Terraform.

Would never have said this at the time but, Excellent Italian Greyhound.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:02 am Would never have said this at the time but, Excellent Italian Greyhound.

My favorite as well, it's their most fun record!

My ideal favorite would be the first two 7" releases packaged as a 12", they're kinda of one piece anyway, right?

From the choices above, At Action Park.

jason from volo wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:30 am I feel like Josh (Tom Hanks's character) in the movie Big when I say this, but the thing that prevents me from liking Excellent Italian Greyhound more is the first song. I just don't get it. And it's long. And it's the first song.

I wasn't big on "The End of Radio" the first few times I heard it, either. Then I saw Shellac close one of their shows with a 20+ minute version (might not have actually been that long, certainly felt like it though) with completely different lyrics about being "down in the basement" while on psychedelic mushrooms listening to records on headphones. Long stretches of just Bob plunking away at that bassline unaccompanied, really testing the audiences' patience. Towards the end of it, at least a quarter of the room had cleared out, and Bob just abruptly stops and mutters "where did everyone go?" with a sarcastic shrug. Fuck, it was so good.

Anyways, I really enjoy the studio recording now after seeing it live. Just an excellent, excellent piece of "deconstructed rock".

Edit: Found a clip that captures all of the song sans the ending. Starts around the 31 min mark and 42 min mark with the "down in the basement" lyrics. So happy to have found this. Edited out a slightly false memory of one of the lyrics.

chexmixbreath wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 4:22 pm

jason from volo wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:30 am I feel like Josh (Tom Hanks's character) in the movie Big when I say this, but the thing that prevents me from liking Excellent Italian Greyhound more is the first song. I just don't get it. And it's long. And it's the first song.

I wasn't big on "The End of Radio" the first few times I heard it, either. Then I saw Shellac close one of their shows with a 20+ minute version (might not have actually been that long, certainly felt like it though) with completely different lyrics about being "down in the basement" while on psychedelic mushrooms listening to records on headphones "this record is FUCKING amazing". Long stretches of just Bob plunking away at that bassline unaccompanied, really testing the audiences' patience. Towards the end of it, at least a quarter of the room had cleared out, and Bob just abruptly stops and mutters "where did everyone go?" with a sarcastic shrug. Fuck, it was so good.

Anyways, I really enjoy the studio recording now after seeing it live. Just an excellent, excellent piece of "deconstructed rock".

The song is meant for live performance. when I saw them in '05 they played 2 perfect versions, AND "Didn't we deserve....."(which they teased at doing last year)

I voted "Dude, Incredible". Every album and single is REALLY special to me. Until the next one comes out, the latest is my favourite.

Someone posted somewhere on the old board about seeing Shellac do "The End of Radio" and during the intro where Steve does the usual opening lyrical rounds of "Is this thing on?" / "Can you hear me now?" and some nerdboy in the crowd shouting affirmatively "YES" several times until realizing it's part of the song and then hanging his head low in shame. Cracks me up.

Excellent Italian Greyhound was the most recent release when I first started listening to them, was my first vinyl LP (the first vinyl record I bought was Foo Fighters' Exhausted single), and carries so many nostalgic moments for my brother and I, buying a record player, figuring out how to use it, chilling out in the living room listening to that album, seeing them live the day Michael Jackson died ("What's the difference between Neil Armstrong and Michael Jackson?" Steve asked. "Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and Michael Jackson's dead"). So I've always felt it was my favourite, even if I do listen to At Action Park a little more frequently.

Greyhound

Shall revisit after To All Trains has sunk in

At Action Park by far.

Action Park > 1000 Hurts > Greyhound > Terraform > Dude