Song Of the Day: December 26, 2005
One of the all-time great Boston post-punk singles, every bit up there with Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song," the Girls' "Jeffrey I Hear You" still sounds forbiddingly weird today, over a quarter century after it confounded crowds at the Rat. The band's only release in their tumultuous two-year existence, "Jeffrey I Hear You" was produced by David Thomas and released on Pere Ubu's own Hearthan label, and Ubu's influence is keenly felt, especially in Robin Amos' wriggly, Allen Ravenstine-style synth lines. Early Feelies is also a good touchstone, but as tightly wound as the Hoboken boys often were, they never quite sounded this unhinged. (The story I've heard is that "Jeffrey I Hear You" is about singer/drummer Daved Hild's brother, who died when they were kids, but I don't remember where this interpretation came from.) Amos is still active in the Boston art-punk scene as a key member of the long-running Cul de Sac, and Hild has made some appealingly odd records with Ralph Carney (Tin Huey, etc.), but here in Boston, this is still what they're best remembered for.
-Stewart Mason
11 Comments:
I hope David Thomas compiles a Hearthan singles collection one day. I think I already have most of them already - not the original 45's, but as cuts on different collections. The Pere Ubu box set included a few. But I'd buy a one disc set of all of them, definitely.
Wonderful post, Stewart. I've been looking for that single for years.
there's a bunch of other wonderful Girls songs on the Girls Reunion LP or whatever it was called.
-dan selzer
THANKS FOR THIS. I have been looking for this for a while too...also thanks for The Outlets a while back, much needed and much appriciated!
there's a bunch of other wonderful Girls songs on the Girls Reunion LP
A classic that seems destined never to
be reissued - "Methodist Church" used
to be played regularly on WHRB when I
was living in Boston in the mid-90s,
and I'd love to hear it again -
http://www.abatonbookcompany.us/AbatonMusic.html
A live Girls record is still available. Dig it.
Volcano Suns busted out a few bars of "Jeffrey I Hear You" during their reunion show on 12/29. Brought a smile to my face.
- Jon
May be my favorite Little Hit since "Say Yes to Everything".
I gotta say, I am pleasantly surprised to see so much positive feedback on this song, because this was one of the ones (along with the Tin Star song below) where I was kinda thinking "Gee, is this too far out of the LH purview?" I'm glad it's not, which is a piece of information I'll keep in mind when I'm selecting songs to send Jon's way.
Speaking of, does anyone have any general requests? "More of this, less of that," that sort of thing?
I dig the crap out of this.
I have no suggestion, really, because I'd basically be interested in anything that would be covered by Forced Exposure (like this would) or Caught In Flux, and you seem to be getting to that stuff already.
thanx 4 the info...very spooky single made all the more ghostly by your description.
I bought this single in an adult bookstore (of all places) about 10 years ago for a quarter having no idea of what it was. It blew my mind then as it does now. I've played this song at every party Ive ever had, for anyone that would listen! Glad to see it here........
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