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Spiderland is a perfect album but I listen to Tweez a good bit more. I have to be in the right mood for the former. Bands shouldn't grow as musicians.

I like the Saab on the cover of Tweez, but it's Spiderland for me.

Spoderland, even though I tend to pull up Tweez songs nowadays. The former was such a big explosion in my musical existence.

Spiderland is a plessure to listen to; Amazing recording.
Some of it I find it a bit boring, but the good stuff (breadcrumb, Nosferatu, Captain) slays.

Tweez is kinda fun but forgettable.

Spiderland but my favorite moment in their entire discography is on the EP version of “Rhoda” when Britt(?) yells “ONE TWO” to bring everyone back in.

Spiderman may be classic and "important " but has too many long stretches of sheer boredom to be consistently enjoyable to me; Bitch Magnet did it both better and earlier on "Ben Hur"; "Tweez" is clumsy and "objectively" worse but fun and far more enjoyable to me today. Since I'm voting today, that's my pick

enframed wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 7:31 pm Which one do you prefer?

I was exposed to both albums roughly around the same time. Being a hard rock kind of guy I gravitated towards Tweez. I mean, Spiderland is magnificent and all but it's not as cool as Bastro. Since there was zero information about the band besides what was on the album sleeves I used to think the songs on Tweez were ABOUT their parents and their funny personality quirks.

Dad, drunk on the sofa during the holidays: "I've got a Christmas tree inside my head!"

"Hey Mom, how do you get to the quarry?"
"Past where they paint the houses."
"What was that?"
"Past where they paint the houses! PAST WHERE THEY PAINT THE HOUSES!!"

Dad, pissed off and getting ready for work: "Pass me the Goddamn tweezers!"

Dad, trying to give the facts of life talk to his bored teenage son: "I knew these two people ... um, there was a boy and a girl ... they were nice people ... they started being seen exchanging tokens of affection and it was rumored they were engaging in ... I think you know what I'm talking about ... You know what they did? You know what they became?"
"Wow ... that was you and Mom, huh Dad? (Yawn) How interesting ..."

Etc. etc.

I love Tweez. That crushing drop D chord and the harmonics in harmony that kick the record off still get me excited after all these years. While Spiderland has spawned countless imitators, there's no album remotely like Tweez. Also, Spiderland has inspired hundreds of articles and essays while there's barely any discussion about Tweez out there, save for the 33 1/3 book and the Slint film. That's fine with me.

[Oh, and Dave Pajo's comments about being into cheesy heavy metal guitars made sense once I figured out how to play this stuff. A "hot" guitar like a Charvel-Jackson run through an overdrive pedal can clearly give you the super high third fret harmonics heard on songs like Ron and Nosferatu Man.]

tonyballzee wrote:Since there was zero information about the band besides what was on the album sleeves I used to think the songs on Tweez were ABOUT their parents and their funny personality quirks....

I love Tweez. That crushing drop D chord and the harmonics in harmony that kick the record off still get me excited after all these years. While Spiderland has spawned countless imitators, there's no album remotely like Tweez. Also, Spiderland has inspired hundreds of articles and essays while there's barely any discussion about Tweez out there, save for the 33 1/3 book and the Slint film. That's fine with me.

Fuck, what a great and hilarious post! You've succeeded in almost making me want to change my vote b/c this is precisely how I felt about Tweez circa 1991, as well. At that time, a friend owned a copy and I'd only heard it at his place. You couldn't really find the thing circa then. And the band was indeed rather enigmatic, despite the Squirrel Bait and Bastro connections being well known.

I bought the T&G reissue when it was new and got into it pretty deeply b/c Spiderland started to seem a little played-out and I'd listened to those songs to death. Plus, Tweez rocked way harder. Those harmonics, indeed! Imagine my delight a year later to find a used copy of the original Jennifer Hartman vinyl for like $8. It's 1994 and still, nobody cares about this record. This only compounded my love for the thing. It's unique, all right.

gustavprom wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2024 4:19 pm

enframed wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 7:31 pm Which one do you prefer?

You prefer that Squirrel Bait album to this one, which contains "Kid Dynamite"?