The Posies - Amazing Disgrace

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I don't think many fans would name this album as their favorite, and at this point, I probably wouldn't either, except as a sentimental favorite, but in that respect it is very much so. for me, this is one of those albums that inspired that less than rational teenage fixation, taking a twisted pride in the faded tape, memorizing every note and inflection.

in hindsight, I think this album singlehandedly got me stuck on seriously melodic rock, or power pop or whatever. something that fucking stomps but still really has the tunes. the DGC comp track "Open Every Window" caught my attention, so I picked up a cheap cassette of Amazing Disgrace on a whim and it hooked me big time. i've long since moved on and nursed an obsession with the rest of the Posies catalog, as well as a few of their primary influences, but AD kind of remains this untouched thing in my mind.

which is silly, because I think it's a pretty uneven and unrepresentative album. i think of it as one of those cases where the band had some great material in their hands, but for whatever reason, cut some of the best songs and loaded the remainder with filler. AD could have been an indisputable classic if they had cut the fat included a few of the non-LP tracks from the same era (Limitless Expressions, Sad To Be Aware, Terrorized, and I dream of a full-band version of Ken's demo Pay You Back In Time, and I won't even get into the songs that ended up on Success, which in retrospect may now be my favorite Posies album).

one reason that the Posies never could be my gateway to full-on power pop and in fact kind of spoiled me for most of their peers is the fucking DRUMS. of course, Mike Musberger, the Moon-esque basher revered most by fans had departed by this point, and while I can't deny the Muzz, I would hate to leave Brian Young languishing in his shadow, because his drumming on Amazing Disgrace is a big part of what makes it so addictive and memorable for me. just the fills and slight flourishes on every damn song, even the weaker songs, are absolutely perfect and (here's a stupid adjective) *musical*. they just pop out at just the right moment. even as a drummer I cannot attempt to describe what it is that just kills me about the drums on this record. the intro on "Fight It (If You Want)", the ad libs at the end of "Hate Song", the whole chorus of "World", the winding-up snare fills in "Grant Hart". I'm generally not a big fan of garden variety semi-flashy 'workmanlike' rock drumming, but when it suits the material this wonderfully, I have to give props.

ok, I could go on and on but I'll try and contain myself a little. my favorites have chaged so many times over the years, but the songs that still slay me every time: The Certainty, Song #1, Fight It, Grant Hart and Throwaway.

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 11 April 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

um, i haven't heard this, but i like "frosting on the Beater". especially the first 3 tracks.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

it's the one right after Frosting. i'd say it's the best to get next if you like Frosting.

i just had to rant a bit about it and get some things off my chest.

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Only Posies track I find I can take nowadays is "Suddenly Mary."

― Jess Hill (jesshill), Friday, 11 April 2003 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm going downstairs to listen to the posies now. those first 3 tracks are one of the best 3-song opening salvos on any record. seriously.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 11 April 2003 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I often call this "the most aptly titled album of all time." As a major Frosting On The Beater fan I was hugely disappointed when this came out. I rarely sell discs back but this was one of them. Should probably listen to it now with some emotional distance, I really felt betrayed at the time. I do remember that the 2nd half of the disc was much better than the first but just couldn't fight my way through it enough times to form a bond.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Friday, 11 April 2003 17:35 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, i can definitely see why earlier fans were turned off by AD, even though it was much less of a stylistic change from Frosting than Frosting had been from Dear 23. it was just the wrong album at the wrong time. Success would have been a more apt followup.

there was that thread a while back about re-sequencing albums, and including b-sides and outtakes...if I was the boss of the Posies at the time, this is how I would've had Amazing Disgrace turn out more like:

Song #1
Fight It (If You Want)
Please Return It
Daily Mutilation
Grant Hart
World
Terrorized
Sad To Be Aware
You're The Beautiful One
The Certainty
Limitless Expressions
Throwaway

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 11 April 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

'Throwaway' is definitely the keeper from this one. I was just listening to it at lunchtime! I'd better not say anymore as the Posies are my favourite band.

― Bryan (Bryan), Friday, 11 April 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

no, Bryan! say more! i'm so looooonely!

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 11 April 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I still think it is a better album than "Frosting On The Beater".

