Say something longing about Miracle Legion/Polaris/Pete&Pete

I wish I could. Can you sell me a 'shroom, babe?

The Polaris album is indeed perfect for the fall. You can smell the leaves off this album.

I wonder if the third season of "Pete & Pete" will ever get a DVD release.

When are they going to release Miracle Legion's earlier stuff on CD?

They're goin' DOWN!!!! to Snacks and Candy, goin' down....

this guy's music deserves much more love.

hard not to fall in love with it: reminds me of The Go Betweens' 16 Lover's Lane and it's as much as good and authentic.

Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy - a tribute album was released in 2009:

"All For The Best" (Thom Yorke) [5]
"Ashamed Of The Story I Told" (The National)
"Everything's Coming Undone" (Michael Stipe)
"Loves The Only Thing That Shuts Me Up" (David Berkeley)
"The Backyard" (Dinosaur Jr.)
"Micon The Icon" (Chris Harford & Mr Ray Neal)
"Bill Jocko" (Frank Black)
"Little Man" (Vic Chesnutt)
"Ciao My Shining Star" (Unbelievable Truth)
"I Have Patience" (Butterflies Of Love)
"Cookie Jar" (Chris Collingwood)
"The Quiet One" (Frank Turner)
"In Pursuit Of Your Happiness" (Rocket From The Tombs)
"Wake Up Whispering" (Ben Kweller)
"I Woke Up In The Mayflower" (Josh Rouse)
"Paradise" (Autumn Defense)
"Happy Birthday Yesterday" (Hayden (musician))
"We're Not In Charleston Anymore" (Juliana Hatfield)
"Sailors And Animals" (Mercury Rev)
"She Watches Over Me" (Elvis Perkins)
"A World Away From This One" (Sean Watkins)
[edit] Deluxe Edition bonus track listings
[edit] CD 1
Gigantic Transatlantic Trunk Call (A.C. Newman)
Butterflies (Buffalo Tom)
Mr. Mingo (Laura Veirs)
Resolution #1 (Joe Purdy)
Hey Self Defeater (Syd Straw)
Tempted (The Pressure Room)
Apartment Murders (Dumptruck)
4:04 (The Parkway Charlies)
And Then? (Winterpills)
Be Sure (Biet Simkin)
[edit] CD 2
Closer To The Wall (The Gravel Pit)
Country Boy (The 'Mericans )
Even Better (The Autumn Defense)
Everywhere (Lo Fine)
I Hate To Needy Need You (TW Walsh)
I Just Shot Myself In The Foot Again (School for the Dead)
Nothing But A Silver Medal (The Slugos)
Pasadena Love Story (Spouse)
The Way That She Really Is (Senator)
You're The One Lee (The Late B.P. Helium)

Much of that is pretty damn good. A well-chosen best-of Mark Mulcahy's work would be stellar.

Miracle Legion were stellar live back in the day. That first EP was magic.

BTW, I like what Thom Yorke did with "All for the best." It sounds great updated for 2010.

I repeat, when will they put out Miracle Legion’s earlier albums on CD????

I have surprise surprise surprise, me & mr. ray, drenched, and portrait of a damaged family on cd. surprise was an insanely expensive japanese import. got lucky on me and mr. ray - found it a couple of years ago on spun sitting there for 6.99 or thereabouts.
would love to grab backyard and glad at some point -they've never been available on cd.
From what I've heard, the back catalog will never be reissued/see the light of day in physical format. may be made available digitaly at some point but wouldn't hold my breath on that either.

Waiting for October!

Well I'll be. Surprise available as digital, remastered download from Mark's website: mezzotint.com

Yup, I just bought Surprise Surprise Surprise (my fav) as a digital download here: http://miraclelegion.bandcamp.com/
Wish they'd do the same for the Backyard EP and Me and Mr. Ray.

what do you guys recommend in the way of Miracle Legion?

HEY!

it was pretty lame when Pitchfork slammed that Mulcahy tribute album that was trying to raise money for his semi-orphaned children

Going to see Polaris play "Music from The Adventures of Pete & Pete" Saturday night in Rhode Island. I guess it's the first show of a brief reunion tour.

Polaris - 2014 Tour Dates
Oct. 4--The Met--Providence, Rhode Island
Oct. 9--Hammerstein Ballroom--New York, New York
Oct. 10--Spaceland Ballroom--Hamden, Connecticut
Oct. 11--Pearl Street--Northampton, Massachusetts
Oct. 25--Codfish Hollow--Maquoketa, Iowa
Oct. 26--Lincoln Hall--Chicago, Illinois
Nov. 21--Knitting Factory--Brooklyn, New York
Nov. 28--Johnny Brenda's--Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nov. 29--Baltimore Soundstage--Baltimore, Maryland

Just learned that The Backyard EP is on iTunes, along with Surprise Surprise Surprise. Cool.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-backyard/id539775655

Listened to The Backyard in its entirety for the first time in ages. I still remember everything. Must have seen Miracle Legion a dozen times or so at the Cave in New Haven. Closer to the Wall always killed. Can't remember the drummer's name but he was essential. Mark & Ray got all the attention of course. Ramble mode off.

the Cave meant the Grotto.

