Jellyfish C/D? S/D

I'm not saying it's just the voices — I'm saying The Beach Boys were their portal into Queen. The huge guitar riffs thing is just as much "Brontosaurus" as anything else...

...still don't hear that.

The production and structure of those aforementioned Jellyfish tunes are more A Night at the Opera than the Move. Maybe I am way off, but it seems to me like you are a Queen hater in denial of Jellyfish's musical debt to one of the greatest pop bands ever (Queen). You are trying to connect Jellyfish to influences that are more obscure, more hip, and more romantic than Queen (the Move, Nilsson, etc.). But, it primarily goes back to Queen. Jellyfish even lifts that incredible (Rhoades?) organ sound from Queen's "My Best Friend." And ironically enough, Spilt Milk contains a song titled "He's My Best Friend," which is the chorus to Queen's "My Best Friend".

Hell, I will even say Jellyfish are more in debt musically to Supertramp's Breakfast in America LP than the Move and Nilsson.

Ok, this is getting needlessly contentious, but:

1. In the box, Andy Sturmer describes "He's My Best Friend" as "Yet another love letter to Harry Nilsson."

2. On the box, they cover 1 Move song and 1 Nilsson song.

I say this not to point out that the band doesn't mention Queen in the liner notes (though they don't) or to say they don't cover any Queen songs (though they don't), but to point out that I'm not exactly plucking this out of thin air. As for your pointing out the Supertramp influence, you're absolutely 100% correct -- "New Mistake"'s chorus alone is evidence of that.

You're also right about another thing: I hate Queen. I think they're tasteless, garish and not nearly as fun as they imagined themselves. But I give Jellyfish credit for having the courage to recognize their merits. But you only need to hear their debut, Bellybutton, to know they don't "owe their very existence" to any one band.

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In this instance that assumption was my belief that Jellyfish's motivation for adopting the Queen thing on Spilt Milk was via the Beach Boys. Frankly, I have no idea if that's true, since I don't believe they ever discussed it publicly.

But given that any debt to Queen is nigh impossible to detect on their debut, it's hard to argue that they were so much as an influence, to say nothing of a primary influence.

And the way Ira Robbins savages Jellyfish in the Trouser Press book is pretty classic. Even though he was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Also, check out the first two Brendan Benson records, who are very Falkner-esque and in the same vein as Jellyfish (which is logical given Falkner's involvement in the writing and production.)

check out the Falkner fan site for more details on the new album.

It's actually amazing to think of the number of records that the Jelly guys have had their fingers in over the years from Johnny Cash, Morrissey, Alice Cooper, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Puffy, Merrymakers, Brendan Benson, Magnet, Grays, Travis, Umajets, Moog Cookbook, Air, Brady Seals etc etc. Amazing.

You have a totally valid point. I should have limited my opinions to Spilt Milk. Ironically, I was a HUGE Jellyfish fan back in high school. The "King is Half Undressed" video blew my mind, and I listened to both Bellybutton and Spilt Milk (as cassettes) religiously. I even owned several 12"'s. They did a great live version of "Jet".

My criticism is harsh because I recently listened to BellyButton, and I was bummed out. I honestly thought it sounded a little too close to Richard Marx at times. I wish it was just a bit stranger. As for Spilt Milk, which is stranger and much better, I actually never heard A Night at the Opera until years after my Jellyfish phase, and when I finally did hear it, I seriously thought I was listening to the "real" Spilt Milk. (I know you are cringing at that statement!)

But, for what it's worth, I did spend alot of hours during my teens thinking about girls while Bellybutton was on my stereo (and Material Issue!)

Of course they were CLASSIC. VERY VERY VERY CLASSIC!

Search everything apart from their greatest hits compilation. The only reason for destroying the latter is that it contains nothing crucial that isn't already on those two flawless albums.

However, their best work was "Bellybutton", which is more of a Beatles/Beach Boys/Byrds/Badfinger/Crowded House classic powerpop effort, only with somewhat less power and more pop than for instance Big Star.

the 2008 Manning record catnip dynamite is (another) pretty awesome i'd say. shame to ignore him/it.

Listening to said Catnip Dynamite album right now. "Down in Front" is essentially a dual tribute to cheap-and-cheery UK glam *and* Denim's revisiting of same.

I basically ignored them b/c of those stupid hats and their record covers...

The big problem I have with Manning's recent solo albums is that every track seems to have either lack of editing or bad songwriting. It's like he got so excited about coming up with a good hook ("Wish It Would Rain", "Creeple People", "You Were Right") that he couldn't help but stretch the track out into a 5+ minute rhapsody, while the snappiest songs tend to have weak choruses ("The Loser", "What You Don't Know About the Girl"). Then there are the tracks that are in all around bad taste ("Dragonfly", "Til We Meet Again"). But at least most of Solid State Warrior/Land of Pure Imagination is memorable, unlike most of Catnip Dynamite.

