Better Youth Canada BYC-013
Less Art, More Pop is a classic mid-'80s album. Its guitars-and- harmonies approach clearly owes a great debt to such bands of the 1960s as the Byrds, but also reflects a lot of what was happening in the independent music scene of the time. REM and the Smiths had inspired innumerable jangly guitar bands, and other bands like the Dream Syndicate, Rainy Day, and the Long Ryders drew from the '60s for inspiration.
This album fits well in that company, incorporating touches of folk, country, and punk into its pop aesthetic. There's variety, but also the clear beginning of a unique sound and attitude. A few songs are lighthearted and goofy, like the fiddle-driven country stomp of Martha Quinn and the Carl Sagan- inspired pogopop of Cosmos. Others, like Fine Scotch, take a darker look at life, though not a hopeless one. Mike's voice helps distinguish the band, whether he's doing lead or backing vocals. The band starts to forge an identity that remains through the coming years of drastic lineup changes.
It Never Changes (D. Lawson)
How many times have we played this game before?
Have we passed right through these doors?
Oh it's happening more and more
and it never changes and it's always the same
and it's you who wants to leave me out in the rain
How many times have I sat at home alone?
With ears and eyes fixed on the phone
and that feeling in my bones
that it never changes...
Drivin' Thru Texas (D. Lawson)
I'm so sick of the games you're playing
with my mind, Is it just some kind of joke
you don't have any dignity within yourself
it's locked away...
And I'll have no more of this
cos you're just a big mistake
and you'll never understand
the truth that lies within
You have no morals, you have no sense
or pride so there's no sense in trying
to make you see the light in days ahead
cos it's just a dead end...
(chorus)
Where is the key to your heart
Was one ever made and where
is the love you have faked have you
hid it again????
And as the morning comes and a new
day just begins, have you made plans
for your hate and spite throughout the night?
(chorus)
Slept All Afternoon (M. McDonald)
Now that the summer's over, cold is on the way
Longer nights and shorter days
Slept till afternoon is over, cigarettes and scotch all night
Not all that wrong but not all that right
I just don't like waiting at this red light
Waiting for anything
Now that my money's gone, I've got to get a job
Sweat a lot just to get robbed
And my apartment smells bad, I've got to wash my clothes
All my stuff is growing old
(Chorus)
I'd better wake up soon, I've been sleeping all afternoon
Go On Your Way (M. McDonald)
To what faction do you subscribe?
Simplicity only serves to multiply
But what can you say it just happened that way
No sense cursing the grey all goddamned day
Just go on your way
Take in the left and the right
Your imagination will make you die of fright
(Chorus)
Oh Oh Oh
Day of the First Snow (M. McDonald)
Sometimes it's so precious when boredom works for me
Sometimes it's pretentious when I use analogies
I've got something, an idea, something for you and me
But it's simple, no lying, and no analogies
Let's not look for answers Let's not ask any questions
Let's not state the obvious It probably isn't worth the mention
The day of the first snow I clutch my collar around my neck
My fingers have no feeling, I run out of cigarettes
I phone you and say nothing, and curse the world the rest of the day
But I know there's no pressure we don't need anything to say
(Chorus)
I would take you down to my house sit you down and have some tea
And when we were done at my house, you would have been with me
(Chorus),(Bridge)
She'll Never Know (D. Lawson, M. McDonald)
Reached for my bedside table
The aspirin wasn't there
my head hurt so bad I didn't care
Reconstruct the background
of the argument last night
I might have been wrong but
she wasn't right
Oh, She had to go
Oh, and why? She'll never know
Roadmap of the city in the whites
of my eyes
Unexpected but it wasn't a surprise
I'll get a phone call later
we'll blame it on the drink
Goodness (M. McDonald)
It's in my head, and it's in my heart, I think
And I believe, and I believe it I think
And it goes...
It's in the sun, and it's in the moon and the clouds
And if I can have friends, there has to be some around
And it goes...
Fine Scotch (P. McDonald)
We were born the product of a mind much greater than our own
And when we were young we asked that mind to leave us alone
But there's nothing you can do when everyone's the same as you
We saw the sky and made the stars our home
But you can't find solace in the arms of your best girl and all her charms
You can't find solace in your mother's breast only an open wallet
But you can find solace in the bottle of an old friend
There are some people I call friends, there's other people that I don't call
And when I look deep inside I realize that I need them all
Ain't it funny when we found that our feet don't touch the ground
And one of us would have to take the fall
But...
We walk many paths the same we walk many paths different
We're living out our lease on life both paying our fair share of the rent
And we're hoping that it's real, but that ain't the way it feels
And I wonder where your path went
But...
We're drinking, to the best years of our lives
We're thinking about a day job, nice home, two cars, two kids and a wife
And we're thinking that things change but everything remains the same
Do doctors know how to use their knives?
But...
Old Blue (D. Lawson, M. McDonald)
Well I don't remember '63
But that year figures in my destiny
Some beer, the road, my car and me...
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Through the Rockies with the tape deck on...
