The Last - Look Again
1980 Housekeeping LISTENING POST DISCOVERY
The Last
Look Again
Genre: American Jam Clash Paisley Garage Power Pop
4.5 out of 5
Highlights:
Lies
Difference
Subway Song
The Other Side
I can hear The Vapors in that opening track, “Lies”. Can you? I don’t mean that they are interpolating “Underground” just that it reminds of it a bit. But that gives way to a scratchy garage lead that transforms the song into latter day punk and everything about that song just plain works.
From there the album just keeps hitting snooze on its Strawberry Alarm Clock and, where they could have been Artful Dodger, they end up a much more vigorous and accessible American Queen Annes.
This album is full of terrific surprises, whether opening with left turns or serving up Power Pop epics (“Difference”) or just straight up great Garage Rock.
From what I gather, one of these guys went off to create Rain Parade and, eventually, Mazzy Star. And it’s reported that Susannah Hoffs was considered as a replacement lead singer for a short while.
Another member helped create Leaving Trains.
At one point in the later years, Joe Nolte puts the band together (over and over, it seems) but nothing really seems to click.
Let’s get even weirder. One of the writers in the band, Vitus Matare, has gone on to be an estimable architect/designer in Malibu.
There were only 100 copies of this album produced but, dammit, if it isn’t a neat little representation of the merging of Paisley revival and Power Pop that became the 80s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyvrD0QqMwA
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