youspinmeround Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 https://megamart.subpop.com/releases/u_men/u_men PRE-ORDER DETAILS Customers will be given access to stream the full album up to four (4) weeks before release date from your SubPop.com account, with your pre-order of the album on any format. All pre-orders will also receive any and all pre-release track downloads in advance of the album release as they are made public, which will be available from your SubPop.com account as they become available. All physical pre-order items should ship out from our warehouse in Seattle, WA between 5-8 days before release date, so long as their are no delays in manufacturing that would delay this advance shipping timeline. International orders may not arrive by release day as extra time must be taken into consideration for distance traveled and customs department clearance. The U-Men are one of the best bands I’ve ever seen. They were hypnotic, frenetic, powerful and compelling. It was impossible to resist getting sucked into their weird, darkly absurd world. They effortlessly blended The Sonics, Link Wray, Pere Ubu, and Captain Beefheart. Their shows were loose-limbed, drunken dance parties and no two shows were alike. The U-Men were avant-garage explorers and, most importantly, they fucking rocked. I was lucky enough to live in their hometown and I saw them every chance I could. From 1983 to 1987, the U-Men were the undisputed kings of the Seattle Underground. No one else came close. They ruled a bleak backwater landscape populated by maybe 200 people. They were the only band that could unify the disparate sub-subcultures and get all 200 of those people to fill a room. Anglophilic, dress-dark Goths; neo-psych MDA acolytes; skate punks who shit in bathtubs at parties; Mod vigilantes who tormented the homeless with pellet guns; college kids who thought college kids were lame; Industrial Artistes; some random guy with a moustache; and eccentrics who insisted that they couldn’t be pigeonholed: all coalesced around the U-Men. Sub Pop co-founder, Bruce Pavitt released the first record by the U-Men, a 4-song 12” EP on Bombshelter Records. By the time they had recorded songs for another record, Bruce was too broke to release it on his proto-Sub Pop label, so he hooked them up with Gerard Cosloy at Homestead Records. This was a big deal. Homestead had a heavy rep at the time with recent releases by Foetus, Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, and Big Black. I was sure that the release of their second 12”, Stop Spinning, would propel the U-Men into the ranks of those Homestead acts and the worldwide underground would get hip to Seattle’s finest. Following the departure of bassist Jim Tillman, the later incarnation of the band recorded two fantastic singles, and recorded their one full-length album, Step on a Bug, for Black Label which was run out of Fallout Records. They became increasingly disenchanted with the direction the Seattle underground was heading and called it quits in 1989. The U-Men had nothing to do with Grunge. They were their own unique thing. I loved them and I still miss them. I remember thinking at the time that most of their recordings were a little soft and didn’t capture the power of the band live. Now, thirty years later, their records sound great to me and we are lucky that they exist. I’m stoked that Sub Pop complied these long out-of-print records and scrounged up some unreleased songs so that everyone has a chance to take a trip back to old weird Seattle. —Mark Arm, Seattle, August 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apirk Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 This looks pretty awesome will definitely order at some point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtrCtyWx Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Wish it had a Loser edition, but I definitely like their reissues for the most part. Glad it is everything and not just an anthology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morfiend Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Definitely a must buy. I've been trying to track down the original presses but have had no luck around here. Btw, Tom Price from the U-Men has a band with Mark Arm called The Monkeywrench if you haven't heard them already, they're awesome and have 3 full length albums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vern Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 20 hours ago, MtrCtyWx said: Wish it had a Loser edition, but I definitely like their reissues for the most part. Glad it is everything and not just an anthology. It is an anthology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtrCtyWx Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 8 hours ago, Vern said: It is an anthology. You're correct, I should have said comprehensive anthology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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