Saturday Looks Good to Me C/D

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Their new one is All Your Summer Songs, and you want it. (Vinyl has two bonus tracks, so get that). It has 4-track fidelity, Supremes/Spector worship, a million different singers and musicians, and boy, does it push all the right buttons. I'd say it's a logical extension of the His Name Is Alive (with whom they share several members) track "How It's Gotta Be" (and possibly a non-synth half-sister of side A of The Wayward Bus by the Magnetic Fields).

I've been listening to this album, plus their self-titled one, pretty much non-stop for the past week. Anyone else out there want to gush about them?

http://saturdaylooksgoodtome.com
http://saturdaylooksgoodtome.com/discography/
http://www.polyvinylrecords.com

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Saturday, 22 March 2003 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

i love them, he's like the new warren defever, using all of his friends to make beautiful music. is the new one out?

― keith (keithmcl), Saturday, 22 March 2003 21:00 (twenty-three years ago)

See them live! I've seen them play around Detroit and they are very good and a lot of fun. Yay Fred Thomas!

― Jeff Sumner (Jeff Sumner), Saturday, 22 March 2003 21:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Most of it is very nice, some of it is very very nice, and "Meet Me By the Water" is some kind of wonderful. "Bring your record player and your Raincoats 45s..." A perfect indie joke, sly and hip but disarming too. And I love the way the first verse is so perfect that they only way to top it is to let a sax play the second verse, and then it all falls into dubby bits in the third verse because a kiss is just a kiss and "morning always comes too soon." Sigh.

(My copy was forwarded to me by a heartbroken friend who has spent most of the past month moping his way through the album, over and over.)

― Jesse Fox, Sunday, 23 March 2003 05:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Great record, great band I found out about thru ILM (though I was a Flashpapr fan) - really great. Too bad it's on Polyvinyl!

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 23 March 2003 07:20 (twenty-three years ago)

i ordered the cd from the polyvinyl website but why is a guy who rips off motown on an emo label and why is he always touring with emos? is flashpapr emo? erika godzuki on the cover, woo hoo, wonder if godzuki will ever release anything ever again.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 23 March 2003 17:11 (twenty-three years ago)

flashpapr = certainly NOT emo. Can't explain the Polyvinyl thing but try to get past it - the record is pretty great

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 23 March 2003 21:20 (twenty-three years ago)

i am sure it is great, the first one was excellent. slgtm and pas/cal's album is coming soon, detroit is actually pretty cool now.

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 24 March 2003 05:27 (twenty-three years ago)

i don't think polyvinyl is really that emo a label, unless you're obsessing over the fact that rainer maria and sunday's best are on them.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 24 March 2003 05:30 (twenty-three years ago)

mates of state, owen, braid

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 24 March 2003 17:39 (twenty-three years ago)

keith = secret emo expert

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 24 March 2003 22:56 (twenty-three years ago)

ha, i was just looking at the front page of their website.

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 24 March 2003 22:58 (twenty-three years ago)

i find it very hard to take MoS as emo, but i guess vocally they are a bit..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:00 (twenty-three years ago)

have you seen them live? they are very adept at the pained expression.

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:02 (twenty-three years ago)

i am actually happy they ar epolyvinyl cause they actually released the SLGTM record, the original label whistle tap can't even get their website up. still waiting for saltwater to release the hushpad album. i think some labels are po boxes and nothing more, feel sorry for bands that get mixed up with them.

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:07 (twenty-three years ago)

i know that experience all too well

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:43 (twenty-three years ago)

there's also a recent slgtm 7" available on audiopants. but i haven't heard it, so don't ask my opinion.

― Matt B. (Matt B.), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 01:52 (twenty-three years ago)

They actually recorded "Meet Me By the Water" for my & Lisa's wedding--Jodi V.B. wrote the words about us. We were... overwhelmed. SO GOOD.

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 11:22 (twenty-three years ago)

the album is absolutely wonderful and fantastic and perfect. it's rally not much of a change from the first but that's of little concern. 'you work all weekend' and 'typing' are the best songs. polyvinyl sent me an awful comp with the cd but it has another slgtm song on it, yay.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 6 April 2003 16:03 (twenty-three years ago)

i now have three copies of that comp thanks to Polyvinyl and Devil in the Woods

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 6 April 2003 22:41 (twenty-three years ago)

ten months pass...

