Animal Collective-Strawberry Jam (2007)


 

Artist: Animal Collective

Title: Strawberry Jam

Label: Domino

Format: CD

Cat #: WIGCD199

Year of Release: 2007

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2007 Trifold digipak

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 1/24/22

Sell Price: $4.49

Discogs Last Sold: 1/7/22 $10.77 M/M

Low: $1.32

Median: $4.47

Average: $4.59

High: $10.77

Current low price: $2.00

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 64

Have/Want: 1131/182

Where Sold: Jacksonville, FL

Time it took to sell: 1 year, 3 months 

Where and When Bought: The Fountain Collection

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: D+

Sad To See It Go: No

I remember, sometime in the naughty aughties, my friend Jimmy telling me of a new band he liked named Animal Collective.  Something about wearing costumes stuck in my head, perhaps it was a live experience I somehow never caught.  Something to file with the equally annoying of Montreal.  I didn't take it any further.

Sure enough, one of the records Fountain gave me in his CD box in a moving purge contained an immaculate condition digipack trifold copy of Strawberry Jam from 2007.  This was their 5th release.  Looking at the discography, the one I previously heard and promptly forgot about was Sung Tongs from a few years before this.  Strawberry Jam was the first Animal Collective album to chart the Billboard 200, peaking at 72 in it's debut week, before making top 20 debuts in 2009 with Merriweather Post Pavilion and 2012 with Centipede Hz.  They still have some commercial clout as they were #20 on the Livestream chart in 2020.  I've managed to blissfully ignore it all.

So I plopped myself in on a "new band" that is damn near 20 years old to see what I could see.  I listened on speakers and again in headphones and am streaming this as I write to see if anything sticks besides a general annoyance.  Why do I dislike this band?  Normally, my tastes are in lock step with Fountain over decades, so I wanted to give this the benefit of my deep seeded doubt.  I think it boils down to my dislike of the vocals and the quasi-Beach Boys reoccurring oohs sound more in place in an Ikea ad than my personal audio setup.  The opener sonically kicked off admirably with "Peacebone"  with a single spoken word Bonefish and a worthy industrial spew, but things deteriorate with a "You Make My Dreams" style Hall & Oates synth throb meeting said vocalist that alternates between smarm and falsetto.  Throw in Devo whip and the aforementioned Beach Boys, and you have the ungodly stew of annoyance with 8 more tracks to go.

Probably the cut I liked the most was "Winter Wonderland" which he at least gives me a choice not to believe in "Fantasy" or "Happiness" not to mention rain or death.  This made the Ikea-Beach Boy chorals  less offensive.  This is Gen Y's stamp on humanity.

File Under IINO: Indie In Name Only.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Byrds-Live At The Fillmore-February 1969 (2000)

Image
  Artist: The Byrds Title: Live At The Fillmore February 1969 Label: Columbia/Legacy Format: CD Cat #: CK 65910 Year of Release: 2000 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2000 Listed Condition VG+/VG+: hole punch in UPC Sell Date: 5/6/24 Sell Price:$3.75 Discogs Last Sold: 4/25/24 $7.87 VG/VG Low: $1.75 Median: $4.24 Average: $4.28 High: $7.87 Current low price: $2.50 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 30 Have/Want: 524/45 Where Sold:Charlotte, NC Time it took to sell: 12 years Where and When Bought: early aughts not sure where in NYC Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A- Sad To See It Go: No One of those releases that looks great on a shelf, but it took me 24 years after buying it to get around to paying any attention to this excellent live recording.  I guess that means I should force myself to read David Fricke's liner notes as well.  Sweetheart Of The Rodeo came out August 30, 1968 only 8 months after The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde came out a week before these show
Read more

Various Artists-Mojo Presents The Roots of Bob Dylan (2006)

Image
Artist: Various Artists (Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Julia Lee, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Karen Dalton, Richie Havens, Josh White, Hank Williams, The Country Gentlemen, Cisco Houston, Charlie Poole with The North, Carolina Ramblers, The Staple Singers, The Highway Q.C.'s, Big Bill Broonzy, Thelonious Monk) Title: Mojo Presents The Roots of Bob Dylan 1 Sonny Terry And Brownie McGhee – You'd Better Mind Written-By –  McGhee ,  Terry Written-By –  McGhee * ,  Terry * 2:07 2 Julia Lee – Mama Don't Allow It Written-By –  'Cow Cow' Davenport Written-By –  'Cow Cow' Davenport * 2:53 3 Lightnin' Hopkins – Baby Please Don't Go Written-By –  Williams Written-By –  Williams * 2:48 4 Muddy Waters – Rollin' Stone Written-By –  McKinley Morganfield Written-By –  McKinley Morganfield 3:04 5 Karen Dalton – How Did The Feeling Feel To You Written-By –  Tim Hardin Written-By –  Tim Hardin 2:50 6 Richie Havens – High Flying Bird Written-By –  Billy
Read more

Bob Dylan-New Morning (1970)

Image
  Artist: Bob Dylan Title:  New Morning Label: Columbia Format: LP Catalog Number: KC 30290 Year of Release:  1970 Country and Year  of Edition: US 1970 Santa Maria Pressing Sell Price: $6.20 Sell Date: 5/2/24 Condition: VG+/G+ Discogs Last Sold  4/29/24 NM/NM $32.26 Low: $3.00 VG/VG Median: $3.42 Average: $8.56 High: $36.46 Current  low price:  $4.44 Current Number on  Sale at Discogs: 31 Have/Want: 1994/264 Where Sold: Minneapolis, MN Time It Took  To Sell: 9 years Where and When  Bought: early 80's Al Bums Worcester $3.99 Gwiz-gau Letter Grade:  A Sad To See It Go: No "So happy just to see you smile/underneath that sky of Blue...." Nobody really listens to Bob for blind spiritual uplift or at least I didn't.  The Christian records were the voice of a wrathful God and everybody ripped "Wiggle Wiggle" apart when Bob just wanted you to enjoy life and dance. For me, I look to Bob to push intellectual, sonic or my own nostalgic buttons, if I'm gonna be hon
Read more