25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A feast for those wanting more 'Fish in their diet, November 20, 2002
This review is from: Fan Club (Audio CD)
Jellyfish-a band that, at worst, gets confused with Jellyfish Kiss, School of Fish, Phish, Fishbone, etc. and at best, rates a footnote in the rock history of the early nineties. The band made a tiny splash on the surface of pop culture/MTV with an impressive debut disc in 1990, which spawned a brace of thrift-store-clad videos and some relentless touring. A band clearly under the influence of their influences (Beatles, Beach Boys, Queen, Cheap Trick to name a few). Time between discs was occupied by some well-placed cameos (Ringo's "Time Takes Time" disc, The " White Knuckle Scorin' " soundtrack). Then came a highly ambitious, magnum-opus-sophomore disc in 1993 and finally, an acrimonious break up. End of story, right?
Mostly right. A few things have made this 4 disc set -which is nearly TWICE as long as their entire career-long recorded output -possible: It helps that some ex-members of this band , such as Jason Falkner and Roger Manning, went on to bigger, better things. It helps that the band was extremely talented, both live and in the studio, and at least somewhat prolific, especially in the demo-producing department. The main reason this set exists, though, is the efforts of the best record company in Fort Collins, Colorado-Not Lame Records. Not Lame has discovered a niche in marketing the sounds of "Power Pop" in all of its many forms and guises-and they discovered a small but previously untapped market of like-minded individuals interested in getting a hold of all of the `work in progress/back story/live' stuff possible from previous major label acts with a small but loyal fan base such as the Posies and now Jellyfish. Releases such as these won't garner the kind of sales a major label finds attractive, but Not Lame considers selling, say, a thousand plus copies of the Jellyfish box a raging success.
The set is a thrill for the `already converted'-fans of the `Fish. A good disc worth or so of this material was out there for the dedicated to track down previously in hard-to-find and expensive compilations, promos and foreign CD singles-but now all of that and much more is readily available for about the same price of a couple of the real rarities usually go for. The set is organized chronologically with label-seeking/first album demos on disc 1, touring for the 1st album stuff on disc 2 (includes some pretty good "only-played-`em-live" songs), demos for the 2nd album (and five submissions for Mr. Starkey to consider for the "Time Takes Time" album) on disc 3 and the final 9 months or so of touring on disc 4. (Wait around after the last listed song for a live radio "King is Half Undressed" as a hidden track).
Some of the live stuff sounds amazingly good , especially the stuff prior to the final five songs on disc 2 or the Universal Amphitheatre stuff on disc 4. Those last five on disc 2 are from a poorly recorded radio source but are historically significant as they're from what was no doubt the biggest crowd Jellyfish ever played to (Wembley stadium). Other than one horribly recorded radio song ("New Mistake" on disc 4) the sound on these discs is pretty good-especially given that about half the set is demo quality at best.
There's more than enough here for any rabid fan-almost too much at times, with certain songs showing up three or even FOUR times (i.e. demo, live accoustic, live band, TV appearance)-That's plenty of times to hear "Baby's Coming Back", believe me. There are a couple of songs from the discs not represented by demos here, and the demo is often a clear blueprint for the very-similar disc version, but it's still good to hear these songs in a somewhat stripped down, less elaborate form.
Anyone wondering what all of the fuss is about and wishing to get acquainted with this band should seek out "Bellybutton" and "Spilt Milk"-the two actual discs are the essential and fully-realized musical statements of the band. This is all most people would ever need. If you've done that and fallen totally in love with this band, you'll find yourself wanting more. You'll want to hear/have the unpolished, behind-the-scenes, collector's only stuff. If that happens, this set is where your next, and final, stop should be.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 stars for long awaited box set, September 17, 2002
This review is from: Fan Club (Audio CD)
Jellyfish fans rejoice! This fine collection includes the demos from their two albums, b-sides, unreleased demos and live tracks. Be warned though that this does contain material that has been released before. The bulk of the demos for Split Milk were on the New Mistake CD EP (available as a Japanese import)and tracks from the Japanese import version of Bellybutton. So you fans probably have a lot of this material. But not all of it.
A single disc is devoted to the demos of each album (with 16 demos for the first so clearly there's unreleased material there) and 21 for the second (ditto). A single disc of live performances (some of the tracks were available on various websites)and a single disc containing radio, t.v. appearences and contributions to various anthologies (like the Harry Nilsson tribute album).
There's a great book (it's packaged in book format)with plenty of great classic memorabilia. There's comments from the band galore. The sound is terrific and many of the tracks have been remixed by the band's long time sound engineer and remastered for this special limited edition CD boxed set.
The bulk of the material here is of a high quality and many of the tapes come from band members' personal archieves. Let's hope that we can see more of these type of items from Not Lame. There are plenty of bands (like The Vapors, etc.) that only produced two albums, a number of single b-sides and live tracks and then vanished. While it's not a load of material, Jellyfish's 10cc meets Queen style was both influential and commerically viable for their brief life. They deserve this set, darn it!
The ultimate gift for the Jellyfish fan, Fan Club Box Set is similar to Xtc's A Coat of Many Cupboards in concept. While the band only produced two albums (come on guys! get it together and record another album for God's sake!), they had plenty of material to make a terrific boxed set. Just remember that there are many demos here and if you're not a completist, this boxed set probably isn't for you. Not Lame deserves kudos for the fine job they've done here with the co-operation of the band's label EMI/Virgin Records.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Putting All Of The Pieces Together, March 13, 2003
This review is from: Fan Club (Audio CD)
If you are like most people you put on a copy of the Bellybutton or Spilt Milk CD's for the first time and got completely blown away at what you just had heard. The minute details that came through listen after listen only fueled your hunger for more. It is one thing to make a pop album, it is completely another to make a good pop album. Unfortunately good pop albums rarely get any notice. This boxset from the geniuses at NotLame completes any Jellyfish collection and gives you the full story of their careers and just how great the songs were. I disagree wholeheartedly with the reviewer that said Roger has gone on to better things...Beck is a novelty act and not much more. Roger is wasting his talent there. The demos and one offs are outstanding...the making of "Calling Sarah" on disc one is nothing short of magical.
I would definitely get the two studio releases first and then dive into this gem. Side Note : If ordering from NotLame, pick up The Posies Box while your there.
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