope this happens before that goes away, for a little increase to the band.

Re: The Divine Comedy, The Whitlams do a fun cover of "Your Daddy's Car", which now has me thinking of a covers mix of Band covered by Band B covered by Band C ...

grabbed the Before Love Songs demos on friday, looking forward to giving that a play soon but thought I'd listen through the older solo albums first. 60 Watt Silver Lining still stands up for me as one of his very best. very tied into a specific difficult time of my life so i'd not listened to it for a number of years, but wow... Sacred Heart / Always Turn Away / Saved / Cleopatra Jones is an amazing run to start it, plus Mission Rock is as heavy and intense as Nightwatchmen or any of the early AMC classics

Before Love Songs demos is great! he's added three more to the bandcamp today including an unreleased AMC live set

These were recorded with Jay Bennett of Wilco.(!)

The first four AMC albums on are bandcamp today.

nice!!

Also some good live recordings

gah, they were on Spotify as well for a while but now seem to have disappeared from there.

Can anyone tell me how early Mark started as solo performer? Thinking of Songs Of Love and I'm guessing some circumstances preventing too many band members from touring?

around 1989, AMC was basically on a break for a while and/or maybe breaking up. Didn't last too long, then, anyway

Those were on spotify in the EU/UK, not sure why they would be off now, I can check.

I havent listened to the bandcamp versions yet so not sure if they are remastered, I'll ask

I think they have been remastered? It might be my brain/ears tricking me though.

Can confirm AMC are on Spotify in Europe. A different set of albums than on Bandcamp, mind you.

the WB albums (and maybe Everclear) are on spotify. the first four were on spotify in Europe for most of last year. Now, the first four are on bandcamp, and I don't believe the WB albums are. Also: the plan is to actually reissue everything including the WB albums, eventually. My hope is for a vinyl pressing of 60 Watt though.

listened to the first three albums right in a row today..... god

if the golden age weren't my favorite album, don't be a stranger would be

been listening to recent Eitzel and Peter Milton Walsh/The Apartments a lot lately, two guys making the best music of their lives in their 60s or so, you love to see it

The Golden Age is great. AMC's late phase was such a joy. Great gigs too.

The Golden Age is great but it's still not really an AMC album to me. I wish they'd redo the cover at least to not have replacement bassist as the only person on it. Merge, what were you thinking? But the album was engineered and produced extremely well, it just sounds amazing, and I love almost all of those songs.

mercury is a record i've lived with for more than a decade and still keep hearing new things in

Well I've been praying a lot lately
It's because I no longer have a TV
Just a fluorescent hangover to light the way
Between the things you say and the things I see

really in my "mark eitzel is the greatest lyricist of all time" feelings these days

Mitchell Froom gets a lot of flack for all the bells and whistles he dumps on his recordings, but there's a lot of really interesting and original stuff going on with Mercury production-wise.

I saw them live for the first time in support of Mercury. The audience consisted mostly of me and my high school pals, but they still absolutely killed it. Got to have an interesting conversation with Bruce Kaphan about his custom pedal steel effects controller.

Froom's work on that album is my favorite production work by him on anything; I'm biased, I've been obsessive on the band since 1990, know them, seen them 1000000x, etc, yes, but I really do think it's his best work. Bruce was never completely happy with it because a lot of his contributions didn't wind up in the final mix (which was even more true with San Francisco) though he said he did learn a lot in the studio with Blake and Froom.

I'm sure there's a lot of cool stuff that got left off, but what's on there is absolutely top notch. It was a shame that he couldn't stick with them for the 2000s albums.

i have never spent a lot of time with san francisco. "fearless" is the most beautiful song ever written

I think overall the songwriting was a bit weaker, but perhaps it was a victim of that mid/late 90s trend of overlong CDs. The production and performances are absolutely immaculate throughout though.

I'm a big fan as well though it is 'overproduced' much more so than Mercury, IOW with Mercury I feel like the production benefits and never overwhelms the songs, whereas on SF it is sometimes too much. I also quibble with the song selection; I'd have made sure Sleeping Pills was on the CD and not just the vinyl. I like all of the songs on it but How Many Six Packs apparently had a different set of lyrics before it was recorded that were more explicitly gay. But the lead up to the release of this album was a big deal for me personally.

