The More All Pearls No Swine Change...

 ...the more they stay the same, obviously. Taking a second visit into the 90s yields one of those APNS volumes that is low on truly rare and/or odd stuff. Then again, in the golden age of the CD, a concept like private press records could not be more out of style. Instead All Pearls No Swine Vol. 34 presents a bunch of underappreciated and too little known recordings, with the occasional indie weirdo thrown in. 

With the 90s really being the birthplace of Alt Country/No Depression, this volume has a number of entries in that particular subgenre, starting with the kicking-ass-est of kicking ass openers, Uncle Tupelo's "Gun". Of all of their heavier, punk-inspired songs this is by far my favorite, with a chorus I will always sing/shout along with: "Just don't tell me which way I oughta run / or what good I could do anyone / 'cause my heart it was a gun / it's unloaded now, so don't bother". From there we dip right into 90's slow-core with Red House Painters' amazing cover of Kiss' "Shock Me", then check in with a pop/new wave hero (and ex-punk-ish) Midge Ure with the anthemic "I See Hope In The Morning Light" from 1991's Pure, which I fished out of a bargain bin for a buck (where'd ya think my name came from?) without particularly high expectations, but which really is an underappreciated, extremely well done pop album, that just had the misfortune to come out when that kind of music was just starting to feel a bit passé, what with grunge and alternative rock starting to push the old-fashioned pop establishment towards the door. 

Speaking of the establishment: There's a ton ofrejuvenated  veterans showing up on this volume: After his, uh, not unanimously loved comeback as a hair metal hero in the late 8s, the early 90s was a bit of a more low-key time for Mr. Vincent Furnier, which means that a great little song like "Lost In America" might have slipped through the cracks, in which he hilariously talks of the trials and tribulations of a disaffected young guy. The lyrics are too long to quote, but I love his deadpan delivery towards the end, when he reiterates that he's looking for a girl with a gun and a job, then adds "and a house...with cable". Tom Petty shows up with the home recorded demo of "Wildflowers", while the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band deliver one of their best tunes of this relative down period wth "Angel". Other Americna vets in play: The Flying Burrito Bros. Mark 112 or so covering Son Volt's classic "Windfall", while ex-Byrd John York shows up again with the lovely "Whose Door".

A loose Americana affiliation can also be given to the two rarities: Tom Kell's "The Gun", and Ed & Pat Gibson's "Ode To Billie-Joe Tucker", both awesome. Enough has been said on these pages on the greatness of Neal Casal, checking in with "Day In The Sun" from his classic debut album, while Gillian Welch's & David Rawlings' fabulous"Birds Of A Feather" was demoed, but didn't make it onto the former's debut album. Which is a shame because it's country harmonising heaven, as one would expect, and livelier than a lot of stuff that made it onto Revival. And finally there's Alt Country mainstays The Jayhawks, here in it's Mark Olson-lesslater iteration, with the excellent "The Man Who Loved Life" from the underrated Sound Of Lies.

It's not all Americana or Alt Country, though: Great popmoments from Icehouse, Jackie Leven and the ever-reliable Aztec Camera. A pop classic of another kind is "Velvet", made famous by A-Ha, but here in its original form by Pal Waaktaar's band Savoy (named after his wife and co-vocalist, ahhhh, cute). Waaktaar always dreamed of making moody guitar-based rock, and arguably did it as well as possible on this track. Blur team up with their French heroine Françoise Hardy (immortalized with a fab comp on these pages) and the Bhundu Boys take us away into the orient, and out of All Pearls, No Swine Vol. 34, with their "Foolish Harp".

An eclectic program with ton of good stuff to discover. Same as it ever was.