The Perfect Disaster - In The Afternoon

I've been going through my record collection and found many LP's that will probably never be issued on CD and widely available, so decided to put some on here so people can at least enjoy a few long lost gems from the 80's.

Who are the Perfect Disaster?

"Singer/guitarist Phil Parfitt and guitarist Dan Cross have been the only constants in this fascinating and prolific English band's intricate genealogy. (Part of an early incarnation transmuted into Fields of the Nephilim; ex-bassist Josephine Wiggs joined the Breeders and made a solo record in 1996.) Typified by constant artistic tension and a habit of shifting direction as frequently as possible, the Perfect Disaster is a strange bird, but one worth keeping an ear on.

The restrained and debonair (but far from slick) suave-pop on Perfect Disaster (their first album) gently builds alluring, occasionally rocking (with a bit of sax and even feedback), arrangements around Parfitt's deep, character-laden voice. With a cover of Lou Reed's "Over You" to underscore affection for the Velvets' pretty side and such tunefully neurotic Parfitt originals as "What's Happening to Me" and "Hiding from Frank," this stylelessly inventive collection — easily commendable to fans of Aztec Camera — is a most auspicious debut.

Two of the four new songs (including a weird Vietnam-war number entitled "The Night Belongs to Charlie" that later turned up, in a different recording, on Asylum Road) on the 1987 12-inch firm up the Perfect Disaster's pop backbone with more guitar intensity; the other two keep things light and airy. After previewing another album track — this one with Wiggs' cello and string bass providing an eerie aura — on the T.V. (Girl on Fire) EP, the band released its second LP, Asylum Road. A shifting sky of cloudy moods, the songs run from somber ("All the Stars") to rushing enthusiasm ("The Crack Up") to Velvety drone ("In Conference Again"), all punched up by Cross' incisively diverse guitar work. In a typical contradiction of sound and content, "What's the Use of Trying?" voices disgust over a delightful pop melody." -- Ira Robbins, TrouserPress.com

I only have the Asylum Road LP and a couple songs on a Fire Records compilation cassette I bought decades ago. If you love the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed you'll like this band.

Technical Note: As always I try to get the best reproduction possible by cleaning my albums with a pad, use a decent needle, and putting the transferred wave file through a basic de-clicker program to remove most pops and clicks. However, since I don't have access -- or could even afford -- a professional studio with hi-tech gadgets to really clean up the sound, like all vinyl LPs there is inherent surface noise and other imperfections I can't do anything about. I still think my album transfers sound better than 99% of the LPs I hear on here. Hope you agree.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• The
• Perfect
• Disaster
• In
• the
• Afternoon