Search - Ass Ponys :: Okra Years (Reis)

A Masterful Snapshot of the Past

Rodney Bowcock Jr. | California, KY United States | 04/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, let's get this straight at the outset. The Ass Ponys were way, way, ahead of their time. They predated the whole `alternative-country' thing literally by years. Were all of their records released five years later than they were, I firmly believe they'd be much better known than they are now. As it stands, they're simply considered legends in the alt-country world, which isn't too shabby, and certainly isn't worth complaining over.



In November 1988, a new band called The Ass Ponys played their first show at the Top Hat in Newport, KY. Comprised of Chuck Cleaver and Dan Kleingers of Gomez (not the UK band), Randy Cheek of The Libertines (again, not the UK band) and John Erhardt, who previously had played primarily bluegrass music, the band quickly developed a small following presumably due to their unique sound and Cleaver's quirky tales of country life and woes of the destitute, all sang in a falsetto voice. A few gigs opening for national acts like Yo La Tengo followed and the band went into the studio to record their first album, Mr. Superlove, which was released in 1990.



More shows followed as the Cincinnati music scene picked up steam (these were the days of Afghan Whigs and Lazy), and the following grew. Another batch of songs were written, Dan left the band to pursue a career as a glass blower, and was replaced by Dave Morrison, who had never played in a band before. A second record was released, Grim, in 1992. The band toured with Pavement, and eventually was signed to A&M where they became minor one hit wonders before being unceremoniously dropped, only to release two critically acclaimed albums that nobody bought and to slowly fade from the national eye, while still occasionally playing in Cincinnati (the band also released a new song as part of a compilation last year), but those are all stories for some other time. The point of this is to discuss their latest release, and the first in a series of reissues of their back catalog by Shake-It Records, The Okra Years, named such for the time period that the band was on Columbus based Okra Records.



The 24 tracts on this two CD set capture the band at the height of their youthful exuberance, almost as if they didn't realize just how different what they were doing was. What's more, they've all been digitally restored and remastered allowing the listener to finally appreciate them for how great they are. Chuck Cleaver's songwriting is always top notch and these songs are no exception. Who else could write a heartfelt, truly sad song about real life sideshow freak Julia Pastrana or weave an equally somber tale of an obese man who died of a broken heart such as Azalea? Alternately, Cleaver manages to capture the feeling of boredom in a small town with Hey Swifty and the joys of being young and discovering the world in Ride Ramona. Complimenting the selection of songs from the two albums is a generous helping of previously unheard or rare originals and covers, notably a cover of the Velvet Underground's All Tomorrow's Parties and a surreal live cover of the New Bangs' Go Go Kitty that was recorded at that first Top Hat show on November 18th, 1988. Neither album is complete on this collection however, which will of course cause some fans to lament the fact that their personal favorite is absent. Cleaver unapologetically explains this by saying that the band simply doesn't like some of the songs anymore, so they've been excised. Makes sense, I suppose.



Liner notes explain in an easy to read casual manner the meanings of the songs, all written by Chuck Cleaver himself. Indeed, they read like your sitting at the bar talking to Chuck before the band takes the stage to play through a blistering set of all of your favorite songs from the last 15 years, and makes you realize just how humble and nice these guys are. Fans need no more motivation to buy this. They know just how bad the mixing on those first two records could be, and to actually be able to clearly understand the lyrics and to hear the songs without having to turn up the volume on their stereo considerably is worth the purchase price alone. The real joy in this release and those that will follow it however, is that the Ass Ponys are an extremely good band, and they deserve to be heard, yet, all of their albums are out of print. Now a new audience can discover the songs of an amazingly talented band that always refused to compromise their artistic vision and standard for quality and were eventually, like so many bands, damned for it. It's hard not to applaud that, and think that sometime, maybe years from now, people will realize just how important The Ass Ponys were.

"

Great but

Mr Parallel | Chicago | 12/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How could they not have included "Ford Madox Ford" from Mr. Superlove? Why didn't they just give us the albums in their entirety and skip the novelty tracks? Oh well."