American Music Club: Classic or Dud?

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.