"Luxury Condos, Coming To Your Neighborhood Soon" VA 1985

An anthology from Coyote Records that was released in Europe by Rough Trade: it features bands that evolved around the dB's and the Feelies, the latter appearing as The Trypes. Chris Stamey, Matthew Sweet and Don Dixon appear as the Jacks and Peter Holsapple as Mr. Bonus. Yo La Tengo is also present.It never got the press attention that Athens or Seattle did -- which in the long run was probably a good thing -- but Hoboken was one of the key cities of the '80s American indie scene. Transplanted Southerners like R. Stevie Moore, Matthew Sweet, and the dB's met up with New Yorkers looking for the artistic freedom that comes with cheaper rents, and the result was a scene full of countryish twang, Beatlesque pop, and Velvets cool, with a sense of humor that kept anything from taking itself too seriously. The short-lived Coyote Records helped document this scene, and their 1986 compilation Luxury Condos Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon is a perfect sampler of mid-'80s Hoboken indie pop. The dB's loom large over this set; not only is their particular brand of anxious-but-hummable pop an obvious influence on baby bands like Deep Six and Gut Bank, all of the dB's save drummer Will Rigby (whose then-wife Amy Rigby wrote, sings backup, and plays guitar on Last Roundup's country weeper "Just a Little Is Enough") make appearances. Chris Stamey contributes "Ask for Jill 3D," a dub-style collaboration with Matthew Sweet on an old dB's song, and Peter Holsapple shows up under the moniker Mr. Bonus, contributing the fervent and odd "Elvis, What Happened?" Gene Holder is the set's MVP, playing guitar on two songs, including wife Myra's moody "John Calvin," and producing another. Only two new artists went on to notable success from this compilation. Former Golden Palominos singer Syd Straw's "Listening to Elvis" (a more reverent companion to Holsapple's spittle-flecked screed) was written by ex-Dictator Scott Kempner, whose Del-Lords function as Straw's backing band; Straw became a critic's darling with the release of her 1989 solo debut Surprise. Yo La Tengo's "Private Doberman" is a Dylan-meets-the-Kinks mishmash that doesn't sound a bit like the albums they scored enormous acclaim with in the '90s. One highlight of the lesser-known bands is the Trypes, an offshoot of the legendary Feelies focusing on drony acoustic psychedelic folk; their "A Plan Revised," written by keyboardist John Baumgartner and sung by bassist Brenda Sauter, is arguably the best song on the whole record. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guidetraxfromwax:

1 Sleep With Angels (The Wygals) 2 Enough Is Never Enough (Rage To Live) 3 Devil's Train (Trigger and The Thrill Kings) 4 Big Fat Monkey's Hat (Scruffy The Cat) 5 Just A Little Is Enough (Last Roundup) 6 Private Doberman (Yo La Tengo) 7 A Plan Revised (The Trypes) 8 Elvis, What Happened? (Mr. Bonus) 9 Dreamland (Gut bank) 10 Stay Right Here (Deep Six) 11 Nightfall (Kilkenny Cats) 12 John Calvin (Myra Holder) 13 Listening To Elvis (Syd Straw) 14 Ask For Jill - 3D (The Jacks) 15 Never Comin' Home (Raunch Hands)