v/a "In A Lonely Place" 7 inch compilation (Four Letter Words/1993)

I am not sure if I have mentioned in this space but if you couldn't tell from my Blogger profile picture, I am a huge fan of the band Further. And this record was one that I thought would certainly be a white whale in trying to put together a complete collection of all the band's releases. (for those looking to help complete my collection listed at the bottom of this post is what I am looking for.) But to my surprise I was able to locate this rare compilation several years ago and somehow very cheaply at that too. This compilation from the wonderful indie pop label Four Letter Words is called In a Lonely Place and it features four exclusive tracks from Allen Clapp & His Orchestra, Kevin, Further and Six Cents & Natalie. I have written about Allen Clapp & His Orchestra in this space before and he is a pop song genius. The song here "The Apple of My Eye" is a lo fi slice of indie pop greatness. As far as I know the song was never re-recorded. Up next is "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" by an artist by the name simply Kevin. It is fuzzy, noisy guitar indie pop and I would like to hear more. I am curious if this is Kevin from  DiskothiQ or not. If anyone out there knows let me know. I just made that assumption due to the relationship of the bands and also that DiskothiQ has a song called "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" On the flip side Further kicks things off with a earlier version of the noisy pop gem of "Going to Glendora" which was later re-recorded for Sometimes Chimes. Closing out the compilation is "Sea Scout" by Six Cents & Natalie which is the lo fi and sporadic home recording project of Sean Tollefson of Crayon and Tullycraft. He released a bunch of cassettes and singles as well compilation appearances in the early 90s and later on released a few cds. "Sea Scout" was later re-released on the CD Show Me the Honey on the excellent label Blackbean and Placenta Club.. In a Lonely Place is a pretty nice cross section of what sums up my interests in indie rock, indie pop and lo fi.

So for those of you looking to assist in completing my Further collection here is what I am looking for. If you have any of these and are interested in selling/trading please drop me a line.
-Further /DiskothiQ Race For the Brass Turd (live) cassette (Sonic Enemy)
-Further Overrated/Beautiful Feeling 7 inch (No Guff Records)
-v/a Pop American Style double 12 inch (Flavour Records) *has the Further track "Day to Day"

v/a In a Lonely Place track listing:
1. Allen Clapp & His Orchestra "The Apple of My Eye"
2. Kevin "What I Did on My Summer Vacation"
3. Further "Going to Glendora"
4. Six Cents & Natalie "Sea Scout"

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Allen Clapp & His Orchestra "A Change in the Weather" 7 inch (Four Letter Words/1991)

Here is a quick little post before I have to start my day getting ready for classes. And perhaps it is a little wishful thinking asking for a change in the weather? But all that aside Allen Clapp is an absolute indie pop genius who has been writing and recording since the late 80s but under the Allen Clapp & His Orchestra name he has been at it since the 1990 with A Change in the Weather being his sophomore release. The two song one sided single was released on the cult, no frills indie pop label Four Letter Words who in their short existence released one indie pop essential after another. Clapp like many other artists of the era opted to document his songs via a four track tape recorder but unlike the usual fuzzy, lo fi excess that was to be expected of the day Clapp instead tried to get as much as he possibly could from a production value standpoint out of the machine to record works that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than pop music. In a way it sounded as if Clapp was trying to bring The Beatles, The Raspberries and even later Jam to the world of lo fi indie music. There is absolutely also a great influence of C-86 stuff like The Shop Assistants and Dolly Mixture present. The title track and the second tune "Advice From Mr Leary" are super short stabs of pop wonderment that get stuck in your head and beg for the needle to be brought back to the beginning. Throughout the years Clapp and His Orchestra released several great songs on compilations and full fledged stand alone releases, perhaps none were better than 1994's full length effort One Hundred Percent Chance of Rain which for my money is one of the greatest, and unheralded albums of the 90s-simply put it is indie pop perfection. Clapp over the years has continued to write and record music with his band The Orange Peels who are a indie pop band as well but a bit more polished than the four track Allen Clapp & His Orchestra stuff. In 2006 The Bus Stop Label issued a collection of all the Allen Clapp & His Orchestra singles/comp tracks and I just heard recently that Clapp has a new album coming under the Allen Clapp & His Orchestra moniker.

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