The Fall-Outs "The Fall-Outs" 1992

The Fall-Outs' self-titled album settles down a bit from the adrenalized garage of their earlier recordings, and manages something that's rather unique in the nineties garage-revival scene -- they have a level of unironic seriousness that's rather appealing, compared to the sounds of many similar bands. This mainly comes through in the record's reliance on blues-based, Rolling Stones-style rock (as opposed to the "beat-punk" that defines much of the scene) -- The Fall-Outs always have the sound of a wild and over-the-top garage band, but there's a care in the composition and performance of this record that puts a good deal of content behind the style. Fans of the bands' earlier work might be a tad disappointed -- the energy level is a bit lower on Fall-Outs than it was on previous releases -- but there's something about the record that's almost akin to sophistication, which is a rare find in this genre.Seattle punk-poppers the Fallouts never got the glory of compatriots like the Young Fresh Fellows, Mudhoney, or even the Fastbacks or Flop, largely because they were a part-time concern throughout their career. Impressively, they managed to maintain nearly the same lineup throughout: Dave Holmes on guitar and vocals, Shannon McConnell on bass, and Dino Lencioni on drums. (McConnell quit the group for a couple of years in the early '90s; Mudhoney's Steve Turner filled in on bass until McConnell decided to rejoin in 1993, and also signed the group to his own Super-Electro label.)

The Fallouts played locally for a couple of years before finally getting around to making a recording, an untitled eight-song demo cassette. Two years later, the Fallouts made their vinyl debut with the Here I Come EP, followed a year later with the Don't Want the Sun EP. These EPs, plus assorted other early songs, including tracks from that demo cassette, were finally released on CD as Here I Come and Other Hits on Estrus in 1993. The year before that, the group, with Turner on bass, had recorded their self-titled full-length debut. A second album, Sleep, followed in 1995. Following the release of Sleep, the Fall-Outs went back onto part-time status, at one point going several years between gigs, but the band returned to the studio in 2003, with new bassist Zaac Aubrey in tow, to record a new album, Summertime. - Artist Biography by Stewart Mason

trax:

01 Ambition 02 The Life for Me 03 Never Be the Same 04 About You 05 Pretty Girl 06 Some Fun 07 Speak the Truth 08 What'd I Do Wrong 09 The Jealous Kind 10 Where Did You Go? 11 They Never Come 12 One More Time