Cape Canaveral will always be one of my absolute favorite songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D_QX_Lo1mE

i had no idea this cover existed and it's fucking perfect!!!!!!!!!

yes I was delighted to find that a couple months back

I can't get into SF besides "fearless" but this section is maybe my favorite part of any Eitzel song, or in the running for it

A stubborn heart can stay broken forever
But someday the tightrope's gonna break
Will I fall into a cool cool river?
Or will I fall into a frozen lake?

otm

honestly there's probably charming stuff on SF I'm missing but "it's your birthday" is just such a dispiriting step down that it throws me off every time

gotta embrace the misanthropy!

Producers had a really tough time figuring them out, huh?

I wonder if they were more willing than other bands to let whatever producer they worked with just run wild. They ended up with a string of records that each sound very distinct, often in quite weird ways.

maybe it's just that Joe Chiccarelli, perfectly solid rock producer, produced it like a rock record, and they were barely a rock band

The "Wish The World Away" bio has some info on the lack of decision-making with the production of the records, seems they let themselves get pushed this way and that by Tom Mallon or whoever came later as no-one could figure out who was in charge of the band. Hence the lack of focus. I hated the production on Mercury when it came out, but like a lot of Mitchell Froom productions it's aged like a fine wine.

I like the rock songs on San Francisco as well as the dirges. It's the overly cheerful love songs that grate on me.

I feel bad saying it, but I prefer Eitzel when he is angry, destructive, or wallowing in self-pity

Every time I think about wanting to get more into AMC, I just end up listening to "Johnny Mathis' Feet" over and over and over until I'm finally ready to listen to something else entirely.

Hey, akm, have you been able to clarify the Bandcamp remaster question?

If they are remasters, surely physical releases imminent...?

think i love "cape canaveral" because it could be on the golden age

It's weird, some albums from late 80s and much of the 90s sound enormous and not even big bands in modern times get that often. Is this a budget thing or just a style/trend of the time?

I think it is a little of both. There was a big back to analog trend that emphasized large rock sounds that had been diminished during the first wave of digital recording in the 80s. These days computer tech sounds a lot better and is more affordable than it was in the 80s, but things do seem to sound much more squeezed and smoothed out. I think the move away from large studios and analog tape/effects has a lot to do with that.

simon, "revolving door" -> "in the shadow of the valley" -> "what holds the world together" is a helluva run on san francisco

Have to say I love the watery, cavernous, reverb heavy sound of Everclear; I can’t imagine the likes of “Miracle on 8th Street” and “The Confidential Agent” without it

i love the sound of everclear too. every detail of "royal café" is perfect

I really miss that sound. Like, even Jane's Addiction debut album sounds like a production for the biggest rock band in the world.

i always feel like i heard everclear first but my actual first amc record was love song for patriots? the library next to my high school had it so i checked it out bc i suspected i would like them long before i ever heard them. of course i was sold immediately by "another morning" even though the other albums remained a little inaccessible to me for a while

san francisco's real failure to me is one of sequencing, not sure how that track order makes any sense. idk, maybe too many clashing styles to begin with

Everclear sounds amazing yeah I wouldn't change a thing about it. "sick of food" and "the dead part of you" are two of the most hollowed-out sounding rock songs ever

I really hope this run of reissues will actually result in more new people hearing these albums

yo "job to do" is a fucking amazing song

I know God is on my side
He’s a prisoner that stares
That stares out of my eyes

"best song on LSFP" is really tough....mine might be "mantovani the mind reader"

"only love can set you free" is like... only this guy can write a song like this

"I've been so lucky!" is such a poignant exclamation in the context of his body of work, and yeah no one else could even get away with that title

think "home" is my favorite on love songs for patriots, though. no wonder i became a blue nile fan

It was kind of shocking how strong this album was after pretty much assuming they were done following San Francisco.

Many xp but it was “Another Morning” that hooked me in...prior to that I’d heard of AMC but never heard them.

"Another Morning" was the hook for me as well. Clearly, Merge should have done more to get that in people's ears.

Yeah I got "Another Morning" on a CD in Uncut magazine, my entry

I've only heard San Francisco, and didn't find the lyrics and music gelled except on "In the Shadow of the Valley". If that album isn't well loved, where should I go next?