Can't remember the drummer's name but he was essential.
Jeff Wiederschall was the original lineup's drummer.

Have to admit, I wasn't very familiar with Polaris or "Pete & Pete" until this week, and now I'm binge-watching/listening before Saturday's show. I'm really impressed with both so far. The songs are catchy and wistful and bring me back to an earlier time, even though I never heard them the first time around.

“Ivy Boy” in particular is just … wow. I wish somebody could tell me what it’s about, though.

I felt the same way about all of the Polaris songs I'd never heard before the past couple of years.
There is something so transportive about it, and it isn't just 90s nickelodeon nostalgia.

Seriously, this song has been stuck in my head all week. Help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_BA6x2jFAc

Wired article on Polaris tour: http://www.wired.com/2014/10/polaris-pete-and-pete-band/
Thought Mulcahy lived in Springfield, Mass. these days, but this says New Haven, Conn.

Saturday's kickoff to the Polaris reunion tour was fantastic. They opened with "Baby Tae Kwon Do" from their new cassingle (available here: https://thebandpolaris.bandcamp.com/releases). Also played a Magnetic Fields cover ("Why I Cry") and a Sesame Street song ("I Don't Want to Live on the Moon," also covered by the Queers). And, of course, Little Pete's favorite song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmPmIARgMhk

Ahhhh the Philly show is sold out! Seriously considering driving to Baltimore to see them.

The most recent Mark Mulcahy solo record is quite excellent and it appears most of the Miracle Legion stuff is a available once again via the Mezzotint website.

Can't believe I haven't heard this until now. Mulcahy released this as a single/download in 2006. About a soldier wounded in war, it takes on new meaning in this performance from 2009, a year after his wife died. Just devastating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEVYnGHt39k

Caught the first show of the reunion tour last night in a sweaty little theater in Providence and it was great. Nice to see Mark and Mr. Ray back on stage together. Mulcahy had a strange getup — Member's Only jacket zipped all the way up — and he came across as a crazed homeless guy with his new Civil War-era beard, but he sang like an angel.
Here's a snippet (not my video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cAdCqMEXdk

Seems like some reissued stuff just showed up on Spotify.

(-the Cave-) meant the Grotto.

Feel like once I saw Mark + Ray did a song called "Valentine's Day," but I can't find mention of it anywhere except some weird stub on BBC music. Did they end up recording this song under another title?

Oh wait BBC page has sound, so I didn't dream it after all: https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tracks/n24bwf

Weird/frustrating when you remember something pretty strongly but can't seem to find confirmation on the intranetz

Maybe it became the song "Velvetine"?

I've only dabbled in Miracle Legion, but thanks to this thread I finally gave Fathering a listen. Christ, it's magnificent.

Cool.

Maybe it became the song "Velvetine"?

Listening now and realizing Mark Mulcahy can sound amazing like Bob Dorough. Perhaps they should have done a kid's show collabo

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

Mark played a great but too-brief set in support of j. Mascis last night in Rhode Island. They'll be in Northampton, Mass. tonight.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt6OdBRhD9V/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0sWAOHgsyQ

He’s playing in Rhode Island April 3rd

Back to school - Autumn is the perfect time/weather for listening to Mark Mulcahy.
Why is that?

There's something very meta about latter day Polaris/P&P fandom: Nostalgia for a show about nostalgia. Wistful memories of childhood are both the subject of the Polaris album and its associaiton to most listeners. For a certian age group, it was probably also your very first introduction to indiepop.

When I was about 17, I became briefly obsessed with this show and its soundtrack and endeavored to collect all the music from it, which I wasn't able to do. The best story I have about this was that when I went into the Virgin Megastore to look for Starfish by the Fat Tulips and they didn't have it, for whatever reason I was so intent on buying an album called Starfish that day that I got the one by the Church instead.

But I found the Polaris album held up a lot better alongside the rest of the music from the show: various Stephin Merritt songs, the Shackwacky cassette, a couple of tracks off the first Drop Nineteens album, Luscious Jackson, etc. Taken on its own, it tended to hammer you over the head with a particular sound and mood and became cloying long before its runtime finished.

Mark Mulcahy's voice is a thing of wonder at times and suits the more intimate material a lot better IMO than something like 'Snacks and Candy' above.

There were also a few songs like 'Everywhere' (or whatever it was called) that worked a lot better as 30-60 second instrumental cues on the show than as standalone songs.

I went to the Pete & Pete reunion tour 8ish years ago at Bowery Ballroom. It was nice. I think think there are videos online.