[AUM033] - Original CD pressing, in classic jewelcase with 4-panel insert feat. all original LP issue artwork and liner notes. CD also includes the track "Country Wagon", inexplicably left off of the LP
Sam Prekop: vocals, guitar
Ian Schneller: guitar, vocals, trumpet, cello
David Kroll: bass, banjo, tenor sax
Eric Claridge: drums, bass
Brad Wood appears on Speckly & Houston Tower
“Driven by soul and poetry .. Shrimp Boat’s material celebrates the imagination, the hallucinations and the dream.” –Walter Andersons, (from original liner notes)
Every once in a while, an album comes along that fully captures the imagination and proves that there actually =are= new things under the sun. Originally issued on LP in 1989, Shrimp Boat’s Speckly was one such, and prompted CMJ to proclaim: “the debut album of the year; four musicians who have already placed themselves in a league that very few ever attain.” The utterly distinctive mesh of bluegrass, folk, jazz and rock 'n' roll found on Speckly remains surprising, addictive and timeless. This is the album that led to the group being my absolute favorite band for the next 3.5 years (the balance of their existence). Within that time the seed was deeply planted to produce an archival set from their immense body of recorded work. That aspiration was eventually realized with the 4CD box set, Something Grand, released just over a decade following their disassembly. Following that monumental box, AUM Fidelity released Speckly for the first time on CD (noting that none of this material appears on Something Grand)
From reviews on the reissue of Speckly:
"An unclassifiable and wonderful combo that produced some of the most innovative music of the 1980s. The band's signature kitchen-sink Americana has aged amazingly well, offering a range of sounds that still thrill and confound, often at the same time."
–Jason Dungan, Dusted
"4.5 Stars. It's running over with hummable hook-lines and choruses. A mix of barn-floor stomping dance numbers, off-planet instrumentals, and sandman lullabies. There's something indefinably special and magical going on here, and it makes you feel good to be alive." –Chris Mays, All About Jazz
1. Planter's Song - 03:05
2. Seven Crows - 02:21
3. Melon Song - 04:53
4. Greenhouse - 02:50
5. Shady Grove - 02:34
6. Lemmings Leap - 01:00
7. An Orchid Is Not A Rose - 03:04
8. Triangle Song - 02:21
9. Green Island - 03:14
10. Speckly - 03:48
11. Houston Tower - 04:33
12. Drought Of '43 - 03:52
13. Hyatt Ridge Circle Dance - 03:06
14. Country Wagon - 01:58
All songs composed by Shrimp Boat, except
"Shady Grove" (traditional; arr. by Shrimp Boat)
Produced by Shrimp Boat
Recorded by Brad Wood and Brian Deck
in January 1989 at Idful Music, Chicago
Mixed by Brad Wood
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Original master tapes transferred
at Electrical Audio, Chicago
Mastered for CD by Chris Flam
at Mindswerve, New York
Originally issued by Specimen Products in an LP edition of 1000 copies in 1989. This premiere CD edition was released in 2005.