innocence mission - classic or dud?

This album -- all lullabies -- has become a fixture in our house. Lovely stuff.

I feel the same way about Ida, actually. For about a three year period, they really had something; then they just drifted into light adult alternative with this constant string drone and "melodies" that just wash away into nothingness, with little relationship to the glob of sound underneath.

Is this typical of their schtick? Where is a good place to find other IM songs of this nature?

"I Remember Me" from the first album turned up on shuffle play and kinda like I said upthread, it's aged very well. What turned me onto them was seeing them on Late Night years ago and a little YouTube exploration turned up this...

Takes a few listens to get the lyrics to this, but it's such a great song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr25sF18DZY

I think they're my favorite band.

Brotherhood of Man

All day, since your haircut in the morning,
you have looked like a painting, even more than usual.
We are in the wind, planting the maples.
We meet an older man who seems to know
I miss my dad.
And he smiles through the limbs.
We talk easily with him
until the rain begins.
This is the brotherhood of man.

Waiting at the airport on my suitcase,
a girl traveling from Spain became my sudden friend,
though I did not learn her name.
And when the subway dimmed
a stranger lit my way.
This is the brotherhood of man.

I never can say what I mean
but you will understand,
coming through clouds on the way.
This is the brotherhood of man.

Only heard two songs by this act but adored them both.

Two LPs on spotify - pretty much what I would have hoped. They're smashing!

they sound virtually identical to the Sundays to me.

'Glow' is a perfect album.

spending a day in pennslyvania?

this band seems very special.

Just discovered them via Spotify - love them.

Yeah, they're the best.

Their first two major label rocking albums are fantastic as well!!

Has anyone heard their record for kids?

You mean "Now That The Day Is Over"? It's a good record the same as everything else they've released.

Always pleased to see this thread revived

No interest in the new album? It has some nice tracks, but We Walked in Song is way superior I think.

Didn't know about it. They sneak these things out into the world sometimes.

I was at a 'hipster' wedding yesterday and they had an 8 member band that played amazingly. I found it particularly interesting that at one point they played 'lakes of canada'... a strange choice for a wedding but they pulled it off and it sounded gorgeous. How come this band isn't more popular?

I love it that they're still making albums - new one out now: https://theinnocencemission.bandcamp.com/album/hello-i-feel-the-same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJPyYXAV2UI

I lost interest with the last album but will check out the new one.

I recently grabbed a cache of early demos and live tracks from the fansite. Karen's vocals are quietly powerful and the guitar work quite compelling, a great combination.

any thoughts on the new album?
i still haven't gotten around to it yet, but they've always been one of my favorite bands, so i'm sure i'll like it plenty when i do.
which, reminds me to say, they really have stayed surprisingly consistent throughout the years.

i mean consistent as far as quality, that is.
and, of course they have a song called "fred rogers" now. lol.

Listening to one of their albums all the way through for the first time (heard some songs here and there). "Befriended" is really good so far. Does she have a Dutch accent or something?

Pennsylvania Dutch, maybe.

Birds of My Neighborhood is my favorite.

their 1986 Tending the Rose Garden EP is pretty funny — it's like Debbie Gibson meets 10,000 Maniacs with CCM lyrics, and they obviously had a huge stylistic overhaul between that and their debut album. I wonder if they ever disowned it the way Tori Amos disowned Y Kant Tori Read.

lol, according to one blogger, the band 'hate [Tending the Rose Garden] so much they've tried to buy back all 1,000 copies to destroy them', but idk if there's any truth to that

I haven't heard the new album yet, but 'Tom On The Boulevard' sounds very nice. their style has changed very little since Birds of My Neighborhood, but that doesn't really bother me.

new album out, y'all

this band is so strange and wonderful

Just found out! Can't wait to hear. Easily one of my favorite bands.

I've just finished school for the summer; I'm in the yawning hollows of full-body exhaustion. The wind is up and light is falling slantwise through the crowns of oak trees. Sun on the Square couldn't be more perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RT5tZtCAD0

Awesome

I didn't realize they were still around. I did like Glow at the time, I'll check out the later stuff. They always struck me as earnest Catholic summer camp strummers which I guess they actually are (they gave all the proceeds of one album to charity apparently). There was certainly a time in the 90's when the taint of religiosity around any 'alternative' band was kind of a death knell (Velour 100 caught up in this as well ... plus the endless debates about whether His Name Is Alive were actually secret church goers). Seems a bit ridiculous now.

That's glorious.

Indeed. I saw them at TT the Bears in Cambridge, MA on the "Glow" tour and they were as good as you'd expect, very humble. I jumped off the train a decade ago - the "Street Map" EP was the last thing of theirs I really loved - but I'm really glad they're still going.

I still adore the first two indie-rock albums before they went the folky route. Great example of where the underground was before Nirvana came and changed everything.

Seems improbable that they've been around for the best part of 40 years and are still regularly putting out such quietly beautiful music. The new one is lovely.

never listened to them before this, but very into this new album. a perfect winter album tbh

I put it on unassumingly, out of curiosity after your post, and it just stopped me in my tracks.

wild, i just listened to them for the first time last night. v pretty stuff

Back in the early days of AAA radio, my local station used to play "Black Sheep Wall" from the debut. I picked up a promo cassette, loved it, then never really heard another thing they've done since. Relistening to the debut today for the first time in years, it really is a remarkably lovely, assured performance and production.

Hadn't actually heard them before but that NPR performance upthread is amazing.

There was certainly a time in the 90's when the taint of religiosity around any 'alternative' band was kind of a death knell (Velour 100 caught up in this as well ... plus the endless debates about whether His Name Is Alive were actually secret church goers). Seems a bit ridiculous now.

― akm, Thursday, December 6, 2018 3:36 AM

Did it hurt Low?

My friend mentioned them last night, and all I could recall was "The Lakes of Canada" and "Bright as Yellow," then today stumbled on this one on YouTube, and it's just absolutely stunning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ABOGpyu18I

Live in a Cleveland Borders Books in 1996.

I haven't been into their work the past dozen years or so - it's ok, just hasn't grabbed me - but Karen Peris' new solo album ("A Song Is Way Above The Lawn") is great, full of beauty and tenderness, wonderful piano and strings, and a sweetness that is refreshing in this world.

https://theinnocencemission.bandcamp.com/album/a-song-is-way-above-the-lawn