Pitchfork's revew of the AUM Fidelity reissue of the first SB album:
Pitchfork Wrote:
Shrimp Boat
Speckly
[Specimen Products; 1989; r: Aum Fidelity; 2005]
Rating: 7.0
Continuing the labor of love they began with Something Grand, their lavish 2004 box set of Shrimp Boat rarities, Aum Fidelity has once again dipped their beaks into the storied Chicago group's long-neglected back catalog to unearth 1989's Speckly, a collection which followed a couple of self-released cassettes as Shrimp Boat's first true LP. Here adoringly re-mastered and issued for the first time on CD, the album succinctly captures the band's embryonic but already utterly distinctive blend of ad-hoc country, folk, jazz and home-schooled art-rock. And though this reissue will almost certainly prove most valuable to established fans of the band, newcomers with an ear for indie history should also relish the opportunity for a glimpse at the early workings of this seminal act.
One of the true seed groups of Chicago's late 80s-early 90s resurgence, Shrimp Boat featured the nascent talents of future The Sea & Cake members Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge, and Speckly was recorded with assistance from Brad Wood and Brian Deck, who would go on to work with the likes of Liz Phair, Red Red Meat, and Tortoise. Along with multi-instrumentalists David Kroll and Ian Schneller, the group forged their unique sound during a time when the American indie landscape was largely dominated by shaggy proto-grunge and noisy art-damaged post-hardcore acts, lending the group's early work a singular, out-of-time air.
Since Shrimp Boat's mongrel sound, spry arrangements and loose, flown-by-seat-of-pants instrumentation never truly seemed fixed to any specific date or scene, Speckly has aged particularly well, and in fact these still-fresh tracks could easily be confused for something recorded last week, last year, or 1975. Songs like the opening "Planter's Song" and the banjo-fed "Hyatt Ridge Circle Dance" carry themselves jauntily along on rustic, harvest-time rhythms, while such rambunctious numbers as "Lemming's Leap" and "Green Island" stagger beneath woozy, discordant blasts of saxophone and trumpet-- the musicians never too proud to pick up an instrument they were unschooled to play.
Other highlights include a faithful spin through the traditional "Shady Grove," a track that audibly foreshadows early Palace Brothers, and the jangly "Melon Song" which finds the duel guitars of Prekop and Schneller weaving nimbly around the melody with their Jerry Garcia-like arabesque flourishes. Unfortunately the group's raggedy, unvarnished vocals pose a liability throughout the album, especially on tracks like the yowling "Seven Crows" where the guys sing as if they intend their lyrics physical harm.
Nevertheless, when Shrimp Boat manages to bring their many streams into confluence, if only for a few brief moments, as on the majestic "Houston Tower," one can almost make out the skyline of Slanted and Enchanted shimmering mirage-like in the distance. With the bulk of the group's discography-- including their two subsequent albums Duende and Cavale-- currently out of print domestically, Aum Fidelity's restoration campaign couldn't have come at a better time, and hopefully this reappearance of Speckly will allow newfound Shrimp Boat devotees a chance to appropriately start over at the beginning.
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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.
