THE MOBERLYS - SEXTEEN (1984)
Attention, Jim Basnight is a power pop boy wonder...This french only release was never reissued on CD. Seattle power pop pioneer Jim Basnight led the Moberlys visibly in the late '70s and nearly out of sight for another decade; the original quartet was over by the time its first album of sparkling mid-tempo tunes was assembled and released.
In the winter of 1983, he called up Drewry again and formed the third and longest-standing Moberlys, along with bassist Toby Kiel and guitarist Glen Oyabe. They released a four-song 12" EP in mid-1984 under the guise Jim Basnight and the Moberlys (you can hear it here on the excellent cueburn blog), and quickly became one of the most talked-about bands in Seattle. Needless to say, they were far too raw to appeal to slick commercial radio (although they did set the scene for the grunge bands that followed). The band recorded another batch of songs in early 1984 and those were collected with much of the rest of Basnight's previous output on the mid-1984 album, Sexteen. The album included some songs from the first album plus other earlier previously unreleased songs. For instance, the version of "I Need Your Love" is different from the 12" EP, or the "You Came & You Conquered" version is different from the one you can hear on the french CD "Seattle-New York-Los Angeles" released by Pop The Balloon (2000) - the one you can hear on the french LP is linked up with a cover of the Ron Davies classic "It's You Alone" and has a different intro. The same can be said about the song "Rest Up", (the earlier version which can be heard on the Pop The Balloon CD was produced by Peter Buck).
In the mid-'90s, while the singer/guitarist was recording and performing solo and with the Rockinghams, Basnight repackaged eight tracks from the first Moberlys' album with six others (ignoring the intervening EP) and issued them as First Album. Not surprisingly, the delightfully surf-boppin' "Live in the Sun" moves up to lead off the CD, which is a catchy and illustrative document of the Northwest's musical past. Weirdly enough, in 1995 a Sexteen CD was released but it was a completely different release from the original french LP. Expanded for German release, the 23-track Sexteen adds back two more from the old album and digs seven more out of the vaults to assemble the most complete Moberlys collection ever. Jim Basnight is still very active today and is someone you can trust power pop wise. He also was part of some very nice Tribute albums (Beatles, Who, Left Banke or Gene Clark)
The Jim Basnight catalog can be ordered from koolkatmusik.com
In the winter of 1983, he called up Drewry again and formed the third and longest-standing Moberlys, along with bassist Toby Kiel and guitarist Glen Oyabe. They released a four-song 12" EP in mid-1984 under the guise Jim Basnight and the Moberlys (you can hear it here on the excellent cueburn blog), and quickly became one of the most talked-about bands in Seattle. Needless to say, they were far too raw to appeal to slick commercial radio (although they did set the scene for the grunge bands that followed). The band recorded another batch of songs in early 1984 and those were collected with much of the rest of Basnight's previous output on the mid-1984 album, Sexteen. The album included some songs from the first album plus other earlier previously unreleased songs. For instance, the version of "I Need Your Love" is different from the 12" EP, or the "You Came & You Conquered" version is different from the one you can hear on the french CD "Seattle-New York-Los Angeles" released by Pop The Balloon (2000) - the one you can hear on the french LP is linked up with a cover of the Ron Davies classic "It's You Alone" and has a different intro. The same can be said about the song "Rest Up", (the earlier version which can be heard on the Pop The Balloon CD was produced by Peter Buck).
In the mid-'90s, while the singer/guitarist was recording and performing solo and with the Rockinghams, Basnight repackaged eight tracks from the first Moberlys' album with six others (ignoring the intervening EP) and issued them as First Album. Not surprisingly, the delightfully surf-boppin' "Live in the Sun" moves up to lead off the CD, which is a catchy and illustrative document of the Northwest's musical past. Weirdly enough, in 1995 a Sexteen CD was released but it was a completely different release from the original french LP. Expanded for German release, the 23-track Sexteen adds back two more from the old album and digs seven more out of the vaults to assemble the most complete Moberlys collection ever. Jim Basnight is still very active today and is someone you can trust power pop wise. He also was part of some very nice Tribute albums (Beatles, Who, Left Banke or Gene Clark)
The Jim Basnight catalog can be ordered from koolkatmusik.com
Songs
I Want To Be Yours / Cinderella / You Came And You Conquered / It's You Alone / Alone With Her / I Love You So / Papa Loves Mama / I Need Your Love / Wherever You Take Me / Country Fair / Rest Up / We'll Always Be In Love / Sexteen / She Got Fxxxed
3 comments:
Angelo, Philo again, scrolling through your wonderful blog I saw the Moberly's. I went scrambling to locate an LP of theirs ( which I can't find at the moment) because I don't see it on any of the discography's you listed. Being in the NW I bought it 25 years ago at a local Seattle record store. They were the big band in those days along with the Cowboys and the Heaters ( who had to change their name to the Heats). Any way I'm gonna dig this LP back out from somewhere and look at it again.
BTW, Jim Basnight now is a high school basketball scout and writes articles on the Rivals.com basketball site.
This looks cool but the link does not seem to be working. Any chance for a repost? Thanks in advance.
actually, the link in the comment was an old one - it had been reuploaded a few months ago - so the proper link is on the title - as usual - same password as the other posts
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