Customer Reviews

Frisbie

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

 

 

I was lucky to be turned on to HV in fall of '95 while living in Portland, Or . I saw them live also that September and they blew me away. This record was the soundtrack to my life during that autumn and listening to it to this day carries me back down memory lane. Its a wonderfully fastpaced, beautifully produced piece of indie rock that no indie rocker should be without. With its unpredictable song structures and rhythms 'Frisbee' is a true classic. RobCrow is a genius and all of you should know that. If you can seek this out please do so, along with AquaKitty, they both offer something very unique musically.

A friend of mine let me borrow a tape with a few songs from 'Frisbie' on it many years ago. Needless to say, I FLIPPED when I heard these great creations! Immediately, I found the nearest record store and gladly dished out the money for what has become a closet-classic to me! Since then, I've successfully turned some friends (both musicians and non-musicians) onto this overlooked bunch from San Diego, CA. Unfortunately, like many talented groups, their demise came too early, but we're left with some great musical memories from these guys.

The best way to describe Heavy Vegetable (as their name hints) is to say they are an Indie band (almost what I would typify as "College Rock") with a very progressive leaning. The band forms their songs in Indie fashion (garage-type production, very short songs, etc...) but their songwriting is terrific, choc-full of odd-time signatures, great riffs and really melodic melodies & chord structures (sometimes AMAZINGLY melodic - check out a song like 'Spatula' for a great example of tremendous melodies along with far-out musicianship). Singer/composer Rob Crow is so original and really reaches out to far out places with his different style of writing. Not only does co-lead vocalist Elea Tenuta have a terrific voice, but she and Rob harmonize with such conviction and originality (there's that word again!). And to top it off, they weren't a major label band, but 'Frisbie' was recorded with producer Mark Trombino who has a long-lasting reputation in the music business.

Of course, with 28 tracks on the CD, there are some stinkers or some "throw away" songs. However, most of the recording is heavily weighted with great songwriting and memorable moments. The last I heard, Rob Crow is in a band called Pinback and Elea had gone on to an also-demised band called Thingy. I heard clips from both bands and both sounded good, but not as enticing as Heavy Vegetable. Lastly, 'Aqua Kitty' is another interesting H.Vegetable creation (the CD previous to this one, I believe). It isn't nearly as good, but still contains some magic found on 'Frisbie.' For an interesting moment in time, track down this recording!

This is the best overall HV record available... 26 songs...no my mistake 28...the harmonies set this band apart from anything like this...i listen to this all the time and find differnt things that catches my ear each time!!

3 1/2

Like a more progressive Ween, these overtly quirky, speedy acoustic ditties usually rise above goofiness from sheer talent, if not creating here a uniformally excellent album certainly providing many individual songs for thought.

Under the the name Other Men. Coming in mid March 07' Rob and the gang from Heavy Vegetable recorded a new album. Rob is a busy guy.

Odd time sigs, sincopation, and catchy tunes?
I must be dreaming.
Heavy Vegetable is an mf