In life, there are bands you know you should like because they check off a number of boxes that many of your other favorite bands do, yet their recorded output just doesn't grab you.
In the case of Zion, IL's Shoes, my introduction to the band's second major label release Tongue Twister came after years of reading glowing reviews of their indie-released debut album, Black Vinyl Shoes.
As one song after another floundered before my ears, I came to wonder just what had led those revered music critics to heap such praise upon a band whose genius I clearly missed.
What separated the band from most of their power pop peers was the hushed lead vocals by Jeff Murphy and Gary Klebe that came across as just a wee bit wimpy to my teenage ears. After all, we were used to the likes of the Romantics' Jimmy Marinos' throaty wail and Robin Zander tearing the cover off the proverbial baseball with a voice that commanded your attention.
By comparison, there was nothing about Shoes that commanded attention.
In fact, they almost seemed to be going out of their way to avoid the necessary attention that could have turned them into a viable arena act. Thus, after three albums that barely grazed the charts, in 1983, Elektra Records paid the band to go away.
The band took Elektra's pay-off and invested in a state-of-the-art recording studio where the band would record their own albums from that point on. The first results came in the form of the 1984 LP Silhouette, which was initially unavailable in the USA.
While that album showed some growth in the vocal department, the overly synth-based production on at least half of the album sounded dated at the time of release and has not aged well.
Even so, this writer didn't give up on the band and, in 1990 - seven long-ass years since they parted ways with the major label world - the remaining trio delivered on all that promise with the career-defining album Stolen Wishes, featuring lead-off single "Feel The Way That I Do".
Whether this writer's taste matured or I finally just got used to the hushed vocals, every track on the Stolen Wishes bristles with an energy and innocence that stands up to this day.
By comparison, there was nothing about Shoes that commanded attention.
In fact, they almost seemed to be going out of their way to avoid the necessary attention that could have turned them into a viable arena act. Thus, after three albums that barely grazed the charts, in 1983, Elektra Records paid the band to go away.
The band took Elektra's pay-off and invested in a state-of-the-art recording studio where the band would record their own albums from that point on. The first results came in the form of the 1984 LP Silhouette, which was initially unavailable in the USA.
While that album showed some growth in the vocal department, the overly synth-based production on at least half of the album sounded dated at the time of release and has not aged well.
Even so, this writer didn't give up on the band and, in 1990 - seven long-ass years since they parted ways with the major label world - the remaining trio delivered on all that promise with the career-defining album Stolen Wishes, featuring lead-off single "Feel The Way That I Do".
Whether this writer's taste matured or I finally just got used to the hushed vocals, every track on the Stolen Wishes bristles with an energy and innocence that stands up to this day.
Tags:
shoes