Jacobites - Robespierre's Velvet Basement

I was in the record store a few weeks ago just checking stuff out and I came across this, and a few other records related to Nikki Sudden.  I guess they're reissues from Numero Group (the guys that did all the Shoes albums awhile back).  So I'm looking at the cover and there's two guys that look like fans of Keith Richards circa 1972 or so.  Numero puts these cool Obi strips on their reissues, and I was reading it and it has mentions of The Stones, Faces and T Rex.  So I read further and the last sentence is what sold me:

Nikki Sudden cut a string of raw, inspired rock 'n' roll records etched with double-edged travel melancholia and hard bitten punk dejection.

Well, how the hell do you pass that up?  So I guess Nikki Sudden was in a Post Punk band called Swell Maps with his brother, Epic Soundtracks.  I usually admit that I have no idea what Post Punk is really supposed to be, other than not the original Punk stuff that I like so much, so I'm not really interested.  But Dave Kusworth and Nikki Sudden just have such a great look on this cover and Numero seems pretty solid, so I bought it just because I thought it looked cool.

I'm really glad I did.  I still get the same feeling I always did when I hear a new record that I like.  If I actually knew anyone that really listened to music anymore, I'd have them come over and drink a few beers and check this out.  To me, these guys picked a better era of Stones to get into than Brian Jonestown Massacre, and they didn't stay so true to their influence and felt free to be themselves, and that's the way ya gotta do it.  So this record is just a slice of goodness from 1985 that I completely missed.  Probably because I was really digging Stones bootlegs back then, and they were expensive so I was kind of focused on something else.

So now I'm listening to Ambulance Station, and I'm wondering how I ever got along without this song.  Hell, not just this song, but Big Store, Snow White, Fortune of Fame - hell, all of side one.  I absolutely love this!  These songs all have big acoustic guitars, nice drumming (provided by Epic Soundtracks) and a really great vibe not unlike Beggars Banquet.  Not totally like it, but like a cousin.  The first time I listened I kind of thought maybe I recognized some of it, but I think it's really because this is the kind of record I can immediately get in to and move right into my regular listening routines (whatever those are).

The second side is great, too.  I don't think there's anything quite as great as Snow White for me, but that's just one of those songs that presses all my buttons.  Numero Group did a great job on this, so every time I listen to it, I hear some guitar or instrument I missed last time.  I mean, you do the oooh la la's from She's a Rainbow and I'm gonna be all in.  Side two might be a little more contemplative, I suppose.  I like it because it sounds sad.  My wife will hate it because it's slow and makes her sleepy.  That's an argument we have.  Apparently I like slow music.  I disagree vehemently, but I've found she says the fast music I listen to is just people banging on things really fast and she doesn't like that, either.

So since this is new, it's obviously in really great shape.  Numero Group did a great job on it.  The cover is neato.  The record is flat and really quiet.  The sound is really nice if you ask me.  You can hear the picks on the guitar strings and like I said, there's stuff to pick out that you didn't hear the first time through.  I think it's a shame that I missed out on this twenty years ago, but at least I found out about it now.  Did you ever think about how much music there is out there, and how much of it is probably something you wouldn't believe you wouldn't have found by now because you like it so much, and the odds are good there's ten times that (or more) that you're never gonna hear.  That's kind of a drag!  But it's okay.  Just keep looking.  Find as many great things as you can.