Young Marble Giants : Colossal Youths or Little Duds

What is the purpose of this album after all this time?

The purpose of this album is to be one of maybe five or so albums in existence that you can play no matter what mood you are in because it's THAT GOOD.

Was emailing with Vic Varney of the soon to be reissued Method Actors about their influences and peers an he surprised me by mentioning Young Marble Giants. He said something about their atmosphere and minimalism being an influence/really popular in Athens in the early 80s.

after 1000 plays is it still rewarding?

Absolutely!

...because it's THAT GOOD.

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Athens in the early 80s.

I think if Oh-OK had managed to expand/refine what they were doing on their first mini-EP, they might have made an album like Colossal Youth. (Although I love Oh-OK's Furthermore What a ton too, it's a more typical jangle-pop sound.)

in theory this album should be one of my favorites, but i find it just a shade dull.

REM has listed Young Marble Giants as an inspiration.

And yeah, Oh-OK channel that spirit nicely.

Yep, this is stone cold classic top 10 or so of all time material (for me).

How did I not hear about Weekend until just now?

It took me years as well, don't feel bad... I had a 7" single that I think was non-representative, it put me off of them. The longer demo tracks on the La Variete CD are just amazing.

"Nostalgia" was the track that drew me in.

i was playing them on ilxor lisnin room yesterday

idk, still prefer ymg by a distance

Just great:

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/young-marble-giants-colossal-youth-round-22-toms-selection/

The record I mean, not my attempts to write about it!

They're playing at atp in a month or so, i'm pretty excited, have they been playing lately ? i wonder what kind of condition they are in...

http://www.collapseboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Young-Marble-Giants-590x468.jpg
healthy?

This record is all times top ten afaiac

Nature intended the abstract for you and me

>>>

Listened to Colossal Youth for the first time in a long time and realized how much I like the guitar playing. Never knew Moxham played a Rickenbacker.

http://front.bc.ca/events/concert-by-young-marble-giants/

amazing

bump for the greatness of that video

The long stony faces of the men, the slightly bewildered girl, everyone uncomfortable in their own skin. The muddled black and white, and the odd tempo to the whole proceedings. That video feels a piece to Stranger than Paradise.

I had not seen that video, thanks for the bump! What a wonderful band.

Another bump for that video!

Why didn't anyone tell me? New (2018) album from Alison Statton & Spike, "Bimini Twist": https://alisonstattonspike.bandcamp.com/album/bimini-twist

Sounds good! Statton's voice barely ages.

Re the original question: Very classic. Some hurtful comments about Weekend up-thread though. Some days I think I prefer the Weekend album to the YMG one.

I just read a comment by some peasant describing this band as lounge music. The fucking nerve! I firmly believe this is one of the punk-est albums of all time. It might sound “too clean” for what you’d normally expect for a punk album to sound like but that is a very non-punk mentality in itself.

Isn’t the punk rock attitude to destroy established perceptions of what things should be and sound like? To say “fuck you” to the excessive sound of stadium rock? Its undiscriminated use of solos, ridiculous costumes and massive banks of equipment in elaborate stages?
You certainly can’t accuse YMG of maximalism. The sound they created is so unique it might have arrived from an alternative reality.

Honestly, it’s hard to trace a time or a place for it. There’s nothing quite like it and the fact this album came from 1980 always blows my mind.

Beach Party by the Marine Girls is kinda like it

The only reason I can think of for that is maybe the sound of the organ. I hardly think their songs, the drum machine stuff, or the guitar and bass sound like lounge music.

A good cover by another of my favorite bands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_f2kMgUxp8

wow, Sugar Plant have a album on Spotify from 2018!!! I thought they broke up years ago.

Whoa, what?!?

yep, called Headlights... they cover Ben Watt's North Marine Drive on it!

I would never call YMG "lounge," but some songs do conjure up moods not far removed from "Girl from Ipanema" or "Summer Samba" for me. And the drum machine, while not lounge, is a sound from the past, like my aunt playing her Lowrey organ at Christmastime when I was a kid.

I love this record so much, but it's one of a handful I consciously don't pull out often, because I don't want to overplay it and wear out its magic.

Lounge music my arse

Superficially, Colossal Youth reminds me most of There's a Riot Going On and VU's s/t. It feels like everyone, musician and listener, is shut up together in a medium-sized cabinet.

Just looked over a review I wrote for the reissues 12 years ago - had forgotten that I pondered the squareness, though I don't think I'd have reached for "lounge" as a descriptor. I didn't see that squareness as a drawback:

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3835

...now that the thing has been beloved to me for more than a decade, it's hard to recover those first impressions.

There's some beachy vibes to the follow-up group The Weekend, who are excellent. But seedy, schmaltzy "lounge"? No.

That said, I'm going to share my favorite Weekend track just because there's never a bad time: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E9WCCHHoepw

Nice piece, Bendy, thanks for sharing.

Thanks DP

Have you’ve heard about this band called Furniture?

https://youtu.be/3pkisXg5jCc

Furniture is in no way related to YMG, but heard this song just now for the very first time and loved it. Apparently it’s from 1983 and the first artist that came to mind is YMG, also gives some vibes of Echo & the Bunnymen.

I honestly can’t tell if that’s a drum machine or a real drummer... or a mix of both. But drum machine + sustained organ lines are also the basis sound of YMG

It’s only missing the distinctive YMG bass sound and Alison’s voice, of course, but we get a cool clarinet sound and some Echo & the Bunnymen vocal instead.

furniture had a big(ish) uk hit a few years later with this, which is a bit smoother. (and this is yet another band that reminds me of Japan)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx37AWqSPU0

some Wild Swans in there too

Never saw this thread before---reminds me that I long ago came across a few post-Giants tracks with voice and songs of Alison Stratton, very intriguing, and now I want to look for more. Meanwhile, this archived Voice reviewette of the worthy Domino collection still details and sums up their appeal (to me, anyway):
https://myvil.blogspot.com/2016/06/young-marble-giants-colossal-youth-and.html

you're talking about the band Weekend, I assume?

Have you’ve heard about this band called Furniture?

Never, and that first track is wonderful, thanks!

Weekend is food but that weekend demos release from a few years ago is great.

xpost sleeve, I heard Stratton in a duo, blanking on the other name, something unexpectedly turned up on the old Rhapsody streaming service, while I was checking out a computer at Best Buy, 10 years ago maybe.

Dan, food is good, I like food!

whoa, there's TWO duos!

https://www.discogs.com/artist/404215-Alison-Statton-Spike

https://www.discogs.com/artist/288814-Devine-Statton