poppinfresh

Let It Baaa

Date Released: 8/29/2008   Tracks: 10   Sales: 28   Listens: 37

Ruminental Journey

Date Released: 8/31/2008   Tracks: 10   Sales: 9   Listens: 14

Label: Roadapple Records Producer: George Freemartin Ruminental Journey was the first solo album by the former Bleatles drummer. Departing from his flock 'n' roll roots, Starr delivered a collection of standards -- partly to please his parents and partly on a "double-dog" dare. Each song is arranged by a different musician, including one track by former band mate Poll McCardigan. The album fared reasonably well, peaking at No. 22 on the Buckboard album chart.

Abbey Fold

Date Released: 9/28/2008   Tracks: 10   Sales: 31   Listens: 40

After months of butting heads and locking horns, the Bleatles temporarily put aside their differences and recorded one of their most celebrated albums, Abbey Fold. In addition to well-crafted songs (check out the last line of "The Pen": "and in the pen, the wool they take is equal to the wool you make"), this LP featured the newly-introduced Moo synthesizer. There's also the iconic cover which fueled the "Poll is bred" rumors and inspired the cover of the Red Hot Cheese Puffs' Abbey Mold EP.

Meet the Bleatles

Date Released: 12/30/2008   Tracks: 10   Sales: 19   Listens: 23

With the opening chords of "I Wanna Hold Your Hoof," history was made. The release of the Bleatles' first American album, coupled with their appearance on the Ed Solognote Show, sparked Bleatlemania and ignited a movement that would change the world of flock music forever. Within weeks, the Bleatles would occupy the top 5 positions on the Buckboard singles chart, a feat that has never been duplicated.

Shorn Fleece

Date Released: 1/25/2009   Tracks: 11   Sales: 10   Listens: 15

Shorn Fleece is not just a Japanese wool product, it's also the name of ex-Bleatle John Lanolin's first greatest hits album. Every aspect of John's early solo career is touched upon -- from the social activism of Give Fleece a Chance to the psychedelic imagery of No. 9 Dip and the hopeful vision of I'm Itchin'. Many of the tracks, including Happy Xmas (a duet with John's wife Yang Ono), are available only now for the first time on CD.

Inseparable

Date Released: 3/21/2009   Tracks: 13   Sales: 11   Listens: 12

The world's most famous conjoined twins were born in Siam in 1811. They grew up touring the globe as "The World's Eighth Wonder" before settling in North Carolina where they bought a plantation. They married a pair of sisters and raised 21 children between them. They survived domestic quarrels and a civil war. Each struggled to find his own identity before finally finding peace. The twins died just an hour apart in 1874. This motion picture documents their incredible lives.

My Science Project Disaster

Date Released: 10/17/2010   Tracks: 5   Sales: 14   Listens: 21

Release Date: October 1, 1980 The band's first release was recorded on a portable tape recorder while the members were still in high school. The songs on the EP featured a Swingtime organ as well as pots and pans and a couple of hair combs for percussion. It peaked at No. 137 on the national charts.

Kidnapped by Aliens

Date Released: 10/24/2010   Tracks: 10   Sales: 15   Listens: 16

Released Dec. 1, 1981 LN&SWD has just finished their intended first LP "High School Confidential" when Dusty's Uncle Ed boasted he'd been adducted by aliens. Inspired by Ed, they put "High School Confidential" aside and began writing songs about alien abduction. They threw in a couple of commercial songs for radio, and their actual first LP release "Kidnapped by Aliens" was born. It quickly became a favorite on college radio stations across the South, peaking at No. 81 on the album chart.

Loretty, Chicken's On! (single)

Date Released: 11/18/2010   Tracks: 2   Sales: 17   Listens: 23

Release Date: Dec 14, 1982 Peak Chart Position: 78 The band's first release after entering college was this single (the title came from a cooking oil commercial starring a certain country singer of the day). This was their first foray into psychedelia -- the songs featured backward loops of chicken sounds and Dusty's expert yodeling. The songs are said to have resulted from sampling some questionable mushroom soup at the campus cafeteria.

Mashed Potatoes and Groovy

Date Released: 11/23/2010   Tracks: 13   Sales: 18   Listens: 28

Original release date: May 3, 1983 Peak chart position: 48 From the unbridled optimism of "I Can See Tomorrow from My Rooftop" to the intricate rhythms of "Your Watusi Is Deadly" and the earnest homage to past musical greats in "The Last Song to Leave the Station," this album epitomized the early LN&SWD sound. Some say the album is best enjoyed with a Moon Pie and an RC cola.

Go On and Shake It (EP)

Date Released: 12/18/2010   Tracks: 5   Sales: 13   Listens: 16

Original Release date: May 3, 1984 Peak Chart Position: 41 This EP of dance music was recorded live at Thrice's mom's home. The strange sound twelve seconds into the third track is the dishwasher coming on. That take was shaping up as the best one of the day, so the band decided to play on through it. Also, to add more urgency to the band's singing, Thrice's brother kept poking them with a stick. He accidentally punctured the head of the bass drum, ending the recording session prematurely.

Merry Stinkin' Christmas

Date Released: 12/23/2010   Tracks: 15   Sales: 10   Listens: 11

Release Date: Dec 1, 1985 Peak Chart Position: 58 Stella's pleading with her mother to go to bed before Santa saw the light on and skipped their house completely... Dusty's torture of his little sister on Christmas Day, threatening to flush her favorite dress-up wig down the toilet... Thrice's leaving out a plate of cookies for Santa, then going back to see the plate empty and his mother beside it with a cookie hanging out of her mouth... Christmas memories (and albums) are made of such...