Meanwhile Falkner's stuff is unimpeachable. TV Eyes is really fun - pretty mindblowing first listen if you are expecting something in the Jellyfish/power pop vein.

xp, i think their stupid hats contributed to their position as my least favourite band when i was ten years old.

I've never really appreciated Jellyfish for more than their obvious craft but Andy Sturmer's work with Puffy stands as some of the best pop music of our generation.

Classic, imo. Spilt Milk has something ridiculous like a 6 song unfuckablewith run.

I know what you mean about Manning's album - once the shock wears off that it kinda sounds like a lost Bruce Johnston solo record, the songs aren't there. I'll say that What You Don't Know and Wish It Would Rain are the standouts, tho

God, just seeing this thread title has got "Joining a Fan Club" stuck in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB3bbdngYQM

great video!

I listen to "Glutton of Sympathy" when my hutch is being cleaned and I'm rolling around in my bunny ball. I replace the word "sympathy" with "green frisee."

So has anyone heard the new live album yet?

I wonder what the chance these guys ever reform is.

fuckin a, retro 90s album cover

http://www.melodic.net/img/cover/img8/OV-25_Jellyfish_Live_At_Bogarts.jpg

doin it right imo.

I remember buying Spilt Milk in the mid-90s and thinking that I should like this, but I don't. At all.

I like a lot of Spilt Milk, although I don't own it anymore for some reason. Jellyfish is one of those bands where I presumably don't have a lot of the reference points for though. I wonder if I knew more power-pop and Queen or whatever, if I'd like them as much.

I dunno, you either embrace the cheese or you don't.

a little over a week ago, I was in this record store in Knoxville and asking the owner for recommendations for "really ornate studio-as-instrument stuff - I'm going through a bigtime Van Dyke Parks/Brian Wilson/etc phase right now." he IMMEDIATELY asks me if I've heard Spilt Milk, I say "no, never heard of it." he starts cackling, jogs over to the only copy he has left, drops it on the stereo without saying a word, cues it up to "Bye Bye Bye," and presses play. I made it about a minute before literally shrieking "PLEASE SELL ME THIS RECORD."

I have now listened to the rest of it and fuck he was right. how in the hell did this record exist for 21 years without me knowing about it?

As there's supposed to be reissues in a month, he could have at least told you THAT.

Yep, Spilt Milk is kind of a masterclass in Pet Sounds/Sgt Pepper-esque baroque pop. However, imo one of the things it demonstrates is how you can make a record like that, and not really be popular. I think the "Ghost at Number One" is actually about that! (haha, "Mrs. Lynn, the fruit of your labor")

my copy is green and didn't actually cost that much. plus I have it NOW.

seriously, I went through a MASSIVE Jon Brion phase a couple of years ago when his mix of Extraordinary Machine hit the internet; I am stunned that this album managed to slip under my radar during that period.

spilt milk is one of my top 5 records of the '90s.

What does Tim Ellison think of this band?

Definitely hearing a Nilsson influence, even before I scrolled upthread and saw his name.

Guess I can hear the Queen too, sort of, although I would have said Queen by way of The Darkness, if that wasn't chronologically impossible.

album is some kind of awesome charming miracle imo

one of the best ever

was thinking, man, i think there are better examples of the album's baroque greatness than "bye bye bye" to spin in store, so i listened to it and shit, i think there are tuba, accordion, banjo, and clarinet all playing together there in a rock era pop song, so... nope, that pretty much makes his point.

relistening to all is forgiven, it's really much better sounding than i remember.

Joining a Fanclub box is ace if you're a nerd for demos of this kinda thing. If you needed any evidence that Roger Manning is a genius, there you go...

holy crap this album is amazing
i instinctively ignored the hell out of these guys from jump. This is NOT what i expected them to sound like.

The twinkling straussian celeste at the outset was jon lewis bait in excelsis.

The coda on New Mistake is the best thing ever. Perfect song/album.

No love for Glutton of Sympathy? That song is a national treasure.

Of course

There is a book out about Jellyfish now, but apparently it's not really in large retailers. I heard about this when Dean Delray interviewed Roger Joseph Manning Jr. last month, but forgot about it until now.

https://www.facebook.com/Brighter-Day-A-Jellyfish-Story-446175385404875/

https://soundcloud.com/deandelray/292roger-joseph-manning-jrkeyboardistjellyfishairbeck

How in the hell did I manage to avoid Ignorance is Bliss until now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlC6i6DPdnU

White Knuckle Scorin'! This is insane!

Ignorance is Bliss is how I first became aware of Jellyfish, which led me to look into their other stuff.

i never listened to imperial drag until today. it's good, better than i had expected. by the time it hit the salvation army band song, i was surprised at the ground they were willing to cover. don't love the singer's voice much but it feels very of its time, fwiw. it's less how he does it, more that he can't do too much.

ps- imperial drag is meh+ not so very good

but surprisingly to me, tv eyes is fucking fun as hell, how could something like broken bells be successful and this missed in 2003, in 2006, and again whenever it was re-re-released in like 2014. Even with characteristic falkner vox which i find a bit flat feeling, this is great.