The American Underground

[marc]

As well as my British Mod leanings I really admire U.S. guitar bands of the 80's e.g. Rain Parade, The Long Ryders, Dream Syndicate and Lets Active. Which of these bands used Rickies and which models. What were they like as live bands and where can I get hold of stuff on C.D.?

[admin]

Marc: This is a very quick answer to your question. Mitch Easter of Let's Action played a 330 Jetglo. David Roback of Rain Parade and Long Ryder's Sid Griffin both played a 360/12 Fireglo.

[rkbsound]

My understanding (which is spotty) is that Mitch Easter has owned a number of Rick's, not to mention tons of interesting guitars. To listen to any Let's Active song is to hear a real master of the guitar and overall production. They give REM a run for their money!! My guess is that Peter Buck was influenced heavily by Easter, as Mitch produced several REM albums (from his famous Drive-In Studios). I also understand that Buck played many of Easter's guitars on those albums. Both bands did heavy overdubs with their guitars, and thus their music is difficult to reproduce with one guitar. I saw Dream Syndicate open for REM in Minneapolis in '83 or '84. They were terrible! But their records sounded good! Let's Active CDs are out of print, I think, but I have seen them come up on Ebay for about $50.

[joe126]

I have one Let's Active CD. I don't really care for it much. If you ask me, everyone into early REM, Let's Active and similar bands MUST get a hold of a copy of the Connells' second CD "Boylan Heights" (which was produced by Mitch Easter,) if they don't already have it. It's one of my favorite CDs. Also, on the first couple Connells CDs you hear a lot of very nice sounding Rick tone.

[jblakey]

Boylan Heights and Fun and Games- both great Connells cd's!!!! My band opened for them a LONG time ago, I was hooked then and there. You're so right.. their guitar sound is RICH but not overdone/muddy like REM can be...and their writing is great!

[joe126]

Even Darker Days can be good to listen to... but only in small doses. That album seems somewhere between amateurish and overdone, IMO. But Boylan Heights (which is best listened to all the way through) and Fun and Games are excellent (the other albums have their own degrees of good, but I do like them all.)

I consider BH to contain possibly the best '80's Rick tone. (As much as I dig REM and the Smithereens albums.)

It's hard to consider most REM (and I love REM) songs for that title in many cases, because a lot of times guitar work was done just to create an ambiance in a song ("Pilgrimage" and "We Walk" on Murmur.) Other times there's Rickenbacker guitar work in REM songs which is just breathtaking ("Gardening at Night" from Murmur and "So. Central Rain" from Reckoning.)

I got hooked on the Connells two years ago after seeing a friends' band open for them. They are really great guys... I got to talk to Doug and Dave the second time I saw them.

[happydog]

anybody remember Guadalcanal Diary? Their guitarist used Ricks and Mosrites, through a Marshall no less.

[rkbsound]

I remember them from my college radio days -- not bad! How about Firehose?

[bluedave]

I own a copy of fROMOHIO... One of the few music purchases I regret. But I'd love to hear what's good about them. I might feel better about buying the record. Aside from the Minutemen connection, I just don't see anything to recommend these guys.

[ted_williams]

Firehose was great live, but I agree that their material was too spotty to recommend any of their albums. Too bad there's not a best-of available.

[rkbsound]

I just remember that song "For the singer of REM". Pretty good.

[rkbsound]

This thread resurrected 10 years later:

REM broke up.
Mitch Easter is on a tear. All music from Let's Active readily available.
fIREHOSE reunited in April, 2012.

[Folkie]

Thanks, Jeff, for resurrecting this very interesting thread. I remember loving that Connells record when it came out, although I seem to have lost my vinyl copy. Yes, Mitch Easter was a huge influence on Peter Buck's playing on the early R.E.M. records. How about those Fender XII parts on "Talk About the Passion" and on the intro to "So. Central Rain." We are lucky to have Mitch on this forum.

[admin]

A great post resurrected. It would be interesting to see what has become of Marc, our Vetern RRF Member with one post.