Pathetic Reviews: Singles Bar & Drink Me
It's a mystery to me, why, given the market penetration that Elastica has achieved in the US, everything that Salad has ever done remains available only to folks willing to fork over the dough for imports (not to mention doing the legwork to find them). It's a little hard to imagine people who dig "Connection" and "Car Song" not being into "Diminished Clothes" (from Singles Bar) or "Drink the Elixir." Somehow, though, Island doesn't seem to think this bunch would do well on these shores. Me, I think their slightly-punky, mid-tempoed buzzy pop is consistently delightful.
It's also interestingly democratic - guitarist Pete Kennedy writes the lion's share of the tunes, but singer/keyboardist Marijne van der Vlugt pens a few, as does drummer Rob Wakeman, and some are credited to the band as a whole. The quality remains high regardless of the author, and the lyrics are often delightfully skewed. Singles Bar is a compilation of the band's first three e.p.'s from June '93 to April '94. Drink Me is their first full-length album, and was produced and mixed by Mark Freegard.