I'm driving steady, I watch the other cars go by
100 miles already
I hope I don't run out of gas
Too Subtle For You (D. Lawson)
Why did you always treat me so unkind
When all I did was try to speak my mind
I never thought you didn't care
You always thought I wasn't fair
I guess I was just too subtle for you sometimes
So please won't you tell me why a retroactive anger still surrounds you
It seems you always pushed me apart somehow
I often wonder what you think about me now
You never thought you never dreamed
I never planned I never schemed
I guess I was just too subtle for you sometimes
(Chorus)
Ideals meant nothing to me still I wasn't how you wanted me
I got my ideals back and this is how it's gonna be
You never thought you never dreamed
I never planned I never schemed
I guess I was just too subtle for you sometimes
(Chorus)
Martha Quinn (M. McDonald)
I live in harmony and comfort and in style
Me and Martha Quinn and the television dial
My boss gave me a transfer and away I had to go
Now Martha Quinn's channel is just snow
Martha Quinn Martha Quinn
Won't you tell me where you've been
Haven't seen you for so long
I don't get your airwaves guess I live too far away
O Martha Quinn please show me one more song
No bar for miles and I had to see her fast
My hope was fading, I knew I couldn't last
Situation's desperate I'll lose my job before too long
O Martha Quinn, I'll be back where I belong
Martha Quinn Martha Quinn
Cosmos (E. Dobek)
I don't wanna tell you what I think
I don't wanna say nothing
Erudite young men come a dime a dozen
You don't listen to the music, o.k. that's fine
But the words all rhyme and the song's in time
Stuck inside a world
Where we all cling for things
That we think are going to make us content
But if all my friends were me
And they could see themselves through me
They'll realize I really didn't care...
I don't wanna tell you what I think about President Reagan
I don't wanna go fishing but I like Carl Sagan
I don't wanna be a girl
I don't wanna be the queen
I don't wanna be a part of the american dream
Yeah, I wish I was born with a face and a voice
But you pays your money and you takes your choice
I don't like Julie Andrews or the Pope or my mom
Look pretty smart but I sure am clever...
Hey Hey Paula (D.M. Brown)
It seems like only yesterday
that I was guilty too
Cause I knew but I didn't care
now my time is through
I should have felt this coming on
I should have known it all went wrong
Hey, Hey Paula, do you remember me
or was it really all a fallacy?
Hey, Hey Paula do you remember me?
Now that your dream has gone
do you think I can still go on, Hey Paula?
Daddy's gone but mom lives on
she used to be so proud
I see her every week but I'm afraid to speak
so I just hide in the crowd
I should have known right from the start
But I couldn't see Paula's broken heart
Paula I remember you, Like I always will
I can see your smiling face, like you're living still
A heart can't be strong all the time
I guess that I found out
and one of these days who knows
I might figure what it's all about
It ain't like I just didn't care
just didn't know what it was like being over there...
I Fell Dumb (E. Dobek, M. McDonald)
I tried standing on my feet but I fell dumb and you looked down
Tried standing on my head but this common gesture just made you frown
I asked you what do you want what can I do how may I please
I would have asked to hang around but I did not want to scrape my knees
This feeling comes and this feeling goes I've
got a feeling I ain't gonna feel nothing no more
And I'm feeling dumb it's like I killed my
brain and I'm feeling numb I ain't ever gonna
feel just quite like myself again
I tried reciting poetry but I tore the page you closed the book
And I tried reciting old cliches but you just gave me that same old look
I changed my chair I changed my mind you changed the bed and kicked me out
I got a pain inside my head and by the roots you ripped it out
(Chorus)
I'll take the fall I'll kill my resistance I'll leave
you alone at my insistence
If the sky should fall it wouldn't change a
thing after all it was my idea...
I tried standing on my feet you fell dumb and I looked down
I tried standing on my head sometimes I can be so pathetic
I asked what do you want what can I do how may I please
I would have asked to hang around but I did not want to scrape my knees
Why I Hate the Sixties (E. Dobek)
I love Mrs. Jones quite dearly
She breaks my heart
I forget about tarts
She makes me sad when she is near me
Tells me awful things
What would the neighbors think?
But now she's gone and left me
She went away, she went away
Oh Mrs. Jones please come back
Another day, another day
Oh Mrs. Jones, I love you...
We popped popcorn by the fire
We walked hand in hand
We kissed in Disneyland
When she was down, I stood by her
When we had a date
I was never late
A million dollars if I could see her
You'd understand if you could meet her
But now she's gone and left me,
She wasn't too thin, she wasn't too hefty
She had a million dollar coat
Alligators in her moat
She had a Porsche and a limousine
She made me glad to be sixteen...
all songs © and p 1986 B.Y.O. Records CAPAC/ASCAP
The US version apparently also includes Tragedy in E, which is also available on the BYO compilation CD Someone's Going to Get Their Head to Believe in Something.
Old Blue was the first Jr. video, and a very low budget one at that. The band is playing in a bar, as the bar's customers play pool, drink beer, and blow smoke into the camera.
Note: by the time this album appeared, a couple of other items of interest to Jr. fans were already available. "Yukon Buddy" by the Dusty Chaps (Mike and a few others doing acoustic country with a humorous spin) had appeared on a compilation album, and Mike and Ed appeared on the first album by Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, Road Gore: The Band That Drank Too Much. Also noteworthy: Ottawa favorites Jimmy George do a cover of Slept All Afternoon on their album A Month of Sundays.
Copyright Steve Roby, 1995.
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