Customer Reviews

Chomp More

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

What would you have if you put The B-52's, Gang of Four, DEVO, Let's Active, a little surf music, and a dash of R.E.M. into a blender and mixed them up ? You would come up with "PYLON," no doubt.

Actually, Pylon was one of the pioneers of this so called "jangle rock" movement, and obviously inspired many of the above named bands, but they never seemed to find a large following...and that's really a shame.

With their first two albums, "Chomp" and "Gyrate," this wonderful band unleashed some of the most unique and catchy music known to mankind. Quite literally, every single song pulsates, jangles, bleeps, blips, snaps and crackles like nothing you've ever heard before, and the most astounding part is that these songs NEVER get stale, even after hundreds of listens.

Although the 2nd album (Chomp) was better produced, it must be noted that their debut (Gyrate) is an equally strong and amazing effort from this one-of-a-kind band.

Trust me, if you are a fan of "jangle rock," and you've never had the good fortune of hearing this wickedly innovative band, then you must seek them out at once.

I won't single out any particular songs from either album, because these CDs MUST be heard as a whole, and the listener is greatly rewarded when they do so.

Don't deny yourself any longer......get PYLON-ized at once, and kick back in Jangle-opia

For years, I was more or less happy with the 20 songs on Pylon's 1990 "Hits" (that's their joke; they never had a hit.) The remastered Gyrate and Chomp show how much we were missing. Early muddy CD technology couldn't bring this great band "forward." Chomp is even more vivid than Gyrate and pauses to acknowledge the premature death of guitarist Randy Bewley, whose life was tragically cut short in 2009, a heart attack while driving. Pylon was endlessly strong, fun, & original. Never mind that on Beep, Valerie misprounces (forever!) "chimera" as "shimera" instead of the standard "kimera." Who cares? She was as great as any 1980s vocalist. That means as great as Marnie Greenholz in Live Skull, as great as the girls in Bush Tetras. Greater than Lydia Lunch; close to Kristen Hersh of Throwing Muses. If you are on a budget and have to choose between Chomp and Gyrate, I would slightly go for Chomp, but if you want to know what's what about the 1980s, you need both. I thought, Screw my budget, I can go w/o lunch. You need this like you need Live Skull & Big Black. That is, a lot.

Absolutely nothing like it and along with The Talking Heads the best thing to come out of the New Wave movement. Gyrate's more hard core but this is good too. Don't really get the REM - Jangle Rock comparison. Closer to unpretentious Kraftwerk and Brian Eno and turn left at Beat Happening. But again, there's nothing like it. If you're feeling adventurous check it out.