Everclear and Mercury are my favorites

Any suggestions for a resequenced San Francisco?

nope

tho i'll listen to the hello amsterdam ep and maybe report back

I haven't ever heard The Restless Stranger or The Golden Age. Of the others I would rank them in this order:

Everclear>Engine>San Francisco>California>LSFP>Mercury>United Kingdom

...but really, they're all amazing! Probably my favourite ever band, Eitzel is definitely my favourite ever lyricist. San Francisco on vinyl is better than on CD although I wish it had Cape Canaveral on it. I have recently really warmed to it. Engine is often overlooked but it is incredible (and was my entry point to AMC).

I only own four Eitzel solo albums, I never got on with 60 Watt Silver Lining, have found Hey Mr Ferryman to be a bit too wrought and heavy but absolutely love Don't Be A Stranger. That one is up there with his very best work, I'd say. The other is Songs of Love which is raw, patchy, full of jarring moments but also has moments of transcendence and beauty and Channel No 5 has probably my favourite Eitzel lyric (although there are a lot of contenders):

'All the sweet mouth really wanted just fell from her grip
The worst hell you can drag your soul through is trying to make all the lies stick'

California was the first AMC album I heard and remains their best

yugi you gotta hear golden age, can't imagine hearing the "all my love" on don't be a stranger without being familiar with the other version lol

@yugi ex you gotta hear The Golden Age!! xp lol

Great seeing all the comments and the new love for the band here. With Mark, learning about lyric origins only adds to my appreciation of the songs: the Kathleen songs, Nightwatchman, Why Won't You Stay, and so on. The Decibels and the Little Pills, for taking a girl dancing on stage topless at one of their European shows, and writing with empathy: "And he pulled off your blouse, went girls gone wild / for a crowd that just didn't want to know / … / oh and the crowd is proud to look away / like they've never been desperate or lonely / ... No one here is going to save you". One of my favorite AMC tracks, though that'd be a VERY hard POX list. Lyrics would be even harder, though #1 would be "I'm as priceless as a brass ring / That's losing the heat from your hand".

I do wish he'd release another with the 60 Watt Silver Lining vibe.

If I were to retool San Francisco, I'd dump Six Packs and add Sleeping Pills, and that's pretty much it; I'd also move Hello Amsterdam to before Cape Canaveral so the whole album ends on a pretty, reverb heavy slide.

I'll ask about remastering today. Im partly avoiding talking to people because I was meant to retrieve and get a digital copy of a rehearsal cassette from Engine from a drummer who only played a few rehearsals and I have not yet done this. Oops.

I have very little concept of any of the inspirations behind any AMC/Eitzel song except for the ones that explicitly name Kathleen and "Blue and Grey Shirt".

You could write a book (or at least a very long essay) comparing/contrasting Koz and Eitzel and their respective relationships to their muses, were you so inclined. xps

I do wonder what makes his/their music consistently a tough sell. I bought Hey Mr Ferryman from a clearance bin - there were multiple sealed copies.

pretty much all of eitzel's muses were Kathleen. Rise was about a friend who had AIDS. Nightwatchman, Blue and Grey Shirt, Hula Maiden, Xmas LIghts Spin are about his mother's death.

Thought I read an interview way back where he described Hula Maiden as being about his father's death, as in the two of them had planned a trip to Hawaii to patch things up between them. The old man passed just prior but Eitzel decided to take the trip anyway?

oh that's right. It was one or the other.

Just checked! It was an old Uncut piece - and the stuff about the dad was described by the interviewer as "legend has it", not words directly from Mark himself. So who knows? In any event, it did allow me to appreciate another level of pathos in that song.

Right. I'm putting on United Kingdom. The second AMC album I heard / owned.

uk is very underrated imo

not sure where it falls in my ranking

not even sure i can put together a ranking lol

basically every song on UK is perfect, it just feels a bit short/slight and the hopping btwn studio and live recordings is a little odd. "here they roll down" one of the coolest openers of any album and "heaven of your hands" is unbelievable

the hopping btwn studio and live recordings is a little odd

my feeling about this is essentially: if it works for neil young,

Engine is still and forever my AMC #1 but it's not like they ever made a bad record (SF being the closest I guess, time to revisit maybe).