In 2003, SLGTM released a total of four singles (in addition to the album): three 7"s, one CD EP. And you know what? THEY'RE ALL INCREDIBLE! (gush gush gush gush)

OH MY GOD I can't stop listening to them. As I was writing to a friend, whenever I hear a new SLGTM track, it becomes my new favorite song. "Underwater Heartbeat" then "No Good with Secrets" then "Hiding" then "Girl of Mine" and now this tune called "This Time Every Year" on their Christmas single:

You were staring at the pretty lights
when your car started sliding on the ice
They're closing off the highway
Nobody wants to die that way

...

And the snow falls
and you disappear
and it seems to happen this time every year

Also, last year there was a Fred Thomas solo album and single (both great!)...this guy is UNSTOPPABLE. YOU CANNOT STOP HIM.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Friday, 6 February 2004 05:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, there was also a Summer Tour '03 CD-R album. Why isn't All Your Summer Songs at the top of a million year-end lists?

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Friday, 6 February 2004 06:00 (twenty-two years ago)

five months pass...

Unmastered MP3s from the upcoming album, here:

http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/slgtm_hidden/

The vinyl and CD versions apparently will be different (I'm thinking: same songs, different recordings).

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Thursday, 29 July 2004 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw solo Fred Thomas live, and it was very charming. I really like what i've heard from the band. Will have to get the album

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Thursday, 29 July 2004 03:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I love lost of the stuff this band has done, but that tour cd was horrible :(, eevn worse than the one Broadcast did.

― svend (svend), Thursday, 29 July 2004 03:33 (twenty-one years ago)

err love most of the stuff this band has done, ...... even worse

― svend (svend), Thursday, 29 July 2004 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Studio stuff - C. Live - D. Saw them in Montreal, they came across as a sloppy garage band. Still, definitely the best music to come out in Ann Arbor in a while (I went to U-M 1994-98).

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, 29 July 2004 04:09 (twenty-one years ago)

They can be hit or miss live. Depends on who's playing with Fred that night.

― Jeff Sumner (Jeff Sumner), Thursday, 29 July 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

new disc on Polyvinyl is pretty nice. still not sure whether i like it more than 'Summer Songs'...

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 29 July 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

ken, you have a full version of the new album? has it leaked to slsk? *drool*

― carson dial (carson dial), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

oops, sorry. advance promo from Polyvinyl...

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

oh well, I can wait. I got a threatening letter from the BPI for running a music blog today, so I was up for some piracy before I bought it later on in the year. I can wait! (besides, I've got to find a record player so I can play the vinyl version)

― carson dial (carson dial), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Their last tour, with Nomo as their backing band, was phenomenal. They had eleven people onstage. ELEVEN. I also saw 'em when they were touring as a garage rock three-piece, but they're really at the height of their power with a fleshed-out band. I saw two of the Nomo/SLGTM shows, and they ended them both with "I Would Find It So Beautiful" done as a New Orleans-style funeral recession. Also - pick up that Nomo album, if you're keen on Afrobeat stuff - it's excellent.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Friday, 30 July 2004 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Every Night is out! So is the new Flashpapr album, which is the best one yet. And there's also a new Fred Thomas solo album, Turn It Down (also good). I'll report back on the vinyl version when I get my turntable out of storage this Friday. Apparently, there's an Australian version of Every Night with two bonus songs, but those two songs will be available as a single from We're Twins.

They are on tour right now! http://www.saturdaylooksgoodtome.com/shows/

I will probably see them in Birmingham, AL, where they're playing at a Japanese restaurant! Hooray!!

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

every night is not as sonically diverse, it has more moments where he reminds me of gedge and even so emo-ish times to be had but i think the album is mostly very nice. the lyrics are more direct and interesting.

― keith m (keithmcl), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Amazing. I honestly love every song on the new album. You'll need to buy the vinyl version, which differs from the CD in the following ways (and several other more subtle ways):

"Since You Stole My Heart": sung by Fred instead of Betty
"Keep Walking": different intro
"Empty Room": different drum break
"When the Party Ends": full band arrangement - rawk!
"Dialtone": extended spoken intro
"We Can't Work It Out": no harp intro

Fred Thomas appears to be somewhat obsessed with Jonathan Richman right now,
1) covering "Lonely Financial Zone" on his latest solo album
2) holding a Modern Lovers album on the cover of the 7" for "The Girl's Distracted"
3) namechecking him in his live rendition of "When the Party Ends"
4) covering "Important in Your Life" live

New tour schedule up at the Polyvinyl site. This is their third tour this year. THIRD! Good lord.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:07 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.