Jellyfish C/D? S/D

A lot of great related records - Umajets, Falkner solo, Moog Cookbook, Imperial Drag also worth checking out and of course Roger Manning has played keys for everyone (incl. Johhny Cash and the last Morrissey record). It's just a shame that Sturmer has been writing for others - Puffy, Brady Seals etc rather than doing something himself. Apparently he's just not interested in it.

I'm starting to think that the title Spilt Milk refers to the accident that produced the New Mistake and the rest of the album consists on the implications of it on everyone in its sphere, including the child herself.

But the album, while nearly classic, is nowhere near the gorgeosity of the Bellybutton album, and I give all the love in the world to "Baby's Comin' Back," which is in my someday-wedding mix.

I can't remember what they said about it in the box liners, but I would imagine that Nilsson's endorsement meant a lot to them.

And Edd, for me the Queen thing is part of their appeal. And you see: I HATE QUEEN.

Better that than "I Wanna Stay Home", that's for sure...

Also, Falkner and Manning's TV Eyes synthpop band is really fun. Great songs, terrific arrangements -- alas, no record deal that I know of...

I think Jody Beth might like this'n...

Some of the TV Eyes stuff is really good and by all accounts the couple of live shows they did were really cool with synced projections behind them whilst they were playing. I just think they might have missed the boat in terms of the songs since they have that kind of 80's electro thing going on that The Killers and so on have picked up on. It would have been perfect timing had they released it when it was first recorded (must be at least 3/4 years ago now). Hopefully someone will pick it up and I know they were remixing the record again so fingers crossed.

Also if you go here
http://www.weedshare.com/artistsites/featuredmusic/rogerjosephmanningjr Roger Manning has a solo album though alas no deal yet for a CD release. He also has a website here htpp://www.rogerjosephmanningjr.com

say more plz

There has been noises about a Mac version of that weed stuff but there's nothing available yet.

The Manning record is good, my fave is What You Don't Know About The Girl. But then I'm a sucker for a one man band pop record.

Holy christ, yes. That song is like some piece of long lost AOR genius. When it comes to this sort of thing—melodic, hyper-arranged, metapop—Manning's really in a class of his own. It's kind of exciting, really.

OUt of pure procrastination, I just read Manning's history of the Moog Cookbook on his website, it's like, such a sweet, positive thing.

I've never heard them tho.

so OTM, well-put, sir!

for some damn reason this thread puts me in mind of Andy Pratt's '70s album "Resolution," which I think I've heard some of, and which is available on vinyl for three bucks at the Great Escape in N-ville. does anyone else remember this as being the kind of AOR pop we seem to be circling 'round here, or was the only good Andy Pratt song that "Avenging Annie" tune that was a sorta FM hit long ago? for that matter, what about Brian Protheroe (sp?), the guy who did "Pinball," was that also in this same vein? Ambrosia, who did "Nice, Nice, Very Nice"? sententious pop?

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy this. Sure, the dudes in Jellyfish know their pop history, but the huge guitar riffs they toss into the middle of super-twee Penny Lane-like tunes is pure Queen. "Joinging a Fan Club" and "Sebrina" have Queen written all over them especially that opening riff on "Joinging a Fan Club." This is beyond obvious.

I'm not saying it's just the voices — I'm saying The Beach Boys were their portal into Queen. The huge guitar riffs thing is just as much "Brontosaurus" as anything else...

...still don't hear that.

The production and structure of those aforementioned Jellyfish tunes are more A Night at the Opera than the Move. Maybe I am way off, but it seems to me like you are a Queen hater in denial of Jellyfish's musical debt to one of the greatest pop bands ever (Queen). You are trying to connect Jellyfish to influences that are more obscure, more hip, and more romantic than Queen (the Move, Nilsson, etc.). But, it primarily goes back to Queen. Jellyfish even lifts that incredible (Rhoades?) organ sound from Queen's "My Best Friend." And ironically enough, Spilt Milk contains a song titled "He's My Best Friend," which is the chorus to Queen's "My Best Friend".

