Customer Reviews

Some Small History

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If you, like me, have a compulsive need to accumulate Mac McCaughan's entire recorded output, then this odds-n-sods compilation is a godsend. Portastatic's last two albums ("Bright Ideas" and "Be Still Please") were (hyperbole and fan-boy gushing aside) high water marks for the band, which has transformed from a Superchunk "side project" to an entity of its own with a rather intricate and lengthy discography.

A cursory glance at the tracklist shows many tracks that are on compilations and singles that you may already have if you are a completist (like me), however, many of these are actually different versions(!) from Mac's 4-track vault. This is true especially in the case of older songs like "A Cunning Latch," "Skinny Glasses Girl," "Trajectory," and "Had" -- which all make appearances in unfamiliar versions. So this double discer is pretty much a win-win for fans.

As far as sequencing goes, maybe disc 2 should have been disc 1 and vice versa? It's a small quibble, but the songs on disc 1 are from a little deeper in the vaults and the songs on disc 2 a little poppier/more produced. But let's face it, this isn't a record to convert new fans, it's for established Portastatic junkies. Bon appetit!

p.s. this is a limited release of 3,000 copies, in case you were on the fence.

I love this double-disc set. I'm a Portastatic fan in general, and it's great to hear a lot of unreleased material that wasn't previously available. Featuring lots of songs new to my ears, some alternative versions of some of their best songs, and some very well done covers (I happen to specifically love their version of When Love Breaks Down), these discs haven't left my cd player in over a month. I seem to never get tired of listening to it. While I definitely don't think this is the best starting point for someone new to the band, once you become familiar with them, this is a must-have collection. And with about 40 songs over 2 discs, it offers an incredible amount of quality material. Probably my best purchase of the year as far as music is concerned.