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LP OVERVIEW

CHRONOLOGY:

Eugene Playground
   11/87 to 7/89

   Playground 'til Now cass.

   Appetite for Extinction LP

   first singles

   shows

Olympia Shipwreck 89-90
   8/89 to 3/90

   Shipwreck lp

   shows

Polk-a-Dot Fever
   4/90 to 3/95

   Avalanche

   Whirlpool

   I Scream ep

   singles

   shows

Lowdown
   1996 & 1997

   Generate!

   The Lowdown ep

   shows 1996 & 1997


Some Velvet Sidewalk: LP Overview

Thanks to K most of these records are still in print!

Some Velvet Sidewalk was ten years or so as a band, rotated through a dozen members (and included twice that many guests recording or onstage) and made a bunch of records, mostly for K. The history of SVS is sprawling, complicated, incomprehensible, so this LP Overview breaks it down to the 5 full-length records the band made.

You can get Some Velvet Sidewalk stuff from any number of retailers or distributors. Of course, the most complete and best way is via the K mailorder situation. The links on this page will take you directly to the product page of the item in question.

Avalanche
Features Avalanche, Loch Ness, Cuiosity, Froggy, Peaches, Little Wishes, Deep Sea Green, No Real Home, Alien, Right/Wrong, Ice Cream Overdrive. Recorded part in a basement (Yo-Yo in Olympia) and part in a mega monster rock studio (The Music Source in Seattle) in 1990. The first SVS album with Don (drums) and Martin (bass) on board. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Recommended.
Available as an LP or as a CD.

Whirlpool
The concept was to record something with sort of the feel of a compilation album... different approaches and sounds from song to song. Of course it still only ever sounds like Some Velvet Sidewalk. Still, there is Geological Formations cribbed from a T-Rex song, Mouse & Rat which re-writes Black Flag's Damaged for the regression-therapy set, Oscar Says that crosses Leonard Cohen's wires until the flames and smoke overpower. Recorded in 1991 with the impending doom of grunge looming over. Another Steve Fisk production, this time with Stuart Hallerman assisting, at Avast Studios.
Available as an LP or as a CD.

Shipwreck
Mousetrap, Dumb, Boardwalkin', Wondercat, Eyes Like Yours, Puppy, Unhitched, Hopeless Case, Eye of the Storm. The deep inky night of love rock. Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill, Frumpies) drums, Louise Olsen (Matrimony, Viva Knievel) plays bass. Donna Dresch and Brad Sweek also contribute. Recorded in 1990 at Colm Meek's in Olympia and Lowdown in San Francisco. "You be the cat - I'll be the mouse..."
Available as a phonographic LP and as an indestructible CD.

Generate!
Pop, some howling echoplex guitar noise, some hair-brained dub and some rather dubious rhymes. What more could you want? Some keyboards (from Paul Schuster later of Internal/External and Julie Ruin) and spoken word bits (from artist Nikki McClure)? Done. Mike Johnson thinks this record is really great. Recorded at "John & Stu's" in Seattle and at Lowdown in San Francisco. Started recording in 1994 and finished in 1996. Oh yes, it's a CD as well as an LP.

Appetite for Extinction
Out-of-print, out-of-control, and, yes, even out of tune. Eleven brazen nuggets of love in the face of indifference. "Sometimes if you want something done wrong but in the right way you just have to do it yourself." (from Shawn Wolfe's review in Chemical Imbalance magazine). The worst-sounding and most important Some Velvet Sidewalk album. Recorded mostly in 1988 and 1989 with some earlier cassette bits worked in as well. Not currently available in any format.