I believe that
this album has one or two songs on it that wouldn't be suitable for
radio without at least a bit of audio trimming.
(I do know that a song from the Girls' second album that gets the "F"
word into the second line {of a song based on Buddy Holly's "Not Fade
Away" riff} was played uncut at least once on community radio here in
Atlanta...)
But it has two tracks that were more than worth the original cost of
the CD by themselves:
"I
Spent My Last $10 (on Birth Control and
Beer)", the story of a woman who, while between grrlfriends, fell for a
guy, longing for the careless, carefree lesbian days of her youth was
the song
that i heard on community radio several times and that i tracked down
the CD for. It is hilarious. It is sad. It is so true, and potentially
metaphorically about a lot of things other than sexual politics. You'd
hardly think there could be a better song on the same album.
But there is; "Sweet Jane (with Affection)" a beautifully ethereal
seamless blending of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" and Joan Armatrading's
"Love and Affection". This is one of those tracks i can listen to
two or three times running before going on. (Another, to give you a
possible sense of my tastes so you can decide it it's relevant to you,
is Richard & Linda Thompson's "Wall of Death")
When Cowboy
Junkies' "Trinity Session" first came out, the longbox
("Daddy, what's a longbox?") had a sticker on it that said "This is the
most authentic version of 'Sweet Jane' I have ever heard -- Lou Reed".
In a rather more recent interview, Reed remarked that he hadn't heard
the Girls' version yet when he said that.
(The original cover art, by the way, features the Girls in a
photo-pastiche of Maxfield Parrish; the Girl on the left-hand side
holds what, i think, may be the only mandocello
you will ever
see.)
Unfortunately,
Rough Trade Records (which was at the time Fairport
Convention's US label as well) went out of business in the early 90s.
And, since the Girls' come nowhere near fitting the procrustean formats
of Clear Channel (ptui!) and its ilk, their entire catalog is out of
print, and thus their CDs are available only for Absolutely Astonishing
prices.
But if you ever happen upon a copy of this CD (or the LP, for that
matter) in a store that doesn't know what it has and only has it priced
in the $20 to $30 range... jump on it.
(NEWS!!
It's
been
re-issued;
this
review
now links to the re-issue on Amazon!!!)
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