The Embarrassment are one of those bands whose invocation immediately establishes a measure of indie rock credibility. They released a handful of influential singles and EPs in the late seventies and early eighties, and chances are you don't own any of them. You may not even have been born when the Embos broke up. Though never particularly famous themselves, the Embarrassment are part of an elite cadre of groups -- The Vaselines, Television Personalities, The Sonics, The Raincoats -- whose music proved to be profoundly influential to latter-day tastemakers. If you're unaware of the band's place in history, they may not sound particularly special to you...but then, the Beatles might not sound particularly striking to a listener raised on their stylistic descendants. The Embarrassment neither want nor deserve veneration on the Beatles' level, but they're entitled to credit for laying part of the foundation for modern indie rock.
Make no mistake, Blister Pop isn't the best way to start your Embarrassment collection (though it's better than not starting an Embos collection at all!). Their finest moments can be found on Heyday, a two-disc greatest hits/rarities set released in 1995. God Help Us, the band's 1990 "reunion" album, is also worth tracking down, as is pretty much anything else you can find. If you're a rabid record collector and like a challenge, The Embarrassment are perfect for you.
Consider Blister Pop to be an authorized bootleg. It's a mixture of various live performances (concerts, radio appearances, rehearsals) intended to fill in Heyday's few blanks. It's also lo-fi as fuck all, much of it recorded on nothing more sophisticated than a two-track cassette deck. So get ready for fifty-seven minutes of muddily-recorded rock goodness.
You'll probably gravitate to the covers first; that's justifiable, as there are some great ones here. I'm always happy to have another version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog", especially when it's this muffled and crunchy and the vocals drop in and out without warning, and the Embos' liquored-up go at Bowie and Iggy's "Funtime" is another treat. Then there are the classics: The Seeds' "Pushin' too Hard", Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman", Buddy Holly's "Maybe Baby" and the Chambers Brothers' "Time Has Come Today" receive frenzied and spirited attention, with sloppily marvelous results. And as for the Embos' take on "On Broadway"...well, it'll give Me First and the Gimme-Gimmes fans something to think about.
Though the band's best originals can be found on Heyday, there are some real treats here. An early version of "Elizabeth Montgomery's Face" provides a suitably punkish alternate to the proto-alt-country-dub version most fans know. "Song For Val" is short, sharp and wonderfully anthemic; you'll be singing its chorus, "I don't care for old people/very very old people" the next time you're stuck behind a slow-moving car with an always-on turn signal. The opening one-two punch of "Podman" and "Proof" ably displays both ends of the Embarrassment's spectrum: they're poppy as hell on the first tune, a sci-fi-inspired body-snatching romp, and all punked up on the second, complete with the abrasively nasal vocals so popular in early eighties punk.
So, to summarize, you don't really need Blister Pop unless you're a terminally-ill seven-year-old and have decided to collect every last bit of Embarrassment material you can before you snuff it. But it's thoroughly worth owning, both as entertainment and as a historical document. In that respect, you'll appreciate the disc's introduction, a montage of the group's cryptic and sarcastic responses to various interviewers' efforts to categorize their sound. Some things never change.
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