STARS
AFTER STARS AFTER STARS - Spike Priggen (Cockaigne)
A singer-songwriter from under the US pop radar peddling an album of other
people's tunes might seem a strange thing to review at the I-94 Bar, but we're
eclectic types when we don't have our heads stuck in 
Detroit/garage/punk
rock used record bins. So when sometime Barfly Sir David Graney flung a couple
of copies of this our way (with a note that Spike was touring Australia as
his support) the interest was sparked, especially by some of the co-conspirators
named on the album credits. Curiosity was further heightened by a track list
that included songs by Big Star, the Coop, the Jacobites and mega heroes the
Ramones...
Even so, you're excused if you're a regular here and not on more than nodding
acquaintances with most of Spike's past bands. His credits over 20 years include
the Blue Period (who included a Deee-Lite member), the Caroline Know (no,
I don't know) and the Hello Strangers - but maybe the Liqour Giants or Dumptruck
ring a bell. (Hell, I did see the latter band live in the US in the '80s,
about the time Spike was toting bass for them).
No matter if those names don't kick a goal: mark this album (Priggen's second
under his own name) as off-centre pop with an occasional country bent, in
the same line as fellow New Yorker as Alex Sniderman or maybe Marshall Crenshaw
(who's on the same vocal page). Like Sniderman, Priggen attracts some stellar
sidemen. "Stars After Stars..." credits guitarist Ivan Julian (Richard
Hell and the Voidoids/Matthew Sweet), revered Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos,
Mark Spencer (Blood Oranges/Jay Farrar), Jon Graboff (Beat Rodeo/Laura Cantrell),
bassists Danny Weinkauf (They Might Be Giants/Fountains of Wayne) and Scott
Yoder (Kevin Salem/Amy Rigby), drummer Brian Doherty (They Might Be Giants/XTC)
and keyboardist C.P. Roth (Blessid Union of Souls).
For the most part, this is sleepy jangle pop - like Big Star in their more
reflective/less rocking moments. Appropriately enough (seeing Chillton and
Co, along with Roger McGuinn, wrote the book on jangle pop), Spike interprets
one of Big Star's songs in "Nightime".
Occasionally, a squall of rumbling guitar lurches into the picture (Alice
Copper's "I'm Eighteen" in re-worked mode) and shakes you out of
your slumber . It makes you wonder what Ivan Julian's doing these days (apart
from the occasional Sonny Vincent tour) as the biggest noise comes from him.
Julian also appears on "Big Store", one of two Jacobites covers
here, and was always under-credited in his the pairing with the late Robert
Quine in the Voidoids.
Like Johnny Ramone (R.I.P.), I always wondered how or why "Questioningly"
made it onto "Rocket to Russia". Of course, in retrospect, the late
Joey's yearning and somewhat damaged vocal was the perfect fit. But equally
obvious, in retrospect, was that the Bruddas should have sold that one off
to some Nashville star and become millionaires. Priggen plays the obvious
Nashville card and does it well. Closet Neil Young fan that I am, I'm just
not sure if I can listen to this much lap steel in daylight hours. At least
it's not as overdone as the heavily-orchestrated "Harvest", as close
to the least listenable thing the gnarly old Canuck committed to tape.
Some good moments but my biases are showing when I say I hankered to hear
more from Priggen's psych/garage side. It's actually hinted at on both uncredited
bonus tracks. Don't let my grizzled qualifications deter you. If country-tinged
pop is your thing, dive right in. - The
Barman
1/4