Li-lo-ing (1995) - Crow

Crow piqued my curiosity when browsing the Half A Cow Records bandcamp page and noted 1.) the appealing cover artwork for Crow's 1990 debut EP Sunburnt Throats and Happy Thunderclouds and 2.) that their debut LP My Kind Of Pain was recorded by none other than Big Steve himself. Evidently, Albini's minimalist live approach wasn't quite to the band's taste, as songwriter Peter Fenton recalls in this Mess+Noise article.

I had a fair listen to aforementioned debut LP and as much as I appreciate some of the song writing ('Railhead' is a killer classic, 'Never Said' is brilliant Dino J-esque indie rock) I can't get past the unfavourable comparisons with Little Nicky Cave and the Bad Seedlings. Still, their second offering (with the wholly charming title Li-lo-ing, which in my mind involves floating down an outback waterway on an inflatable mattress) is to my ears the more coherent of the first two albums. Don't ask me why exactly, I didn't listen to it for as long as I should have, but I did form that opinion when it was on rotation on my Music Device a few months prior.

Incidentally, through doing a bit of Googling for this post I've found that someone (unsurprisingly) had the same idea for a blog as I. Much like trying to set up a local youth music outlet and discovering one had come and gone before. I will have my head nestled in there for a few weeks and suggest that you rummage also. Some awesome stuff in there, although the focus is more on the more gothy side of Oz-rock in the 80s and 90s (Triffids, NDW, Nicky Cave, Kim Salmon, all that jazz that gets the Caravan Music Club people excited). My blog is conversely looking for the sad teenage 90s wedge of the slice. Sadly, it looks like it's no-longer updated. There may be some doubling up, but it looks much more extensive than my collection - rummage away! I have no idea if the links work.

They even have the Wonder From A Quarter Acre comp that I posted not long ago! Pre-emptive strike.

1. Kilkeel        2:58
2. Privlige        3:22
3. Least Entitled        3:10
4. Big Idle        1:54
5. Paper Eyes        4:33
6. Uncontrol The Soul        2:48
7. The Buddha Salute        3:24
8. Angel Lily        4:52
9. Little Scars        2:42
10. White Knuckles        3:46
11. Smothered        2:56
12. Rabbits        6:15
13. After All        4:02

Li-lo-ing (1995) - Crow