Well I thought there was more to life than finishing a POLL: The American Music Club album poll

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

one of the weird things about SF (and AMC in general) is the inclusion of Hello Amsterdam, and it's choice as a single. And AMC's insistence that it was a good song. There are a few things like that in their catalogue, just "WTF" moments. It seems so obvious to me that by the time SF was recorded, what AMC really excelled at were atmospheric ballads; they could rock, and Wish the World Away was proof of that (even though the production on the end product is mushy), but things like 'sleeping pills', 'cape canaveral', 'revolving door' were so much better. maybe they didn't want to produce a huge downer of a record, and AMC can certainly be funny, but 'hello amsterdam' wasn't, really, unless you knew the whole backstory, and who the hell did?

i have no idea what the "hello amsterdam" backstory is -- i didn't even know there was a backstory -- but i think it's a nifty pop-rock song (on a not-very-good album).

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I was sure I voted Engine...apparently not

in grade 10 or so I was a big fan of the Richard Thompson and Suzanne Vega albums that Mitchell Froom did so I started looking up his other productions, starting oddly enough with Mercury. it doesn't really have a lot in common with those other records but I ended up listening to it over and over. Still my favourite from AMC or Mark Eitzel.

have we polled his solo records?

Hello Amsterdam was originally written about an argument Eitzel and Vudi had with a journalist in Amsterdam about the importance of pop music (the journalist insisted AMC were great artists, Eitzel insisted they were making worthless pop trash etc, etc, etc). They then changed it to refer to a chance meeting with Tesla in a music store in SF.

SF would definitely benefit from having 4 or 5 songs culled from it.

that's the presidents test for physical fitness. hello amsterdam was just about touring and playing in amsterdam and playing 'fernando' to a group of uncaring nederlanders

You're right -- I got it the wrong way round. That was one of the b-sides on the Hello Amsterdam ep thingy.

From SF onwards, AMC/Eitzel have had a bit of a boat thing going on with their album covers....:

http://viddug.com/images/albumcovers/American_Music_Club_San_Francisco-B000002MTF.jpg

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/454-love-songs-for-patriots.jpg

http://www.grcmc.org/radio/images/cover_images/amc-header1.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2Mw7302Mqg8/SkoiZcwwXCI/AAAAAAAAAMo/-fS0lf-pBe4/s400/60wattsilverlining.jpg

I'm a little surprised at all the San Francisco hate. It isn't my favorite of theirs, but I think it is really good. Could have been possibly been better with a few songs shaved off.

Funny story, my first LSD experience was on the night San Francisco was released. I spent the entire night lying in bed with my headphones on, tripping balls, listening to San Fran and Miles Davis' Pangaea. It was kind of an odd night...

Also surprised that only 3 albums received any votes at all.

Didn't see this in time to vote. Not sure what I would have chosen; I might have been the lone vote for Engine. My favorite Eitzel release ever is Songs of Love Live, which is a solo concert of AMC songs. The version of "Western Sky" on that is amazing. The two newer albums are actually pretty decent too. Plus there's an itunes only live release that is worth hearing for the great version of "Patriot's Heart".

I have a live CD called "A Toast To You" from the Love Songs For Patriots tour. They were great on that tour and seemed to have fun. The album reflects that.

I woke from a dream where I was looking at the cover of Engine, which I hadn't heard in at least 30 years. I picked that album up on the cheap in ~summer 1988 but never got into it or the band. Prob sold it at a minor profit within a couple years. Strange thing to show up in my brain at 6am in 2023.

Anyway, when I listened via youtube, I was surprised how it sounds like a sad-sack-ier, same-ish-era Evan Dando, which is better than I would have expected. Shouldn't be surprised 16-17 y.o. me didn't like it but guess I should've held onto it, if only to sell it on Discogs.

it's a wonderful album

Mark is on a living room tour right now btw. https://undertowshows.com/collections/mark-eitzel

and before anyone asks, yes the reissues are happening, hopefully in about a year, there's only like one person working on them.