TRASHCAN SINATRAS - C OR D

It's not an album that jumps out of the speakers and hits you on the head with how great it is, and I'll be darned if I can figure out what more than a couple of the songs are about lyrically... But it's grown into being one of the albums which I judge all other guitar jangle pop albums by.

Good rainy day morning music.

These guys are so great. Frank Reader's voice is probably the most relaxing thing ever.

"Obscurity Knocks" is such a tune. Irish DJ Donal Dineen had a late night tv music show where he constantly played/was trying to break these guys. he didnt succeed. he did with david bloody gray though.....

so bummed that I just recently missed their show here in Toronto as it was a closed event that filled up fast. will teach me to read my mailing list digests in a more timely fashion. :(

crazy this got revived. been on a kick lately listening to Cake and the follow up. Thinking I need the live acoustic album.

they have a new album out actually - In The Music. Haven't got it yet and have to admit am not feeling compelled based on what I've heard, but likely will give it a chance. It took a few goes before Weightlifting grew on me.

new-ish anyway

I downloaded _Cake_ recently - I once owned it, back in the early '90s, but hadn't listened to them at all since then. I thought of the band again about a month back, trying to think of forgotten early '90s bands for some reason, and downloaded the album. It holds up pretty well, I think. I remember finding the penchant for bad puns in the lyrics kind of embarrassing, but maybe I was being a bit too uptight.

man I used to love this band

long in the tooth and short on wisdom

i used to love this band in 9th grade (1990) and dl'ed a few songs cake from emusic to use up some tracks -- it was like being back in my musty old attic with the cassette player. hadn't heard these songs in FOREVER.

in the music is better than it should be. what is with all of the "i used to love them...", it should be eternal.

Still love them, just forgot about their albums for a while. Played Cake and I've Seen Everything this afternoon. Both are great albums. I prefer Cake but i've also heard it about 100x more.

I mean, they just kinda got lumped into "bands from the cassette era that I had one album by" (because I probably won it off the radio) for me -- see also That Petrol Emotion, The Silencers, Hunters and Collectors. I would call into the radio station when they had a contest and just win whatever they would give me. Aside from my weekly purchase at the mall on Saturdays and what I could get from the public library, this was how I acquired new music.

I don't exactly feel a lot of zeal about it now, but at the time it was pretty exciting and I used to put songs from Cake on all of my friends' mixtapes. "Circling the Circumference" was a good one.

what is with all of the "i used to love them...", it should be eternal.

i can't say i still love them just because i literally haven't heard them since about 1992!!

i'm sure i still would, but differently, probably. it was one of those bands that me and my girlfriend had a "thing" about, which colors things, too.

(but just imo nothing "should be eternal" - for instance, i change! i think)

So no one else heard and liked Weightlifting? Aside from the use of pun, the title track is one of my all time faves, and overall it's really solid. So many little perfect little moments. Just, as said earlier, it takes repeated listens to get there.

This album really needs to be reissued!

i would rate all of the albums from good to really good, they never really made a great record though i suppose 'cake' came closest. 'weightlifting' and 'in the music' are very similar, as if they enter some enchanted space when they record and become the trash can sinatras as if no time has passed at all.

They all look reasonably chilled in this photo from a couple of months ago:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/Trashcan_sinatras_knuckleheads_march_27_2011.png/712px-Trashcan_sinatras_knuckleheads_march_27_2011.png

"But to face doom in a sock-stenched room all by myself,
Is the kind of fate i never contemplate"

Francis Reader is one of those artists, in I suppose the Morrissey mould, whose lyrics you could never see working on paper but in song, with the way they sing them, they're eminently singable.

I'm so out of the loop with this band. Case in point: they released Wild Pendulum in May and I'm just now catching word of it. Listening and it's not quite the direction I hoped they would go after In the Music, but I'm just happy to have new music from them in any case. It's a bit more orchestrated in its sound and overall, more uptempo than Weightlifting or In the Music. It's probably the most blatantly pop-sounding thing they've ever done. Frank Reader still remains one of my all time favorite singers and it's great to see John Douglas presumably back in better health.

Look forward to spending more time with this new one.

Listening to A Happy Pocket again. Such a great record!

Aren't they touring the US now and doing old albums?

they gave away tickets to see them during a Mets game two weeks ago and i thought i was hallucinating

Yes, they are currently doing a tour called "One Night, Two Albums" where they are playing Cake and I've Seen Everything in their entirety.

They'll be here when I'll be in Europe 😕

oh shit, i need to look for that tour. i love those albums.