She Works at the Uranium Plant (EP)

Date Released: 1/23/2011   Tracks: 6   Sales: 17   Listens: 23

Release Date: May 10, 1986 Peak Chart Position: 26 LN&SWD recorded this EP as a light-hearted tribute to Stella's Aunt Fay who worked at their town's nuclear plant (the vinyl version's label even glowed in the dark). Then shortly before the EP was released, the worst nuclear power plant accident in history occurred at Chernobyl, Ukraine. Music critics subsequently (and incorrectly) hailed the EP as a masterpiece of subtle protest, and the band's reputation and sales rose dramatically.

Out of the Picture

Date Released: 3/3/2011   Tracks: 9   Sales: 22   Listens: 38

Release date: May 3, 1987 LN&SWD pulled together some of their varied influences from music (Rodgers & Hammerstein, The Doors) and literature (Aldous Huxley, Dr. Seuss) for their fourth full-length album. To give the lyrics a surreal quality, on some tracks they used the "cut-up" technique popularized by William S. Burroughs: taking the finished lyrics, cutting them into pieces, then rearranging the pieces. A few outraged Doors fans bought the album just to burn it. Meh. A sale's a sale.

Tin Man [EP]

Date Released: 4/12/2011   Tracks: 5   Sales: 18   Listens: 32

"Tin Man" is the band's first release of new material since making their music available on Figment. As the cover might suggest, this EP deconstructs the Oz character of the Tin Woodman and reassembles him with a LN&SWD twist. Psychedelic with a slight steam punk edge, the cut-ups of classics by Nirvana and America comprise the "heart" of this collection.

Wilde Dreams

Date Released: 5/1/2011   Tracks: 9   Sales: 16   Listens: 34

Oscar Wilde wrote: "A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." Quotes by Wilde and other great minds serve as points of departure for LN&SWD's celebration of vilified visionaries -- those who dare to dream and those who dare to act.

Furioso

Date Released: 5/10/2011   Tracks: 6   Sales: 12   Listens: 16

As the demolished violin on the cover attests, this is not your father's classical music. The highlight of the CD is Andropov's Electric Guitar Concerto in D Minor ("Furioso"), which pits the savagery of rock music's most iconic instrument against the majesty of the symphonic orchestra in a cross-genre musical free-for-all. Also included are some shorter pieces in the style of Andropov's single greatest musical influence, 19th century Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky.

That Dog Won't Hunt (EP)

Date Released: 10/18/2011   Tracks: 6   Sales: 15   Listens: 24

Following a couple of releases ("TIn Man" and "Wilde Dreams") where the band cranked the surrealism dial all the way up to eleven, this time out Let's Not and Say We Did decided to go back to their roots and turn out an EP filled with some of the most basic, straight-up rock and roll tracks they've recorded since 1984's "Go On and Shake It" EP. They even recorded some of the songs using pots and pans for percussion -- just like they did on their first release, 1980's "My Science Project Disaster." Some of the tracks (such as the EP's opener and closer) feature racy innuendos and double entendres, but they are all quirky in the way that LN&SWD's fans have come to expect and enjoy.

Everyone's Evolving But Us

Date Released: 11/3/2011   Tracks: 11   Sales: 17   Listens: 32

LN&SWD's latest full-length album takes its title from a "Far Side" cartoon by Gary Larson in which a distressed cavewoman is complaining to her husband that they aren't keeping up with their neighbors who have started using fire and the wheel. Musically, "Everyone's Evolving but Us" goes farther down the road already traveled on "That Dog Won't Hunt," their last EP: they have pared the instrumentation for most tracks down to a 4-piece drum kit, bass, guitar and keyboards, with Stella wailing away on her harmonica on a few tracks. Lyrically, this is the most personal collection of songs they've ever produced. The result is one of their most intimate studio releases to date. On the surface, the songs might seem to have little connection to one another. For instance, some of the songs -- such as "The Carwash on the Edge of Forever" -- tell of everyday life in their small Southern town of Hawkins Springs, Kentucky. On the other hand, "Neanderthal" is about the problem of being perceived as a middle-aged rocker whose best days are in the past. All the songs, however, reference to one degree or another the central theme of staying true to one's self in a rapidly changing world. That small town may look different from the way it did 30 years ago, but the core values of its people are still the same. Likewise, LN&SWD has followed very few of the musical fads of the last three decades but has proudly gone its own way and carved out its own niche in the musical world. Perhaps saying that they aren't evolving overstates the case, but for die-hard LN&SWD fans it's a welcome promise that the band will continue to give them what they want. All songs written by LN&SWD Recorded July 30 - September 18 at The Sprawlin' WIMP Complex Produced by LN&SWD Cover design by LN&SWD, based on a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti Sandwiches by Purdy Bros. Market Ms. Delcielo's hair by The Curl-Up and Dye

Based on a True Story

Date Released: 1/31/2012   Tracks: 11   Sales: 16   Listens: 30

Although he has released several singles as a solo act while still serving as guitarist and bassist for Southern indie band Let's Not and Say We Did (LN&SWD), Thrice Knightley is only now releasing his first full-length album. The songs on "Based on a True Story," like many of the songs he has written lately for LN&SWD, center on life in the American South. Taking inspiration from the people and events of his youth in western Kentucky, Knightley has crafted these songs to illustrate the character of the town he grew up in. Often brutally frank, these songs are nonetheless loving and respectful portraits of the people and places that helped shape the man he would grow into. Knightley not only wrote all the songs on this album, he also played all the instruments and provided all the vocals. As he says, "I'm reasonably good at guitar and bass, and I can handle the drums as long as I don't have to do a paradiddle or a roll. I can even play keyboards if there aren't too many of the black keys!" All songs written and produced by T. Knightley, recorded at the Sprawlin' WIMP Complex in Hawkins Springs, KY All instruments and vocals by T. Knightley Cover from a self-portrait by T. Knightley