American Music Club: Classic or Dud?

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”

"Sacred Heart" is maybe my favorite of his solo songs, his singing is so gorgeous

it's very good.

AMC reissues should be out next year (at least the first four albums), for anyone still curious.

Good to hear, I've still never heard the first two albums

Great news, particularly for California and United Kingdom! Will be great to get better sound on those.

Any details re: what differentiates the new first two albums from the 1998 versions? If too early for details, that’s cool. Glad these are finally coming. Know via firefly it’s been a labor of love.

At college there was a picture on the wall opposite me, I was often gazing at it, but only after TWO YEARS did I realize it was the cover 60 Watt Silver Lining. I was stunned that it never registered in all that time. How is that possible?

the reissue will be a new mastering. how different it will be from the 98 ones I have no idea.

Well, see the Paris 1919 thread for what a difference it may make!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/peter-milton-walsh-apartmentsaus-mark-eitzel-american-music-club-tickets-1105989106189

A mere $23.18 to see Mark Eitzel and Peter Milton Walsh together for an early show (7:30 / 8:30, respectively) at the Make Out Room in San Francisco, Feb 22, 2025.

Mark's manager said this will be PMW's only US show. Maybe he's coming here on holiday?

I fell asleep to California for many years (painstakingly programming out Bad Liquor on the CD player). When not sleeping, Somewhere would nearly always trigger a 'who is this?' from someone in the room. The production is so clean and lush on a few songs, close your eyes and you're in the room. Some of the hooks and choruses on Mercury are indelible but California is stronger overall for me.

More Eitzel/AC simmilar to this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1waiQKFoS1M

The remainder of California

Don't see/hear it

Right, check the AMC Live 92-93 album:

https://americanmusicclub1.bandcamp.com/album/amc-live-1992-1993

Tip: it gets increasingly louder, noisier and more cathartic. Lovely stuff.

This is a great recording! There was a show from this tour that they included as a bonus disc on one of their releases, but I think this is different? I saw them for the first time around then. I was a junior in high school, and hearing them play these songs to an audience of maybe 20 people broke my young mind. Also had an opportunity to chat with Bruce Kaphan about the custom effects rig he used with his pedal steel, he was very gracious about answering my questions.

Thanks

(xpost) that's a different recording, this is assembled from shows in the Netherlands at the time. There's (a chunk of) an SF show that came out as a bonus disc on a UK single promo release of Johnny Mathis' Feet which is a really nice soundboard recording.