Customer Reviews

Selected Ep

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

 

 

Lighten up, it's only a few songs. Don't try to compare it to 'The 3 Way', or 'Better...' This is more of a stop-gap one-off than a "major opus" and, seen in that light, I'm very happy. Hey, they lost the demos to a couple of these old songs & felt it would be cheeky to record them for posterity with all of their newfound studio prowess. Consider it a quick love note to fans everywhere. The results range from dicey (the 2 short instrumental experiments-whatsits) to epic masterpiece (Won't Make You (Sleepy)). In between we get an interesting backward-look through the new-improved lens via the Byrdsian "The Any Several Sundays" and a really quirkily-compressed Neo-Eno "Touch the Water" which yes they've covered twice before, all 3 times in a different tonal universe. Perhaps this song is a good indicator of what their future full-length work might sound like. Who can say? In any case, it's cheap enough to justify the brevity, but frankly I'd buy about anything from Kurt for a whole lot more. His throwaways are worth more than most bands' career highs.

This brief collection of early, unreleased Lilys recordings (from the _In The Presence of Nothing_ era) when they were unabashed Yankee shoegazers sounds much different than the Lilys today, who are now unabashed fans of mid-60s Kinks/Zombies psych-pop.

Fans of the retro-60s Lilys will enjoy their version of "Touch The Water," done originally by the Apples In Stereo.

However, I remember listening to the Lilys back in their Anglophile days, and the full-sounding, textured 6:45-minute opus "Won't Make You (sleepy)" brought back all those nice memories of a simpler day. By far the best song on a short CD-EP of oddities and fan favorites.

Lilys music can be really hit or miss. But the track "Won't Make You Sleepy" is one of the better songs I've ever heard by any band. It sounds simple but it's brilliantly conceived and executed. Just a really great song. Unless you come to really like the band, it's hard to recommend downloading anything else off this CD.

Everyone talks about how the Lilys always change genre's for each album, and while all styles are brilliant, and all the albums are great, there's not enough focus on the moments where all of these styles diverge.

The only Lilys release that successfully does this is this, the Selected EP.

Two of the songs here were written during the first period of the Lilys (In the Presence Of Nothing era) and therefore both contain beautiful, sad, and spectral vocal melodies that get me everytime.

However, Kurt Heasley uses the style of mid-period Lilys (60's retro stylings, tastefully executed) to re-record these once lost songs (only really captured in demo form). So you get what kind of sounds like the dreamiest aspects of MBV as captured by the Byrds. Except no where near as simple as that.

"Touch The Water" is a perfect pop song, except this time, written during the retro-rock incarnation and recorded as an early-style recording. What I mean by this is beautiful harmonies over as one refer called "a shoegazer glaze." So good.

If you are already a Lilys fan, this is def. for you. It also serves as a nice introduction, with a little bit of all the things that make Lilys one of my favorite groups.

While certainly not a major work by any means, this mini EP gives enough of a taste of Kurt & Co. to keep us going until January 2003 when precollections is released. And with a name like precollections its nice to see that Kurt is teasing with returning to his noisy roots. After all, he probably gets pretty tired of folks comparing him to the kinks and the zombies all of the time. Once again embracing an early Lilys sound - the stand out here is Won't Make You Sleepy - an instantly catchy song that you may feel the need to play again and again. Even Peerless and Peerless II have something to offer in their electronic simplicity (very much like what Lilys had to offer on their Darla - Bliss Out outing) Worth a listen for fans of old nineties indie rock and lilys fans who like the band enough to believe that they can stop sounding like "The Kinks" and still make some cool music.

This was a let down after BETTER..., SERVICES..., & THREE WAY. If this is the direction Heasley is headed in, as one reviewer states, then I'm not sure I'll even be buying the next LP. There are those who didn't like the change from shoegazing to power pop, and there are probably those who don't like the change from power pop to what's on SELECTED. Still, Heasley can always be hailed for moving ahead and beyond and trying something new. Hail Hail.

Actually, this is not a release of old material, these are all new recordings, the liner notes are pretty specific. There is no more "sixties" Lily's, Kurt Heasly has a whole new lineup, and Selected is their new sound. I saw them play in Philly some months back with the lineup on Selected and they were great, extremely energetic, sloppy, and loud, very much like this CD. I have to give serious props to the Lily's for continuing to make good music, considering almost every other band I dig no longer exists. This cd is a perfect fusion of all the past Lily's sounds. I like every thing the Lily's have done but this is definitely my favorite. It's so good in fact that it evokes feelings of hope in me, maybe people will make good music again one day. Opinion.

I like this CD. Fans of Eccsame will like "won't make you (sleepy)" which sounds like an outtake from that album and is definitely a great song. the 3rd and 5th tracks are, however, only 1-minute long. The whole CD is about 15 minutes long. Maybe someone else can confirm if these tracks are from the infamous lost album that was supposed to have been recorded between ITPON and Eccsame. The liner notes don't tell you very much. Anyway, if you dislike the Lilys 60s-sounding stuff like I do and and you don't mind getting overcharged for what is really only 3 songs, then i highly recommend this. On the other hand, the 2 1-minute songs, peerless and peerless II are good songs too, for what that's worth (both instrumentals).