Sunday, August 24, 2008

Madder Rose / "Margaret" / Panic On

Unfortunately, for those of you who are dying for the rock, you have to fall prey to one of my musical soft spots - alternative bands with chick singers.

This band was pretty much a one off back in the post Nirvana alternative band boom, I'll say 1994 or so. It's the only CD I've ever heard of theirs, and it may be the only one in existence.

I came about this in a curious way. Back in 1993 or so, I was watching an MTV report about some big festival, and they showed, literally, about five seconds of Madder Rose playing live (didn't see the band's name, though). Something about the song really struck me, and I was pretty obsessed with tracking it down (and let's remember, this is pre-internet, pre-DVR, pre-itunes days when that was a major focking chore).

Fast forward a bit, and I'm goofing off, reading or something, half listening to 120 Minutes (don't you miss that show?), and I hear it. The song was "Car Song", and it was (and is) still great. I will lay my soul bare here and let you know I included that song on more than one mix tape over the years.

Here's "Car Song", still a great 90's hit. (The hook that originally got me is from :4o-:49)


(Wow- one of the YouTube comments says : "The lead singer, Mary Lorson, is my english teacher"! Sounds like a lie, though.)
Kind of a Mazzy Star, Sundays, Velocity Girl,Lush kind of thing. Singer's easy on the eyes too. Good stuff.

Overall, this CD reminds me of 1994, from student teaching at Loganville High, to dating a fellow music loving Loganvillian. I still take it out for a spin every now and again, and always enjoy it.

As for "Margaret", this is the, ahem, "rocker" of the CD, clocking in at a quick 2:40. I'm not really sure that the singer's voice is good for this type of song. Kind of a monotone delivery, hers is more suited for the slower, more mellow songs. There are some nice harmonies on the "Margret" part of the song (1:01-1:14), and an interesting, tuneless little bridge from 1:21-1:41. Nice little bass / vocal interplay around 2:00 too.

As I mentioned, this really isn't indicative of what this CD sounds like. You may want to grab the MP3, but I'll also give you the "Car Song" MP3 if you care for it.

And, wow, I can't believe there's a video for this online, as it was never a single. At Glastonbury, too, no less! Now I'm beginning to wonder if the original footage I saw of them way back when was from that Glastonbury show. Hmmmm...


"Margaret":
http://www.mediafire.com/?pfg037ozj0z
"Car Song"
http://www.mediafire.com/?jsiagxhnwmp

6 comments:

y'shua said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
y'shua said...

y'shua said...
My music collection is woefully short on female singers. I find myself latching onto one song here and there, but rarely a whole chick album. I like Zombie by the Cranberries, a few Liz Phair songs, Turkey Crossing and Horror Head by Curve, Tracy Chapman's later stuff, but not much else. Sad. I walk around all day with some dude singing in my ear when I should be listening to the sweet sweet sounds of the Ronettes asking me to be their baby.

Did Stephen King write his novel Rose Madder before or after these folks? That would make me want to listen. Something creepy.

And this 120 minutes show? Did that come on after Headbanger's Ball with Riki Rachtman? Sounds questionable.

Oo, oo. Eurythmics. Annie Lennox was hot in a buzz-cut sorta way. She's got some pipes.

Mike said...

First off, Eric must love that chick if he's seen her.
Second, I find the car song to be boring and kind of grating. That other song is terrible (in my opinion), at least live. I didn't bother to listen to the mp3s.
94 was the last year we beat Michigan. I moved briefly to Kennesaw and started dating Jane Wallace.
It was all downhill from there.
Musically all I can remember listening to, that was new at all, was I seem to remember hearing that Alanis song "you ought to know" during one of my drives and thinking how great it was that she talked about the going down in a theatre and all the anger of course. I remember thinking it was good that our society was moving in the direction that it was OK to talk about such things so explicitly.
Strange that I can't recall any other tunes since I was driving back and forth to Athens so much.

B. Mo said...

Hey - who deleted their post? Man up!

Josh - nice call on Curve. I have one of those albums too. And I hope you're not mocking "Be My Baby" - one of the greatest pop songs evah. For real.

120 minutes was Sunday nights, and as you know HBB was Saturday nights. I got to indulge all sides of my musical personality back when MTV played videoes.

Mike - Eric would love that girl, but I seem to have a type that includes long, dark haired skinny girls too.

Jane Wallace.....no, doesn't ring a bell. Sorry.

y'shua said...

No joke. I like the Ronettes. Well, that one song is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe they did a Christmas song? Dunno.

Anonymous said...

Bryan likes his women long. Hubie Brown would approve.
That chick is okay, something about her jaw throws me off. That or the boring songs.