AMATEUR HOUR by the Card Charts // NJ100 1983 CD/C60
Dec 2016 cassette reissue Gnar Tapes
01. The Longing (1.47)
02. Caffeine Boy (1.18)
03. Acapulco (2.24) (B Moore)
04. Around The Corner (1.59)
05. The Long Haul (2.49)
06. We're In Vietnam (1.58)
07. Can't Buy Me Love (1.50) (Beatles)
08. One Night (2.06) (Elvis)
09. The Words Are Still There (2.41) (Jim Price)
10. A Tank! (0.23)
11. Spontania (1.59)
12. Even Me (2.09)
13. Amateurs (2.06)
14. Plastic Noise (0.18)
15. Sometimes I'm Happy (1.41) (standard)
16. The Garbageman (1.05)
17. Light My Fire (2.52) (Doors)
18. This Wednesday (1.42)
19. We Can Work It Out (1.14) (Beatles)
20. Thankful (2.01)
21. Whole Lotta Shakin' (1.09) (Jerry Lee)
22. I Never Know (1.17)
23. Wolverton Mountain (2.57) (Claude King)
24. New Girl (2.11)
25. Surfer Girl (1.24) (Wilson)
26. Another Girl (1.39) (Macca)
27. The Song Is You (2.29) (Sinatara)
28. Fireman Joe (2.20) (Lovera)
29. Public Image (4.02) (Lydon)
====total timing = 55.52
tape made in 3 days on portacassette decks
at home. Nov, 1983 dedicated to: P. Olafson
soundmaker: R. Stevie Moore
AMG REVIEW: Recorded over a long weekend in November 1983 with nothing more than a couple of guitars, a set of bongos, and a malfunctioning four-track cassette Portastudio, Amateur Hour is the R. Stevie Moore album that most closely resembles the lo-fi craze that would start a decade or so later. The 29 songs are a mixture of wayward semi-improvisations, oddball covers, and new takes of old Moore favorites, mostly performed on a trebly, clangorous acoustic guitar with Moore singing at the very top of his range, giving much of the album an uneasy, anxious-sounding feel that's mitigated somewhat by the easygoing, ramshackle looseness of the performances. Maybe it's the inclusion of a falling-apart take of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On," but the overall feel sounds like what Alex Chilton's solo demos for Sister Lovers might have been like. Highlights include "We're in Vietnam," a peculiar but perfect metaphor for a struggling, doomed relationship, an oddly endearing cover of Public Image Ltd.'s "Public Image," and new versions of two favorites from 1977's masterful Swing and a Miss, "New Girl" and "I Never Know."
AMG REVIEW: Recorded over a long weekend in November 1983 with nothing more than a couple of guitars, a set of bongos, and a malfunctioning four-track cassette Portastudio, Amateur Hour is the R. Stevie Moore album that most closely resembles the lo-fi craze that would start a decade or so later. The 29 songs are a mixture of wayward semi-improvisations, oddball covers, and new takes of old Moore favorites, mostly performed on a trebly, clangorous acoustic guitar with Moore singing at the very top of his range, giving much of the album an uneasy, anxious-sounding feel that's mitigated somewhat by the easygoing, ramshackle looseness of the performances. Maybe it's the inclusion of a falling-apart take of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On," but the overall feel sounds like what Alex Chilton's solo demos for Sister Lovers might have been like. Highlights include "We're in Vietnam," a peculiar but perfect metaphor for a struggling, doomed relationship, an oddly endearing cover of Public Image Ltd.'s "Public Image," and new versions of two favorites from 1977's masterful Swing and a Miss, "New Girl" and "I Never Know."