"here they roll down" one of the coolest openers of any album

― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, April 15, 2021 6:39 PM

Agree with this a lot. UK is maybe my third favorite after Mercury and Everlclear.

Is there plans for the non-album tracks? I never got any b-sides or EPs.

yes the plan is to get all of those out (plus outtakes and other things) somehow, either as bonus tracks on cd reissues or just on bandcamp. you can hit me up through here if you want a slew of b-sides and stuff and I can send you a .zip file.

Cool, fingers crossed for CDs

The rocking/country hick dual recordings of "Art of Love" on Engine is also very Neil Young.

California is my favorite of theirs, but UK is right up there, and the CD that combines the two should be on everybody's desert island list. "Laughingstock" is the subtlest song that can (and always does) stop me dead in my tracks.

"it's not like they ever made a bad record (SF being the closest I guess)"

as much as it pains me, I'd rate Love Songs for Patriots below SF, mainly because I am not fond of the production on LSFP; it's recorded the way lots of things are recorded, digitally, with songs evolving from demo to finished, and the end result sounds mushy and weird to me, and Tim's drumming is way too mechanical. In other words, it sounds labored over, and it was; but SF was labored over more, but doesn't sound that way. Dunno. I still like it obviously. There is a pre-final mix version that bounces around that has earlier vocal tracks; it's not better, on the whole, but it does have two songs that were cut out of the final running order, Good For YOu and two versions of Team USA, one of which is amazing and the other sucks. It also has 1000 Miles on it, which was only on the vinyl release, which as a song dated back to the Invisible Man days.

oh, and Good for You was one of my favorite songs from those sessions so it's annoying that they didnt 'finish' it for the album. They played it live a few times around then as well; well, at least once.

I hadn't heard their contribution to No Alternative, which is weird and serpentine even by their standards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q3ccndtevc

Weird that I'm In Heaven Now, one of their best songs imo, never even made it onto an album. In fact I only ever knew it in demo form on a Homestead Records compilation.

they recorded that twice, theres a more raw version of it on the Restless Stranger WB release CD from the late 90's (it was not recorded for that album though, that recording is from later). Another song that got multiple recordings and never got released officially was Love Connection NYC

huh i really love mooney's drumming on lsfp

never had a problem with mooney's (co-)production on LSFP...I guess it might sound a bit fussy here and there but it sounds dynamic and spacious to me

i think the sound is really right for the material. of course, it was my first amc record

"I used to think I was bi" might be the only outright laugh line in the Eitzel discography

This thread is making my day. Really great to see this amount of discussion.

Re. San Francisco, I've always felt the flow to be weakened by a hetereogenous mix of songs. Even just the opening of Fearless > Birthday seems jarring. I'm really not that taken by the more upbeat tracks. I picked up the vinyl when it was first released and I recall feeling quite underwhelmed, esp after the awesome Mercury. A friend taped me the tracks that weren't included on the vinyl, which prompted me to trade it for the CD version. When I saw Mark play live on the 60 Watt tour, I actually questioned him about the SF track selection for the vinyl release and he just shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the choice. (I probably sounded like a dick but I'll blame that on my youth.)

For my alternate track listing, I've settled on Fearless > Sleeping Pills > Love Doesn't Belong > Cape Canaveral > The Revolving Door > Shadow of the Valley > What Holds The World Together > Broke My Promise > I'll Be Gone > Fearless (Reprise) > California Dreamin'. The result is more concise and consistent although the vibe might be a bit too downbeat for some.

What's the latest on Mark's new solo album? He scrapped it after recording and that's it gone?

First time I saw Eitzel solo a few people were laughing out loud at some lyrics. "My Pet Rat St. Michael" in particular, one of my favorite songs.

I've seen him a few times live and mostly he's been in great spirits and hilarious between songs. But one time he struggled through the first couple of songs against some loudly chatting parts of the audience and just turned completely stony faced and pissed off. Which is a fair reaction, but made for a different gig experience. I did my best to hush these people, but that rarely works.

i love how puckish eutzel often is on live recordings I've heard

Songs of Love Live is perhaps a bit patchy, as referenced above. But it's also one of my favourite live albums ever. An amazing performance on a guitar borrowed from Sean O'Hagan, IIRC. I remember reading the Melody Maker review which is printed on the sleeve. It's worth noting how much love the UK "indie" press gave to AMC and Eitzel. I remember the rave reviews. AMC attracted their biggest crowds in British cities. But just fell short of mainstream success.