Hell, I will even say Jellyfish are more in debt musically to Supertramp's Breakfast in America LP than the Move and Nilsson.

Ok, this is getting needlessly contentious, but:

1. In the box, Andy Sturmer describes "He's My Best Friend" as "Yet another love letter to Harry Nilsson."

2. On the box, they cover 1 Move song and 1 Nilsson song.

I say this not to point out that the band doesn't mention Queen in the liner notes (though they don't) or to say they don't cover any Queen songs (though they don't), but to point out that I'm not exactly plucking this out of thin air. As for your pointing out the Supertramp influence, you're absolutely 100% correct -- "New Mistake"'s chorus alone is evidence of that.

You're also right about another thing: I hate Queen. I think they're tasteless, garish and not nearly as fun as they imagined themselves. But I give Jellyfish credit for having the courage to recognize their merits. But you only need to hear their debut, Bellybutton, to know they don't "owe their very existence" to any one band.

x-post

In this instance that assumption was my belief that Jellyfish's motivation for adopting the Queen thing on Spilt Milk was via the Beach Boys. Frankly, I have no idea if that's true, since I don't believe they ever discussed it publicly.

But given that any debt to Queen is nigh impossible to detect on their debut, it's hard to argue that they were so much as an influence, to say nothing of a primary influence.

And the way Ira Robbins savages Jellyfish in the Trouser Press book is pretty classic. Even though he was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Also, check out the first two Brendan Benson records, who are very Falkner-esque and in the same vein as Jellyfish (which is logical given Falkner's involvement in the writing and production.)

check out the Falkner fan site for more details on the new album.

It's actually amazing to think of the number of records that the Jelly guys have had their fingers in over the years from Johnny Cash, Morrissey, Alice Cooper, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Puffy, Merrymakers, Brendan Benson, Magnet, Grays, Travis, Umajets, Moog Cookbook, Air, Brady Seals etc etc. Amazing.

You have a totally valid point. I should have limited my opinions to Spilt Milk. Ironically, I was a HUGE Jellyfish fan back in high school. The "King is Half Undressed" video blew my mind, and I listened to both Bellybutton and Spilt Milk (as cassettes) religiously. I even owned several 12"'s. They did a great live version of "Jet".

My criticism is harsh because I recently listened to BellyButton, and I was bummed out. I honestly thought it sounded a little too close to Richard Marx at times. I wish it was just a bit stranger. As for Spilt Milk, which is stranger and much better, I actually never heard A Night at the Opera until years after my Jellyfish phase, and when I finally did hear it, I seriously thought I was listening to the "real" Spilt Milk. (I know you are cringing at that statement!)

But, for what it's worth, I did spend alot of hours during my teens thinking about girls while Bellybutton was on my stereo (and Material Issue!)

Of course they were CLASSIC. VERY VERY VERY CLASSIC!

Search everything apart from their greatest hits compilation. The only reason for destroying the latter is that it contains nothing crucial that isn't already on those two flawless albums.

However, their best work was "Bellybutton", which is more of a Beatles/Beach Boys/Byrds/Badfinger/Crowded House classic powerpop effort, only with somewhat less power and more pop than for instance Big Star.

the 2008 Manning record catnip dynamite is (another) pretty awesome i'd say. shame to ignore him/it.

Listening to said Catnip Dynamite album right now. "Down in Front" is essentially a dual tribute to cheap-and-cheery UK glam *and* Denim's revisiting of same.

I basically ignored them b/c of those stupid hats and their record covers...

The big problem I have with Manning's recent solo albums is that every track seems to have either lack of editing or bad songwriting. It's like he got so excited about coming up with a good hook ("Wish It Would Rain", "Creeple People", "You Were Right") that he couldn't help but stretch the track out into a 5+ minute rhapsody, while the snappiest songs tend to have weak choruses ("The Loser", "What You Don't Know About the Girl"). Then there are the tracks that are in all around bad taste ("Dragonfly", "Til We Meet Again"). But at least most of Solid State Warrior/Land of Pure Imagination is memorable, unlike most of Catnip Dynamite.

