The Jags - No Tie Like a Present
#201
May 1981 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY
The Jags
No Tie Like a Present
Genre: Power Pop
4.5 out of 5
Highlights:
I Never Was a Beach Boy
The Train and the Plane
Silver Birds
The Sound of G-O-O-D-B-Y-E
Fearing a Tornado
Requisite 80s Cover: Cat Stevens’ “Here Come My Baby”. What The Jags do here is create a perfect Jags-fan Power Pop, Skinny Tie version of this song. It’s excellent enough that it sounds like they wrote it. So, I can forgive them opening the record with it. Not by much, though.
Ok, readers. You tell me, cuz I’ve lost all perspective.
Is this really great Jam/Vapors Power Pop, the first really good one of 1981 or do I just love it because I love this style and 1981 has been a wasteland?
I really can’t tell anymore.
“The Train and the Plane” is a pseudo Costello joint that pummels into the epic western instrumental “Silver Birds”, which is majestic and powerful as all hell.
You know how every New Wave band had some kind of Faux-Reggae track on their 1980 offerings? So do The Jags here with “Small Change” but it’s filled with energy and snot and puts to shame just about all of those other tracks.
Evening Standards was one of my favorite discoveries of 1980 and “Back of My Hand” has become a favorite track, to the point where if compelled me to pick up my old Takamine and get it tuned and learned to play it. (I’m not half bad on it!)
I didn’t think I would enjoy a follow up to that record nearly as much as I do No Tie.
Poor Jags. What they should have been.
We are missing one track so it’s impossible to give this 5 stars. But I’m tempted.
Why are these albums not available to stream? Or even on CD??? I really want to own these.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FICCk1QME24&list=PLlvn8uktX5Ls6vqLmBXU8knKWXDwqnBxM (Missing 1 track - Mind Reader)
No comments:
Post a Comment