Customer Reviews

What We Had

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Wednesday Week's 1987 debut album, "What We Had," has been reissued with 10 bonus tracks. Included is their 1983 EP, "Betsy's House," making its CD debut. "Betsy's House," released when Wednesday Week was an all female trio, is the first thing I heard by them. It sounds wonderfully naive now, but back then I felt the EP showed a band with great potential. In 1985 I visited Los Angeles, the band's home, and saw them perform live in Reseda. By then guitarist David Nolte had joined the band and they had left "Betsy's House" far behind. More guitars, better singing, better songs. Potential realized. After landing a recording contract with Enigma records, they headed off to Charlotte, North Carolina to record "What We Had" with Don Dixon producing. He got the band's sound just right, all soaring guitars and heartfelt vocals. "Sweetness on the edge," I called it then.

Most of the songs were written by the Callan sisters (singer/guitarist Kristi and drummer Kelly) with occasional collaborators. My favorites have always been the yearning "I Wonder What You Hear" and the wondering "I Thought," which has a beautiful vocal section toward the end that is nearly transcendent. I've also always liked "All That Again," which is a crazed stomping thrashing thing that questions the pain of dealing with relationships ("do I really want to go through all that again?"). Bassist Heidi Rodewald's songs are also strong, particularly "Missionary" and "Why," which Don Dixon himself covered.

"What We Had" has been out of print for far too long and it has aged well -- Don Dixon take a bow. Now's your chance to discover it anew more than 20 years later. It's probably the coolest eighties album you've never heard.

The Los Angeles-bred Wednesday Week debuted alongside the Paisley Underground on the early '80s compilations "The Radio Tokyo Tapes" and "Warf Rat Tales," but their sound had more to do with minimalist pop (ala Oh-Ok) and new wave indie rock (ala The Neats) than the flowering, droning and buzzing neo-psych. What linked them to their SoCal contemporaries was a DIY garage sensibility which flowered in an initial batch of songs that were written and sung with the emphatic, confessional tone of diary entries.

This CD reissue augments the group's 1987 full-length LP for Enigma ("What We Had") with their earlier 1983 EP for Warf Rat ("Betsy's House"), and five selections from both before and after the album. Programmed in chronological order (14-18, 21, 20, 22, 1-13, 23), you can hear the band evolve from DIY roots ("I Hate Lying to Mom") to frenetic, angular post-punk ("I Don't Know") to Byrdsian/REM-styled chime ("Christmas Here" and "You Wanted Me To Hang Around"), to rock ("The Leopard") electric-folk ("Also Clear"), and finally to the heavier, big-drum sound of the LP.

Produced by Don Dixon (REM, Chris Stamey, Windbreakers), the album tracks are thicker, more polished and ultimately more generic than the earlier and later sides produced by Vitus Matare, Ethan James and Earle Mankey. Several album tracks sound quite like Holly & The Italians or Bonnie Hayes & The Wild Combo, particularly in the vocals. But even as the group moved away from the sparseness of their first EP, Kristi and Kelly Callan's lyrics retained the intimate personality lost in major label contracts (and subsequent video shoots) by contemporaries like The Bangles.

Kristi Callan's chameleon vocals can really be heard on two of the bonus tracks. 1983's terrific version of Gary Valentine's "You Wanted Me To Hang Around" (from the "Girls Can't Help It" compilation) sounds remarkably like early Olivia Newton-John, and 1990's "No Going Back" channels Susan Jacks of the Poppy Family. Though this CD isn't a complete band discography (there are numerous EP and compilation album tracks missing), this is a superb overview of Wednesday Week's core catalog, and a welcome reintroduction to one of the lesser known indie bands of mid-80s L.A. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

I first heard songs off this record when watching classic slasher film (Slumber Party Massacre 2) and i was hooked.The Callan sisters are sexy and talented Musicians,This album was out of print for many years and finally has been released.Bottom line here is the tunes are awesome and if you like 80's rock this belongs in your collection.

Personal favorites.

Why
If only
I Wonder What You Hear
Feel So Small
Sometimes
\M/

I recently rediscovered this album after being without a copy for more than 20 years. It was part of my colleciton in college, and got sold to a used CD shop when I fell on hard times. I never forgot it though, and several of the songs stayed in my head all those years. When I ran across it by accident and discovered it had been reissued...of course I had to replace my copy and a couple of spares.

Truth be told, I liked this album so much in 1987 that I actually joined their fan club just as I was graduating college. Heidi Rodewald's songs "Why", "Missionary", and "Forever" are undoubtedly the best songs on the album--natural hit singles if you ask me. I joined the fan club because of those songs. Unfortunately, Heidi was already either in the process of leaving the band or had left by the time I joined the fan club, and I didn't know it. I don't think the Callan sisters appreciated it when I told them Heidi's songs were the best ones! Even though there are a lot of other good songs on this record, I think Wednesday Week never went on to great success because Heidi Rodewald left. Even though the Callan sisters write great songs as well and there isn't a bad track on the disc, Heidi's songs just hit that next level reserved for the classic singles in rock history.

With all jangly guitars and wistful vocals, not to mention quality adult songs, this album and band were a welcome change from the bubblegum pop Go-Go's (which were gone-gone), the ever more sappy sugary Bangles, and the unfortunately harder and harder rock Pandoras.

They should have talked Heidi Rodewald into staying and they could have had huge hits.

The extra tracks on this disc aren't the usual half-unlistenable throwaways: they actually do add to the experience. I had never heard the 'Betsy's House' songs, and they were a pleasant surprise. The other bonus tracks are worth hearing as well. There is not a filler track on the disc.

The Callans' best songs: "Boy (You Got Me Good)," "Looking Back", "If Only", and "Feel So Small".

I recently caught a YouTube video of the re-formed Wednesday Week playing live. No return of Heidi Rodewald, who is on Broadway from what I understand--but there was Karen Blankfeld of the Pandoras filling in on bass. There's a weird and comforting synchronicity to that: two of my favorite defunct '80's bands somehow blending membership in the modern era.

It makes me want to go back in time and buy all those CD's all over again.

I watched the horror comedy, "Slumber Party Massacre II", and had heard "Why" and "If Only" and instantly fell in love. The songs are addictive. So catchy with strong vocals and such. So, I searched for the band and came across the wednesday week website. I saw that they had reissued it several years ago and got VERY excited and saw that amazon had it for only $12! So, of course I bought it. Totally worth the purchase. The original 13 songs on the album alone are worth it, but the extra 10 tracks make it even better. I wish they'd release a CD of "No Going Back", I love the title track. The only thing I didn't like about it was the lack of extras with the album, like no lyrics or booklet or anything, but oh well. I also am not a fan of non-jewel cases, but hey, studio quality music is the payoff. Purchase yours today! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

I remember hearing the songs Why & If only on Slumber Party Massacre 2 when i was younger. I loved the songs so much I put my boom box against the tv to record. Years later i decided to watch the movie again & still love it ofcourse. What i loved even better was those two songs & decided to check out the credits to see who sang it. When I saw the artist was Wednesday Week I immediately purchased a copy here on amazon & ended up liking the whole CD. I'm very happy with it & months later still jamming out.

Solid song writing and a good sound. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on this album if you can locate one. Personally I really miss Heide Rodewald's influence.