George Glass on Vinyl

I mentioned a few days ago that I received a nice little package from the band George Glass. Besides the fun 45rpm single of Sunshine I just reviewed, I also received the vinyl copy of their new album Welcome Home (which I reviewed here in July). Finally, the band included their eponymous debut EP, which was released in October 2011...just a few months after Sunshine.

I won't spend a lot of time comparing the CD and LP versions of Welcome Home--because I can't find my CD copy! I know I was listening to it in the car as we moved from Texas to Colorado, but now it's nowhere to be found. I will say that the vinyl pressings of all three releases are clean and pristine and sound wonderful and contain plenty of extras such as MP3 downloads, mini-posters and more liner notes than I got with the little silver disc. Hearing this on glorious vinyl only reminds me of the strengths I recognized in the original review--the easy slips between genres, the earnestness and an unusually sunny disposition.

Listening to the 2011 EP, however, was a small revelation. George Glass is more about guts than versatility, with almost all of the songs representing the straightforward rock that makes up about a third of Welcome Home. There's a greater sense of cohesion between the tunes, and more of a live feel. Welcome Home is more of a studio creation, more clever and filled with risks--and there's also all those gorgeous songs that have been laced with feel of Americana, which I feel is their direction for the future. This earlier release sounds more like it was captured on a stage in a single take. It sounds more immediate and exciting, and a little more road-worn.

Here's another way to describe it: go back to my original review and find my comments on the song "Patchwork Girl." This older album definitely has more of that loose, unbridled feel.

In other words, George Glass is a band that's already maturing and branching out. And like a thousand other bands, there'll be fans who like the real early stuff best. I like it all so far. You can check out the George Glass collection as well by visiting their bandcamp site.

George Glass's Sunshine on a 45rpm Single!

I just received a nice little thank you from the band George Glass after reviewing their excellent new album Welcome Home...vinyl! First up is this fantastic little 45 single, 2011's Sunshine, pressed in clear vinyl. While I have quite a few 45rpm singles in my collection, this one is novel because the clear vinyl looks amazingly cool sitting on the clear acrylic platter of my Unison Research Giro turntable. In addition, it's also probably the only 45rpm single I own that includes an MP3 download!

The three songs contained on this 45rpm single are cool as well. The opening title track is a mini-suite of sorts and attempts to morph into every rock genre in the '70s...acid rock, prog, power pop and then back again, all without sacrificing the basic melody of the song. The B-side is no slouch, with a charming cover of Arthur Lee's "Gazing" and a crisp, catchy closer titles "Lil Wiz." All three songs are carefree and fun, just the thing I needed after listening to Swans' The Seer all the way through for the first time.

How about you? Are you still listening to 45rpm singles? Which are your favorites? Don't I sound like one of those audio mags or record stores trying to pump up the likes on their Facebook page? At any rate, it's a good question since most vinyl lovers I know still stick primarily to 12" LPs. 45s, however, are fun. Sure, you have to get up every three to five minutes to change the record--which was one of the original and somewhat dumb reasons for abandoning your record collection for CDs. Vinyl is exercise. It's good for you.

George Glass also sent me the vinyl LP version of Welcome Home, as promised, as well as their eponymous 2010 debut, also on vinyl. I'll report shortly on those. Suffice it to say that while I liked Welcome Home a lot when I first heard it and gave it a positive review, this band is really starting to grow on me. If you'd like to check them out, visit their Bandcamp site.

George Glass's Welcome Home on CD

Either you'll get the joke or you won't; depends on your familiarity with The Brady Bunch. It's clearly a 21st century update of Jethro Tull Syndrome. Maybe you're in on the joke and you're expecting an indie-rock cover of "It's a Sunshine Day" somewhere on George Glass's new album, Welcome Home. You'll be stymied there as well. What you will get is an earnest-sounding band that's full of outstanding musicians who can slide across two or three musical genres without missing a beat.

If I could describe this LA trio with a single word, it would be wholesome. That sounds like a death sentence in the edgy world of indie rock, but all the elements are there--a singer with a hobo past (Nicholas Ceglio) whose voice could best be described as amiable and easy-going, a bassist (Peter DiBiasio) who is described in the press kit as a twelve-year-old dynamo who happens to be suffering from Benjamin Button disease, and a drummer (Nathan Kondor) who rides eagles and bears. Their collective output on Welcome Home is smooth around the edges, expertly played and more easy-going than you'd expect. None of this, of course, is a bad thing. Too many bands these days dare you to sift through the squalor and find the talent--these guys wear it on their sleeves.

As I said, George Glass shifts between three basic musical genres. The first genre is straightforward and catchy '80s indie rock, stripped down and simple and full of that aforementioned earnestness. Ceglio's winsome vocals temper the guitars and the tempo, resulting in a pleasant sound that is heartfelt and punchy enough to get you down the road. The band kicks up the originality a notch when they moved into a folksy, acoustic Americana mode that is much more suited to Ceglio's voice--one suspects that this is George Glass's true calling and where they should invest more time in subsequent albums. Songs such as "Metro Hymn," "LAM," "One Liner" and the radio-friendly "AM Radio" fall under this category, and the band seems endlessly more focused and comfortable in this setting.

The third genre, the one that is truly surprising, is revealed in a single song, "Patchwork Girl," that is clearly framed as Welcome Home's magnum opus. This is the song where the band lets loose and explores darker territory--that elusive edge I'm searching for--and the result is a sound that underline's the band's real potential. Epic and loose, this song is the proverbial show-stopper and speaks to the future, the hint of a progressive arc that will really deliver this band to the doorstep of excited, loyal fans. Buy Welcome Home just to experience this massively impressive calling card.

Like most modern indie bands, George Glass is aiming for those memory banks of listeners, the ones that conjure up past years of great music while trying to add something definitive and new. Where the band succeeds is in its staunch refusal to sound like anyone else while mining the past; they feel confident to do their thing and damn expectations. If they can concentrate on those loose, experimental and slightly psychedelic tendencies while staying true to their love of a more acoustic presentation, subsequent albums will continue to impress. I'm keeping a close eye on these three.

And here's some great news...Welcome Home will be available on vinyl!