SMART BROWN HANDBAG Silverlake 1994

 

Discogs

 

Silverlake Review by Alex Henderson

Smart Brown Handbag lived up to the promise of its 1993 debut on its sophomore effort, Silverlake, which takes its name from an area of Los Angeles that grew increasingly trendy in the 1990s and attracted a lot of musicians. Quite similar to its predecessor, Silverlake offers alternative pop-rock/guitar pop that thrives on melody and is characterized by restraint and understatement--this is a CD that tells its stories without beating listeners over the head. Handbag still had a maudlin side, but that's not to say that every word coming out of singer/guitarist David Steinhart's mouth is maudlin. If you're going to note that Handbag can be maudlin and melancholy, it's important to point out that the lyrics of songs like "Sleepless, Four Days," "Marry You" and "Short Road to Goodbye" can also be humorous and moving. Silverlake should have made Handbag well known, but regrettably, the band continued to be obscure.

 

Tracklist

1		As Many As
2		Mine
3		Out Of Lia
4		Marry You
5		Materialize
6		30000
7		Temper Tantrum
8		Get The Girl
9		Short Road To Goodbye
10		Sleepless Four Days
11		Happy New Year
12		Deliver Us
13		The Circus
14		The Dear Angel
15		Unholy Union

 

SMART BROWN HANDBAG Smart Brown Handbag 1993

 by request

Discogs

 

Smart Brown Handbag Review

by Alex Henderson

Smart Brown Handbag's recording career was off to a pleasing start with this self-titled CD, which showed the L.A. band to be a promising and highly melodic alternative pop/rock unit with a knack for thoughtful, sensitive lyrics. Handbag tends to favor subtlety and understatement rather than immediacy; this is true of David Steinhart's singing and jangly guitars as well as sibling Jeff Steinhart's electric bass and Lynn Norton's organ and keyboards. And because the trio's introspective songs are as subtle and restrained as they are, they don't necessarily grab you right away or provide instant gratification. But after several listens, one realizes just how meaty songs like "Big Eyes," "Impossible," and "The Pearl" really are. Handbag's lyrics can be maudlin at times, but they can also be poignant and touching. "Fight It Off" examines a man's struggle with depression, while "Something Missing" describes a couple whose relationship is falling apart just before their son's second birthday. The couple is at odds, and it is the child who will inevitably suffer the most. This album wasn't a big seller, but many of those who heard it agreed that Handbag had a lot of potential.  

 

Tracklist

1		Just In Case	4:03
2		Coming Down	2:43
3		The Pearl	2:42
4		Dog	3:21
5		Something Missing	2:29
6		Big Eyes	3:46
7		The Kitty	3:45
8		Fight It Off	2:47
9		Impossible	3:23
10		There You Go	3:17
11		The Bed Is Made	2:57
12		Once Upon A Time	3:31

NEUROTICALLY YOURS A Tribute To The Saints 1993

Discogs

 Tracklist 

1	–Moon (23)	Know Your Product	3:20
2	–The Schramms	In The Mirror	5:09
3	–The Chant	Grain Of Sand	3:49
4	–Chuck Prophet	Just Like Fire Would	3:04
5	–Rich Hardesty And The Del Reys	Ghost Ships	2:59
6	–Dime Box	Story Of Love	3:27
7	–The Bevis Frond	This Perfect Day	2:25
8	–Low Max	Messin' With The Kid	4:35
9	–Ed Kuepper	Everything's Fine	3:12
10	–Springhouse	Angels	3:01
11	–Popealopes	How To Avoid Disaster	4:23
12	–The Leaving Trains	Demolition Girl	3:13
13	–Trotsky Icepick	(I'm) Stranded	3:02
14	–The Original Sins	Erotic Neurotic	3:00
15	–The Puzzled Monkeys	Down The Drain	4:12
16	–Sidewinders (2)	Memories Are Made Of This	2:23
17	–Two Lane Blacktop	That's The Way It Goes	4:31
18	–The Brothers Figaro	Wrapped Up And Blue	4:36
19	–Texas Midgets	Shipwreck (Prodigal Son)	5:29

TROTSKY ICEPICK Carpetbomb The Riff 1993

.

Discogs

AllMusic Review by Jack Rabid

Four of these folks date back to the late-'70s L.A. punk explosion. Two-thirds of the Urinals (nee 100 Flowers), singer John Talley-Jones (bass for that older band), and guitarist Kjehl Johansen, one-fifth of the Last, guitarist Vitus Matare (keyboards for that older band, famous underground producer), and one-quarter of Middle Class, bassist Mike Patton (later Cathedral of Tears with Jack from original T.S.O.L..). Quite a pedigree, wouldn't you say? Enough background. With this, their sixth LP, Trotsky Icepick have now released more albums in six years than those three bands combined (not counting the two the Last have made since they re-formed without Matare). They never change much year after year, 'cause they don't have to; their Wire/early Mekons/Gang of Four/Scars-ish harsh, eccentric pop never runs out of new places to explore -- here they even try a quasi-ska beat with success on the LP's most convincing track, "Home Surgery." Using harsh, changing rhythms (white funk, four/four rock, dance beats, you name it), pop choruses that build on scattershot verses, and that frugal, penurious, piercing guitar attack, Trotsky skirt the borders of art rock, thinking man's rock, and the best of highbrow, but primal post-punk aggression like those early English Fast Product days, or more precisely, much like 100 Flowers used to. Keep those carpetbomb riffs coming; the players are aging, not their music.

Tracklist  

1	Imagining Neptune	3:47
2	Invisible Politicians	3:06
3	Bad Girls Go To Hell	3:15
4	Home Surgery	3:09
5	Swallowing Tongues	4:33
6	Local 63	2:54
7	There Goes Salvation	3:46
8	Hate Clown	3:14
9	Shaken	2:33
10	(Kinda Like The) Berlin Wall	3:40
11	1000 Points Of Light	4:22
12	Mr. Caution's Funeral	3:48