Friday, January 10, 2025

Something Fierce This Way Comes...Finally!!!

As long-time readers may be aware, Something Fierce -- a bunch of guys I've never met, but with whom I nonetheless have a sort-of personal relationship going back several decades -- are the greatest pop/rock band you've never heard of unless you're from Minneapolis.

You can (and should) read the perhaps poignant details of our shared history over HERE, but the short version is I've been a fan since 1989, when I first wrote about them in the pages of Stereo Review. Suffice it to say that of all the music I was lucky enough to discover as part of my job at that rag, Something Fierce's is the stuff that has meant the most to me over the years. Seriously.

In any event, the reason I bring them up now is that -- yay!!!! -- all their long out-of-print albums (including two flat out masterpieces) are at last available again, for streaming/listening or purchase, over at this one convenient site HERE.

This is like the greatest news ever, although I must admit (to my everlasting shame) that it's actually not (news, that is). In reality, the stuff has actually been up over there for a while, but for some reason I never got the memo, My apologies to the band in this regard. 😎

Anyway, by way of penance, I thought I'd give the PowerPop community a representative sampling of the aural delights you can find at that splendid site.

Let's start with "Deep and Meaningful," which is the first SF song I fell in love with.

And I think we've all known that girl. Hell, I think we've all dated her.

And then there's the gorgeous "Oscillating Fan," with (as I said back in the day) its swirling Revolver-ish instrumental section that doubles back on the lyrical conceit.

Pretty fucking brilliant, no?

And then there's "Poetic Justice Thurgood." An ode to the late great SCOTUS guy...

...that should have been a single, if only because the 45 would have looked so damned cool.

And then of course there's this, which isn't power pop, but is nonetheless a work of genius.

About which, at the time of its original release (in 1996), I wrote ...

"One song [from A Sound for Sore Ears] deserves particular mention...specifically, 'Watergate,' in which [they] posit -- over a hilariously overdramatic instrumental bed -- that A Girlfriend From Hell is the metaphorical equivalent of the Nixon scandals and sustain the conceit for more than five fricking minutes. If nothing else, this must be the first song in history to contemplate rhyming 'spill the beans' with 'Haldeman, Mitchell and Dean,' and I would like to go on record, at this juncture, as saying that this song remains for my money the most audacious conceptual masterstroke on any '90s rock album by anybody. So there."

...and I stand by every word.

Bottom line: Those guys were great, your life is the poorer for it if you haven't heard them, and the band link I posted above -- where you can access every single note they ever recorded -- is the most important cultural treasure trove since the library at Alexandria. Get over there now!!!

PS: Attentive readers may recall that Fierce guitarist Jerry Lefkowitz is currently kicking out the jams as part of the band behind America's coolest punk rock gal Cindy Lawson; if they're ever performing in your neck of the woods, drop everything and go.

PPS: I can't believe I didn't put this one -- "Vegetable Guy" -- up top. It's ostensibly tongue in cheek, but it leaves me with chills every time. Wow.

PPPS: In a daring break with the hidebound traditions of this here blog, I will be posting a new Weekend Essay Question on Saturday. Thought you oughta know.

My god, how avant-garde!!! 😎

9 comments:

Ursus Americanus said...

Thank you for this. I'm checking them out.

MJConroy said...

Greta stuff, and you are spot on that "Watergate" is genius. But, it makes me yearn for the days when power-made presidents were held accountable for their actions with more than a slap on the wrist.

steve simels said...

I hear ya. Looking back, they apparently wrote that song in a far more sadly innocent era.

Dave Leonatti said...

One of the best discoveries ever. I am indebted to you Steve from those days of yore at SR. Genius is right. Plus they are tight as a drum on songs like "Brush with the Law". Somewhere in my collection is a baseball card from the band's Jeff Carpenter which proclaims; "Bats Right - Votes Left" Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Great stuff. There is another band from Houston with the same name that was punk and recorded in the early aughts. They are the Wikipedia answer to the band name, and streaming.

Anonymous said...

I just realized that they are available streaming. On Qobuz they are listed as Something Fierce MN, and the punk band from Houston is just Something Fierce. Cleveland Jeff

elroy said...

I was lucky enough to check them out when you wrote about them in SR! Will have to revisit the CDs I have and these otehr tracks.

Thanks!

steve simels said...

Jeff was an absolute sweetheart of a guy. We were phone pals until his accident.

ChrisE said...

Steve - I used to read your stuff in SR pretty much like religion but I have to confess I missed the piece(s?) you did on Something Fierce. Do you recall in which year(s) you wrote about them? At any rate, thanks for doing this post today; it's giving me a chance to catch up with this band.