NOW PLAYING IN THE SAVAGE JUKEBOX JULY 2020

"THREESOME VOL. 1" (EP)

THE LICKERISH QUARTET
Released May 15, 2020
NEW 2020 MUSIC: What a joy it is to hear these musicians again!!

From the ashes of both Jellyfish and Imperial Drag, former bandmates Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Tim Smith and Eric Dover have re-formed, after over 25 years apart, as The Lickerish Quartet (itself named after an obscure '70s era adult feature) to again realize their specialized amalgamation of 1970's era styled power pop, glam and prog fueled by superior songwriting chops, splendid instrumental prowess and just oceans of glorious melodies and stacked choirboy vocal harmonies. 

"Threesome Vol. 1" is the band's debut, the first of three planned EP releases this year, this one featuring four songs that simultaneously feel like throwbacks to a past musical era and still feel as if these selections could only have been made in 2020.

1. "Fadoodle"-A sprightly, cheeky tune that could have served as an offshoot of Queen's "Killer Queen," the EP opens with this bouncing beachball of a song that fuses playful sexual metaphor and a dash of onomatopoeia alongside an infectious day-glo, Saturday morning, child's colored 45 RPM single that would inspire kids to jump around their bedrooms. Pure sunshine.

2. "Bluebird's Blues"-With a building fade in that suggests 10cc's "I'm Not In Love," the EP's second track is a lush ballad that more than unpacks its voluminous melodies courtesy of the meticulously tasteful instrumentation and definitely, with the expert lead and harmony vocals, which swirl and glide through your speakers gloriously. 

3. "There Is A Magic Number"-Floating as if resting upon a cloud, the EP's more acoustic based third track arrives. Again, we have a lush ballad, yet one that conjures images of strumming an acoustic guitar in a field or while hovering in space. It is the song that connects most instantaneously, inspiring you to sing along upon its first listen. 

4. "Lighthouse Spaceship"-The EP closes with the psychedelic majesty of this six and a half minute, multi-part suite of a song that throws everything at you, from those Queen styled harmony vocals, layers of guitars that sparkle and shine from one speaker to the other, vibrant analog synth effects,  another instantly infectious chorus, and a finale that ascends beautifully to the stars.

The Lickerish Quartet's "Threesome Volume 1," is a splendidly lovely calling card that expertly reminds fans of why we fell in love with these musicians in the first place, while simultaneously giving all of us much to rejoice about with their new incarnation. And in the absolutely best possible way, the EP confidently leaves us wanting more.

I hope we do not have terribly long to wait for Volume 2. 

"CURTIS"

CURTIS MAYFIELD

Released September 1, 1970

"RUNT: THE BALLAD OF TODD RUNDGREN"

TODD RUNDGREN
Released June 24, 1971

"WE GOT IT FROM HERE...THANK YOU 4 YOUR SERVICE"

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST
Released November 11, 2016

"ROCKING THE SUBURBS

BEN FOLDS

Released September 11, 2001

Another Planet: A Teenager In Suburbia
Tracey Thorn
224 pages
Canongate Books 

Published April 2, 2019

I had a diary when I was a teenager.

Or rather, I liked the idea of having a diary but completely lacked the discipline or interest in compiling, exploring and examining the minutiae of my life and then, try to make it remotely readable. The initial attempts were honest but as I remember it now, it was just a simultaneously impassioned/dispassionate take of the every day where I essentially complained that "Nothing happened today." Such is adolescence...

Tracey Thorn's third memoir, "Another Planet: A Teenager In Suburbia," touches precisely upon the nature of her own diaries, which she compiled during her youth and inside of which not much was terribly revealed save for what she watched, listened to or bought or most often, not bought or experienced. Yet, regarding her diaries as an adult, there is the revelation that there was much to be gained from all that she omitted rather than included, therefore, one fashion of cultivating her persona, and even moreso, almost inventing memories by amassing secrets she never wished to place into print.

And that is where the core of her memoir rests, the concept of memory, how unreliable it actually is and yet, how influenced it is by the very people, things and locations that may not feel terribly revelatory at the time when first experienced.

The book finds Thorn, 30 years after departing, taking a trip to her home of Brookmans Park, a commuter town outside of London...a suburbia forever etched within a certain place and time, one that did not possess a grand history and was not designed to account for, and is resistant to, future development. As a teenager, it was a stifling environment from which she was anxious to escape yet now, a newfound warmth arrives within the passage of time and of course, the wealth of memory regarding her family and friends from her 1970's teenage years.

As with her first two books, Bedsit Disco Queen (2013) and Naked At The Albert Hall (2015), Tracey Thorn again showcases that she is an exceedingly engaging writer, one who possess a literary voice that is so warm and engaging that I know that I would deeply enjoy the opportunity to just sit across from her in a cafe and just listen to her spin stories or have a conversation--and not just because of any fandom I still hold dearly due to her time in Everything But The Girl and as a solo artist!

But I have to admit that out of all of her books, this one was the one that took more time for me to embrace and I would gather that it had to do with my expectations rather than what Thorn delivered. For I was expecting a book that was more openly emotional and personal yet what was written was considerably more topographical, as Thorn gives detailed descriptions of her childhood/teenage home surroundings, and granted, without really having a better sense of the layout, I was a tad at arms length with the book.

That being said, and after some time, I realized that Thorn is showcasing what exists for each and every one of us when we accept an invitation to return to our pasts. Location is firmly tied to our emotions as the places in which we first began to become ourselves are now all fixtures within our DNA as much as the people we knew and the experiences we had.

All of her walks, often alongside her sister, lead us back to her relationships with friends, first stabs at love and sex, her relationships with her parents and her memories collide with more recent experiences as her parent each aged as well as compared with her life now as an adult in her fifties with grown children of her own. Every memory etched in every location, all enhancing her greater understanding of her family, her feelings towards her suburban upbringing and herself as she regards herself from adult eyes ultimately makes for a warmly poignant remembrance worth undertaking.

Of course, everything goes back to her diaries. And if you kept one or ever tried to, seeing pieces of hers will only inspire self-recognition as well as conjure up your own memories of the environments that further inspired the words you chose to write down...or not.