Meanwhile Falkner's stuff is unimpeachable. TV Eyes is really fun - pretty mindblowing first listen if you are expecting something in the Jellyfish/power pop vein.

xp, i think their stupid hats contributed to their position as my least favourite band when i was ten years old.

I've never really appreciated Jellyfish for more than their obvious craft but Andy Sturmer's work with Puffy stands as some of the best pop music of our generation.

Classic, imo. Spilt Milk has something ridiculous like a 6 song unfuckablewith run.

I know what you mean about Manning's album - once the shock wears off that it kinda sounds like a lost Bruce Johnston solo record, the songs aren't there. I'll say that What You Don't Know and Wish It Would Rain are the standouts, tho

God, just seeing this thread title has got "Joining a Fan Club" stuck in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB3bbdngYQM

holy crap this album is amazing
i instinctively ignored the hell out of these guys from jump. This is NOT what i expected them to sound like.

The twinkling straussian celeste at the outset was jon lewis bait in excelsis.

The coda on New Mistake is the best thing ever. Perfect song/album.

No love for Glutton of Sympathy? That song is a national treasure.

Of course

There is a book out about Jellyfish now, but apparently it's not really in large retailers. I heard about this when Dean Delray interviewed Roger Joseph Manning Jr. last month, but forgot about it until now.

https://www.facebook.com/Brighter-Day-A-Jellyfish-Story-446175385404875/

https://soundcloud.com/deandelray/292roger-joseph-manning-jrkeyboardistjellyfishairbeck

How in the hell did I manage to avoid Ignorance is Bliss until now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlC6i6DPdnU

White Knuckle Scorin'! This is insane!

Ignorance is Bliss is how I first became aware of Jellyfish, which led me to look into their other stuff.

i never listened to imperial drag until today. it's good, better than i had expected. by the time it hit the salvation army band song, i was surprised at the ground they were willing to cover. don't love the singer's voice much but it feels very of its time, fwiw. it's less how he does it, more that he can't do too much.

ps- imperial drag is meh+ not so very good

but surprisingly to me, tv eyes is fucking fun as hell, how could something like broken bells be successful and this missed in 2003, in 2006, and again whenever it was re-re-released in like 2014. Even with characteristic falkner vox which i find a bit flat feeling, this is great.

https://youtu.be/dTvNjPFjlNE

loved that. too bad it wasnt about the better album.

exxxxxactly. and even on a production basis?? not smart enuf to say really, but from an arrangements pov it must be so. Also was he referring to sam phillips? she’s from usa, but totally from that proto froom, attractions school in _indescribable wow_ which is AWESOME imo.

liked this a lot thx, but i’m not good enuf to get a lot of it.

on that channel theres another 1.5 hours of him talking about other production stuff

New song from The Lickerish Quartet, which is the Jellyfish Spilt Milk lineup:

https://youtu.be/p8tzd6UNA4k

Sorry, Spilt Milk lineup without Andy Sturmer.

this wins motherfucking hard, thanks

that song is fantastic

Nice

Just discovered this band recently and loving them. I feel like there's a treasure trove of early 90s american bands when the labels were signing huge amounts of alternative bands that are still unknown to me. I always think of myself as a 90s kid (it will always seem like the longest decade for me) but I had barely any cultural awareness then. I feel like I know the 70s-80s much better.

Does Andy ever sing much again after Jellyfish? There's a lot of vocals credits for different acts but is there much in the way of lead vocals?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAwZhHDA0n8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9SHW3WHqw

Thanks, feels like the Nintendo soundtrack was a warmup for all these cartoons. I still can't believe Crosby Stills & Nash and Roy Orbison are on that, haven't heard their songs yet.

I think there are many more cartoon songs out there. I'm wondering if the pitch correction is something that just comes with the world of that industry?

This demo collection is 'out there', and this video contains one of the rare photos of him post-JF (although it's got to be at least 20 years old now). Needless to say he does no social media whatsoever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzYIFb4dhnk