"What's the latest on Mark's new solo album? He scrapped it after recording and that's it gone?"

as I understand it he had one mostly recorded but didn't like it and started over. from what I was told by someone who heard it this was the right decision.

live: Ive seen Mark a trillion times and it can be great, transcendent, a shit show, a titanic disaster, or the best thing ever. You never know. Sometimes it starts one way and then heads in another direction.

so would you call him......mercurial

Shoutout over here to Dan Pearson, Vudi and Bruce Kaphan for their often superb contributions.

yes they are the best. I do think LSFP would have been better if Bruce had been involved. NOt sure that Golden Age would have happened with Danny though (that album was written as a solo thing, mostly, then it was planned to be a different band; the name MacArthur Park Music Club was being used but Merge said wtf).

I just found a RYM list Tom Mallon made of all the records he worked on: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/tkmallon/tom_mallon_recording__1978_present_/

That's a hell of a list. Is the Toiling Midgets' album 'Son' unique in that it was issued with different cover artwork for the Matador and Hut versions and both are bloody awful?

Haha. I own that Midgets album, cos Eitzel. It is pretty poor

I love that album!

Bit about Jodie Foster is so odd to hear somehow

I assumed that the song was from the perspective of John Hinkley Jr, hence the Jodie Foster reference and "if my aim had been straighter".

sounds like it.
I thought it was great. Sounds like the mental machinations of an obsessive.
I liked the lp Have meant to pick up other things by them since and not chanced on them when i had the spare cash.
Did pick up a Sleepers compilation since Ricky who had been in Crime was also a singer with them for a while I think.

If you're looking for Toiling Midgets spin offs, I recommend the self titled album by Wade from 1993(?). It's an amazing album featuring members of Toiling Midgets and Red House Painters. I'm not sure if they recorded anything else?

Aforementioned Wade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfXzgi2u0vk

wow, nice to see someone else push that album. I really liked Wade, and saw them a handful of times. I'd long since lost the CD, but was happy to run across the LP a couple of years ago at Amoeba. Tom Mallon recorded this as well (Anthony, who was the drummer in RHP, was the drummer here). Karl Joe Goldring was associated with the Midgets and played with them from time to time, as well as lots of other bands later, probably most notably the Enablers; he and Eve were married, I believe. Eev is still around SF and plays in a band with Tom's widow who I still have not gone and seen (Macerator). No idea what happened to Mary Redfield.

Announcement on the AMC facebook page saying that "most everything on the AMC pages will be taken down in a few months." Why would they deliberately make stuff unavailable after it's been remastered and all?

^ sorry, I should have made clear... I mean they will be taken down from the AMC Bandcamp

Yes. Baffling.

...hopefully a prelude to some sort of other good news? maybe?

I'd assume that a new contract/agreement will come into play, and it may be for physical reissues only.

but that's guesswork on my part

Bandcamp Friday incentive

fuck if I know, i can ask about that. reissues are coming and there will be more stuff, but I still don't know what, exactly. anyway, there are a few things going up tomorrow, I recommend people grab what they can while they can.

Anyway, some new stuff is now up on both the AMC and Eitzel bandcamps.

People who know me, which AMC album should I start with

I don't know you, but I would say start with Everclear, then California.

(although Everclear is not currently available on bandcamp, unfortunately)

I'd recommend Everclear as the starting point to anyone. Not on bandcamp, no, but might be on streaming services; if not, it's def on youtube. Everclear is, AFAIK, the only one of the albums that is problematic because Alias (the label that released it) apparently still exists, somehow, and asserts ownership of it, but has never paid anyone in the band a dime.

... tim.... start with the golden age

no one here is steering you wrong by recommending everclear first tho

at this point it might be the best overall starting point...the early records can be a bit forbidding at times to a newcomer

Also Eitzel's Songs of Love Live is essential imho

The Golden Age is good but it doesn't really sound like AMC because Danny wasn't involved, the drummer plays things very differently than anyone else AMC ever had on drums, and Vudi's contributions are only minimally audible. But it is a good album.