However, "Dear 23" was their only truly great album - they became a bit too grunge-wanna-b after that (although the songs were at least always better than those composed by Hootie & The Blowfish, Matchbox 20 or Counting Crows)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 11 April 2003 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Yer high, dude! The songs on 'Dear 23' were good but the production STEEEENX. Al, maybe I will sometime. Somethings have to be left sacred, you know?

― Bryan (Bryan), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm a posies freak and love AD. it's their full-on RAWK record -- everything turned up. and they're such good writers that the songs could not only withstand the production blast but were really energized by it. although nowhere near as good, it's a great hard pop record like "heaven tonight," in which cheap trick stopped being produced like a bar band and discovered the studio.

― notfazed (notfazed), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:44 (twenty-two years ago)

But... I thought I was the only person who loved AD? I took a weird route into the Posies, a UK fanzine article about "Failure" made me want to buy it the day I was rejected by the first girl I'd asked out in about - oh - five years, that was '94, then I bought the albums in order a few months apart from each other, so when AD was coming out me and my mate Paul were on the edge of our seats. And then when a friend got an advance tape of it I was in the loo in work playing it over and over and smiling madly to myself. We saw them in Bristol on that tour, one of the best gigs of my life, me shouting out to Jon to play "Open every window" and him playing it, me and Paul shouting out "Everybody is a fucking liar" and Ken going "What? Did you just say...?" Too many memories.

OK, in retrospect some of the songs are not as good as the others, I could live without "Hate song" or "Fight it" quite happily, and "Broken record" doesn't go anywhere, but really it's all part and parcel of the great big ROCK sound of them, which I think they were revelling in at the time. Faves? "Song #1" easily, with "Throwaway" and "Please return it" a close second. Superb band performances, great songs (mostly), and a bloody big noise. My joint fave album of 1996, for capturing a perfect moment in my life.

― Rob M (Rob M), Saturday, 12 April 2003 10:58 (twenty-two years ago)

word, the production on Dear 23 is dated as fuck. but it does contain some of their best songs. another thing about AD is I think it's their best-produced album. it has the heaviness of Frosting but still brings out the melody. Frosting sounds like a great experiment, though -- take some dynamic pop and let Don Fleming sludge it up. for a long time, listening to Frosting all the way through gave me a headache (and i *like* noise), but i've grown to love the approach.

― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 12 April 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Yer high, dude! The songs on 'Dear 23' were good but the production STEEEENX

Dunno. I prefer the production on "Dear 23" because it is a pure pop album without those loud guitars that dragged their two next albums down.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 12 April 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

ha! the posies. i remember way back (begin flashback sequence) to eigth grade when the posies won the opportunity to record their first album. i was a fan for the next two albums but lost interest after 'frosting...' and in college, i moved into a their old house in the u-district. occasionally, jon and 'what's his name' surprise me when i happen to catch one of their lives shows about town. i wish i still had their discs/albums, as this thread revives interest.

― j.a.e., Sunday, 13 April 2003 08:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Amazing Disgrace is a great album, but so so sour... 'Everybody Is A Fucking LIar', 'Hate Song' - they were btoh pretty slight tunes, and the sentiments within them seemed so bitter and jarring compared to the sweet pop that is The Posies' heartland. But Song #1' might be their best song, and 'Will You Ever Ease Your Mind' one of their best closers, and... and...

Okay, so this sunday is now gonna be Posies day...

― stevie (stevie), Sunday, 13 April 2003 09:08 (twenty-two years ago)

three years pass...

song #1 is amazing, but success was better overall than AD. the post "breakup" activities of this band have been sort of anti-climactic, to put it mildly. stringfellow's solo career has been close to be interesting, but not quite. dunno about jon auer. the big star and posies reunion stuff has been meh

― timmy tannin (pompous), Monday, 8 January 2007 02:59 (eighteen years ago)

haha wow, a flashback to the days when I actually put effort into starting threads like these.

the Jon Auer solo record is pretty good, Stringfellow's solo career is turning out good but inconsistent. the Posies reunion album ended up growing on me a lot. so generally I've found the diminishing returns of their later projects rewarding enough to keep track of

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Monday, 8 January 2007 13:59 (eighteen years ago)

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