From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V4 #187 Reply-To: support-system@smoe.org Sender: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk support-system-digest Friday, July 20 2001 Volume 04 : Number 187 Today's Subjects: ----------------- non-Liz: Breeders live review [Catherine Lewis ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 07:20:46 -0500 (CDT) From: Catherine Lewis Subject: non-Liz: Breeders live review Here's a review from the Chicago Tribune (which mentions some of the songs that were played). For the folks who were there, I'd be curious to know what you thought of the opening band. http://chicagotribune.com/leisure/tempo/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-0107160049,FF.html The Breeders return in rehearsal-like fashion New lineup messy as it kicks out familiar sound By Joshua Klein -- Special to the Tribune -- July 16, 2001 Some bands bound from one great accomplishment to the next. Other bands doggedly stick around and stagnate. But then there are bands that disappear without a trace. The Breeders' most recent album, "Last Splash," was released in 1993. The disc became a left-field hit and made former Pixies bassist Kim Deal a star in her own right. But since then, all has been quiet on the band front. Members quietly defected; Deal's twin sister, Kelley, occasionally made the news for all the wrong reasons; and for all intents and purposes, the Breeders ceased to exist. Though word sometimes spread of a new Breeders album, nothing ever came of the rumors. Until now, that is. Fresh from a stint in Chicago with producer Steve Albini and working toward a fall release, the Breeders broke their silent streak to introduce a new lineup and their newest songs before a moderate-sized crowd Saturday night at the Congress Theatre. The band now features new additions Richard Presley on guitar, Mando Lopez on bass and Jose Medeles on drums, as well as guitar-playing sister Kelley--all allies convened by Deal during the group's de facto hiatus. But despite the mostly fresh faces and the long absence from the stage, the Breeders sounded remarkably familiar. That is to say, the new Breeders--"the new, wonderful Breeders" as Kim and Kelley's mother put it--sounded something of a mess. Pausing regularly to chat with each other and the audience, the Deal sisters didn't seem especially eager to play, even if their Cheshire cat smiles and infectious enthusiasm saved some of their sloppier moments. Presley, Lopez and Medeles performed just fine, but the band of relative strangers rarely appeared the most cohesive unit. "It's like watching a rehearsal," joked Kim as the group figured out just who was supposed to begin each song. While the band stuck mainly to material from "Last Splash," including "Cannonball," the surf instrumental "Flipside," "No Aloha," the Kelley-led "I Just Wanna Get Along" and a crowd-pleasing "Saints," the Breeders offered a handful of unreleased tracks and older gems. "Fire The Maid" and "Forced to Drive," from the recent sessions, were over too quickly to leave much of an impression, whereas both "Tipp City" and "Pacer" (from Kim's side project, the Amps) sounded better than some of the Breeders songs. But just how good did the Breeders ever sound? If anything, songs such as "Iris," from the band's 1990 debut "Pod," demonstrated that Deal's songwriting really hasn't developed that much over the past decade. So is a comeback in the stars for a relatively minor band long gone from the public eye? Perhaps. Few could have predicted the band's initial success. Hopefully, should the Breeders continue along the path toward renewed prominence, it won't be in such a slipshod manner. ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V4 #187 ************************************