(20/20/20)

www.20-20-20.com

After the demise of Galaxie 500 the rhythm section of Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, a married couple, felt they had nowhere to go. In an interview I did with Naomi shortly after they formed Damon & Naomi, Yang had told me that no one was returning their phone calls and they were sad and frustrated. They ended up going back to their old pal Kramer and recording their debut, More Sad Hits (which was initially issued on Kramer's Shimmy Disc label but then got reissued by Sub Pop and has since been reissued on the band's own 20/20/20 label).  This collection spans the 7 years they spent on the Seattle label from 1995-2002 and it cherry picks some of their best material (though, oddly, doesn't include any material from More Sad Hits).

Opening with the hypnotic "Eulogy to Lenny Bruce" (a Tim Hardin cover) the record then sweeps into the gorgeous, Naomi-sung, "I'm Yours", an understated beauty that you'll want to go on forever. The downcast Damon-sung "Forgot to Get High" is another high point that is a Kramer production if ever I heard one (reverb and tape loops). Elsewhere there is a splendid, live Tim Buckley cover of "Song to the Siren" (the collection also includes 4 other songs from 2002's Song to the Siren: Live in San Sebastian from a 2001 gig in Spain). Other than wishing they'd included some cuts off the stellar debut and a few other omissions (No "The New Historicism" ?!) The Sub Pop Years is still a sublime collection from some music biz veterans who seem to be from a different era (and would probably not want to be called music biz anything).  This is psychedelic folk music done right.

Recommended Tracks: "I'm Yours", "Forgot to Get High", "Tour of the World", "The Navigator" TIM HINELY