| Melody Freaks : The Heavy Changes Review |
| Heavy Changes |
| Almost exactly 10 years ago, I became a Rolling Stones fan. And when I say Stones fan, I don't mean that I started to like the songs that get played on the oldies radio stations. I mean the kind of Stones fan that gets his rocks off listening to "Sway" or "Stray Cat Blues" as much as he does hearing "Satisfaction" or "Miss You". You see, the Stones redefined 'alternative music' for me much more than Nirvana. It was the first time I realized that the great classic bands like the Stones, Beatles, or Dylan had as many great unheard songs (for my generation, at least) as the indie band you saw in the club last night. And so it was about a decade ago that I walked into my local record store and found a set of cd's in the Stones' section that I'd never seen before. There were 3 volumes of a Rolling Stones series called Time Trip. Two of the discs were alternate studio versions of prime vintage '68-'72 Stones, and Volume 3 was mostly unreleased tracks. Despite carrying a hefty pre-Napster/pre-CD-burner price tag, I bought all three volumes on the spot. It was a lot of pennies, and they were worth every one of them. My introduction to the world of bootlegs was a revelation. I listened to those cd's for months on end. Some of the alternate versions were better than the official versions. Some of them were completely reworked. The third disc of unreleased tracks could have stood up to all but the greatest of Stones albums. I felt like I had found the Holy Grail of lost Stones recordings. Which is exactly how I feel about Melody Freaks. |
| Subtitled A Collection of Demos and Outtakes 1990-1996, Melody Freaks is an 18-song rush of adrenaline that has the exact same effect that those Stones boots had on me a decade ago. It slams home every reason why I fell in love with the Velvet Crush in the first place. Here we have a band trying out new songs and new ideas and as a result every track on here sounds as fresh today as the day these sounds were laid on tape. If you ever wondered if the Crush would recapture the raucous sound of their debut album, you've got your wish. Ironically, no songs from In The Presence Of Greatness are represented here. Seven of the disc's 18 tracks hail from the band's finest hour, the Teenage Symphonies To God album. Fans who were fortunate enough to score a copy of the Japanese-only Timeless Melodies were treated to early versions of "Star Trip" and "Time Wraps Around You" recorded with members of the Gigolo Aunts. What's astonishing about these tracks, along with "Hold Me Up", "Weird Summer", and "Keep On Lingerin'", is how they retain all of the power in their rough form as they do on Teenage Symphonies. Even better are the versions of "My Blank Pages" and "This Life Is Killing Me", which rock much harder than their finished versions. "Blank Pages" in particular has a nasty swagger to it that makes it the standout of the album. "Standing Down" will sound familiar to many Crush fans, as it originally appeared as the TSTG-era b-side "It's Been Too Long And It's Too Late Now".In addition, the Free Expression album is represented by two cuts: great louder versions of "Goin' To My Head" and "Heaven Knows", in which the pedal steel guitar is replaced by a distorted one. Exquisite. The band also reprises its debut single here, "If Not True/One Thing Two Believe" which sound like the band is trying to find the right blend of jangle and power chords. The power chords win out on these versions. The remainder of the album is composed of outtakes, mostly from the Heavy Changes era. Fortunately the band's trash is your treasure. "Further Over You" is a great tune in the same Southern hard-rock vein of "Seen Better Days" which also appears here in an early version. "Beside Yourself" is a slow, sprawling track reminiscient of "Fear Of Flying". "Reunion Day" is immediately catchy, recommended to fans of VC one-offs such as "Be Someone Tonight". "The Real One", with its swirling organ and Paul's high vocal, is one of the band's more pure pop moments. Finally, as a treat for the band's Midwest contingent, there's a snappy cover of Three Hour Tour's "Turn Down" which fits the Velvet Crush aesthetic perfectly (it should, since Paul has previously co-written tunes with THT's Darren Cooper). There's a sense of guilty pleasure listening to Melody Freaks, almost as if it should be stocked next to Great White Wonder or Live'R Than You'll Ever Be in your favorite record shop. Except that you can get this one for about 12 bucks and it sounds great. I can't recommend this disc highly enough to Velvet Crush fans. Of all the archival VC releases thus far, this one may not be the most essential, but it has the most essence. |
 |