Huh, you guys are crazy.
For Tim F its Mercury , or more probably the UK/California twofer

mercury would also be a good intro

how about any record except sf and restless stranger

Engine was my intro to AMC back in the day, and I will admit that it took a few spins but once I was in there was no getting out.

Big Night (the first song on that one) is one of my favorite AMC songs overall

Which is a maybe a weird favorite but I love the atmosphere

Yeah, the atmosphere on most of that album was initially impenetrable but once I got it, like esp. on Night Watchman, I was hooked.

Engine was my starting point, hated it for about 10 plays and then realised its brilliance. Still one of my favourites (they all are to be honest, I even think San Francisco is a work of genius).

Engine seems to be the forgotten AMC album. To the extent you read about this band, it's about how great California and Everclear are, how forgettable Restless Stranger is, how enigmatic United Kingdom is, how overblown Mercury and San Francisco are, but nothing about Engine.

I first encountered AMC with "I'm in Heaven Now' on the Homestead Human Music compilation (1988). In fact I discovered so many of my all time favourite bands through that one album.

Engine is phenomenal, it's probably my #2 after California.

Engine got them enough attention in the UK music press to pave the way for the accolades that were showered onto California when it came out. At least that's the way I recall it.

Just relistened to The Golden Age. It's great. It's maybe a bit too long. 2 or 3 of its 13 songs could maybe be cut.

i know
i know

that's not really you

that recent vinyl reissue of The Ugly American is really really great. that is all.

I hope to nab that at some point.

Re-listening to Engine. I still don't quite get it. I've been listening to AMC since buying United Kingdom in 1989. For me the "canon" begins with California. But I'm probably influenced by the UK press at the time,

It was Allan Jones waxing lyrical about Engine in Melody Maker that first turned me onto AMC.

I recall he described it as a masterpiece.

there's a bit about the UK reception for Engine in Sean Body's AMC book:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4jgb3PDUuPkC&pg=PA56&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

Big night, Nightwatchmen, This year are all unfuckwithable.
other than that Outside this bar, and ...maybe... Gary's song are fine but maybe rely too heavily on the solipsism of alcoholism (I used to love both).

alcoholism and solipsism that is.

For me At My Mercy is one of the great early AMC songs, and Asleep/This Year is a fantastic way to close the album.

Actually fuck yeh the first side

https://twitter.com/AMCofficialCLUB?s=09

Now on Twitter

AMC hail from San Francisco and were one of the greatest bands in the world.

no lies detected

We are here pic.twitter.com/o3CFlnHGEk

— American Music Club (@AMCofficialCLUB) May 27, 2021

Reissue announcement imminent?

some of the bandcamp listings - Restless Stranger/Engine/UK/California now renamed as 'digi only release before 2022 physical remasters'

Someone from Decor Records (who I assume are doing the reissues) just tweeted out a request for old (pre-1994) AMC concert photos, posters etc. Hope this means there'll be some nice illustrated booklets with them. I sent them a couple of old ticket stubs, be still my beating heart.

wonder if i have anything. I think I had a habit of picking up posters from gigs I went to in my hitching years. So now have to wonder where they might be, if i could have actually brought them over with me.
& if i have a ticket from The Tivoli in Dublin or if my chance meeting of them outside the Virgin on the Quays meant I never got one

I'm hearing that Mark had a heart attack, but is ok right now.

yeah from his facebook:

Hey everybody, Mark had a heart attack yesterday but is resting now and doing ok. He is hoping to be back home soon. Sending good health to him now in bed.

oh jeez, I hate this

That would be his second, right? He had one in 2011, IIRC. Glad to hear he's doing ok.

protect mark eitzel at all costs

yes this is his second, it was apparently worse than the first one which is troubling though he was up telling everyone about it on instagram when it happened.

When she first saw him
In her blood she knew her role
He'd be king of the castle
She'd be the riches he stole

Some only wander through
The empty rooms of their soul
They need the ashes of others
To make them whole

anyone with a big living room in those locations?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02SEWmBNBbsVqeTe7LHiN2qjR6EM6Qw6MGTiKxr3n5fuRNz1ANmT1Kw198V4Cma3wHl&id=100063608964832

“Cleopatra Jones is an exile with a lot of class”