Search - Gin Blossoms :: New Miserable Experience: Rarities Edition (Spec)

New Wonderful Experience

Virgil Urp | AZ, USA | 01/25/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If like me you missed the apparently brief 2002 appearance of the NME Deluxe Edition and have balked at paying the outlandish prices of those offering copies of the Deluxe Edition for sale, relief is at hand. And what a relief it is! There is just about everything to enjoy about this NME Rarities Edition if you are a fan of the Gin Blossoms. The contents are well-described above and and well worth owning and hearing.



RIP Doug Hopkins, long live the Gin Blossoms!"

"Misery" loves company (in your CD cabinet, that is)...

whipitgood | 03/05/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Gin Blossoms came to my town back in 2007 to perform a benefit concert for the relocation of the historic Blodget house-one of the stops on the "underground railroad" during civil war times. Everything about the show was great!



I've been a music fan all of my life, but in recent years I've grown disheartened by the decidedly caustic tone of some of the stuff coming over on the radio, not to mention the lack of musicianship. I had been wanting to take my daughter to her first concert, but I was having trouble deciding what show to take her to. There's always the well-sanitized Disney stable of artists, but my daughter seemed saturated with Disney already and I didn't want her brainwashed any further..



Then I saw the flier for the Gin Blossoms' show. The price was right. The location was perfect. The cause was admirable. And I knew the music would be solid, rootsy, melodic pop drawing heavily from the Beatles(or Rutles?), Beach Boys, Alex Chilton/Big Star, the Byrds, etc. As expected, they played great. There was a distinctly positive vibe in the air that night, and the crowd got into it. Then, to top it all off, Scott and Robin stood by the side of the stage after the show to meet the fans and sign autographs. I bought a copy of "Major Lodge Victory" which Scott & Robin both signed. My daughter (aged 5 at the time) got a poster and was thrilled. It was truly a night to remember.



After the show, I started wondering what happened to these guys. Did they just get buried under a pile of grunge and hip-hop in the 90's or what? I started shopping around for more material and discovered that there just wasn't very much to be had...I DID find the "Deluxe Edition" of New Miserable Experience on the web, but it was already out-of-print and selling for $50-$60!!! Fortunately, the group and/or the record company decided to release the 2nd rareties disc of the out-of-print "Deluxe Edition" as a stand-alone product. The price is affordable, and the songs are GREAT!!!



This disc is more than a collection of odds & ends. There are some truly great songs & performances on here. In some ways I actually like it better than NME because the production is less linear-many peaks and valleys. Highlights include: a rousing live rendition of "Movin' On Up" which even George & Weezie could dance to, Doug Hopkins' self-deprecating boogie "Blue Eyes Bleeding", "Angels Tonight" and "Christine Irene". It would have been nice to see "Girls Can't Wait" from the difficult-to-find "Dusted" EP on here as well, but that song was from an earlier era. If you like the band, add this to your collection.









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