* ahorton <ahorton@vt.edu>:

"A Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons", hands-down. Before it, they were nothing but a 100% unabashed Sonic Youth ripoff (even going as far as to release records on Steve Shelley's "Smells like Records" label!).

While I'm not here to defend BR, this is going a might far. It's similar to saying that Stereolab's early LPs are Neu! and Can ripoffs that merit no attention whatsoever (I know many who ignore them for this very reason), and it's all too easy to *say*. Sure, it helps to set hard limits for music collecting purposes, but it's not quite as black and white... Why would Shelley play on, and produce records by a band that were 100% unabashedly ripping off his own (note that SY have ripped plenty themselves)? Again, not championing BR... just a thought, really.

Suddenly, on that record, they "came into their own," actually writing great songs and using interesting sonic textures.

I agree it was a step forward, but it doesn't negate their back catalog.

Their recent release, "misery is a butterfly," was an unfortunate attempt to do "a melody.." again, but without the songwriting and interesting production.

Strongly disagree here. I think the LP is excellent, esp. with Eyvind Kang and Skuli Sverrisson on board. Tracks from this LP fared well in a live setting too. -Patrick NP: Baba Zula - "Üç Oyundan Onyedi Müzik" OD: Lajkó Félix és zenekara - "S/T"