It is fitting that Fred Thomas music is the subject of Antiquated Futures’ latest “Selected Songs” series, considering that he performed mastering duties on the overwhelming majority of the previous then that have been released.
This time, in collaboration with their long-time musical partner Betty Marie Barnes, the series features covers of songs that Barnes performed lead vocals on during the duo’s successful time with Saturday Night Looks Good To Me, live tracks they hadn’t performed with their previous band, and new songs exclusively for Mighty Clouds that are indelibly and uniquely their own.
As such, this wonderfully sprawling masterpiece takes in everything from the 60s girl band of I Don’t Want To Go, All Over Town, and Volcano to the jangly neo-acoustic-pop of Hands In The Snow, Since You Stole My Heart, Fierce Love, and Wavelength, while touching on the relative modernity of 2000s indie-pop and its crystalline jangle-pop riffs in Parking Lot Blues and Stay Single.
However, the live tracks on You Can Tell Everyone Under the Sun (Selected Songs, 2004–2013) truly shine, particularly The Girl’s Distracted, Underwater Heart, and Alcohol. These tracks possess a unique blend of The Vaselines’ indie-pop and garage-pop dynamism, coupled with a C86 sense of playfulness that is not evident in their studio tracks.
As cited in Bandcamp Release bio:
The Selected Songs series seeks to shine a light on under-appreciated and overlooked artists from the present and past. Each volume serves as a curated primer to an artist’s catalog, or a hand-picked selection of an artist’s lost or forgotten songs.
janglepophub.home.blog 