Jan 042008
The New Original Sins
As promised, following Townsman Saturnismine’s mention of The Original Sins‘ cover of Music Machine’s “Sunshine Games” on their Acid Bubblepunk album, featuring our very own Townsman Sethro on drums…
The Original Sins, “Sunshine Games”
As an added bonus, here’s the leadoff track from the album.
The Original Sins, “Almost Everything”
I really liked both of those songs and I don’t have any of their albums. I feel motivated to get some now. Thanks!
I can’t believe you don’t own any Original Sins. I figured they’d be right up your alley. The first two or three are really good. Then there’s one called Move, if memory serves, that I like. This one’s solid. There’s another one that I think it called Bethlehem that’s up there with their debut. Saturnismine can probably give you the best rundown. He’s inside leader JT’s head.
2k, there is an unbelievable ton of O. Sins and Brother JT / Vibrolux material out there. Much of it is of a high quality, so there’s a lot to digest. Much of it is also very hard to find these days. Long story.
There IS stuff on iTunes, and the mod’s got it right: the first few are pretty remarkable. Those would be Big Soul (on Bar-None, and definitely available on iTunes), “Hardest Way” (probably not), and “Self Destruct” (their most Stooges-like effort, and also definitely not available).
“Move” is the one that Peter Buck “produced” (read, it was recorded in his studio, by his engineer, and Buck showed up a few times but did not really have much input). It’s a sprawling double cd. The songs are fantastic, but the recording suffers from an evenness that makes them all sound the same despite actually containing quite a bit of variety.
The “Bethlehem” album the mod speaks of came out on Bar-None, like Big Soul, and is available on iTunes as well. It’s good, if a bit more moody, and in this way, not quite reflective of most of their work.
There is also quite a bit to like about the middle and late period stuff, much of which features Nixon’s Head skinsman, townsman Sethro on drums. While the Head will always remain the primary vehicle for his extremely versatile talents, his approach to the Sins material is also a pleasure: he’s like Joe Frazier in his prime on those records, a suped up ham and egger who knows that the only way to wear down his opponent is to go for the body, and mercilessly.
the brother jt / vibrolux material (also mostly available on iTunes) gets spacier, but when it hits the mark, it sounds like good band of gypsies era hendrix: cosmic soul. If you’re looking for a place to start with the non-Sins stuff, I’d recommend “Way to Go”, which is a consistent bloodbath of passion, feedback, and great riffing, or else “Hang in there Baby”, which contains a little bit of that as well, but also showcases his songwriting skills outside of the Sins format, where he goes in some directions the Sins don’t take.
so hit me up off list (saturnismine [at] yahoo.com) with your snail-mail, and I’ll stick together a generous couple of comps that cover the material that’s unavailable and mail them off to you.
I’m a little familiar with Original Sins, but they’re definitely looking like a gaping hole in my collection of noisy racket that gives my wife a headache. I think they’ve gotten some play on Underground Garage (the Sirius version) as they sound familiar and the name was recognizable. Finding out of print stuff has kind of always made it worth getting up and out of bed though, hasn’t it?
Uh…does my memory serve me when I say that I met JT all the way back when he was in the hardcore band called “Senseless Hate”? With a guy named George Smith? I think the DM played a weird show with them once up in Allentown…
A lot of the Sins stuff can be had for a song used on Amazon, for example Bethlehem for $.75. Also JT sells some nice compilations of of both the “hits” and demos on his Brother JT web site. I still like Big Soul the most but there is some great things on nearly any of the Sins releases. Big recent favorite of mine is “Shopping Trip to Mercury” on the Bethlehem album.
ah..yes…i forgot about the brojt website.
his myspace page has his videos, too.
mrclean, i can’t remember if JT was in a hardcore band.
but i know he was in the Creatures, a pretty straight up garage band, by ’84 (the Creatures still play, occasionally). i’ll have to ask him about the hardcore stuff.
Brother JT was in the band Senseless Hate with George Smith who fronted Dick Destiny & The Highway Kings.
I would concur that The Sins catalog is worthy of checking out.