New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Following its reissue work with the Bangles, Game
Theory and Jellyfish, Omnivore Recordings is proud to present the first-ever career overview of '80s/'90s alt-pop mavericks the Sneetches. Described by Trouser Press as "one of the most tasteful, consistently tuneful pop bands on the American scene," Form of Play: A Retrospective is a compendium of the best moments from this Anglo-American outfit's three albums and various singles and compilation appearances.
The Sneetches were formed in San Francisco in 1985 by Mike Levy and Matt Carges, punk veterans who now preferred to indulge their love of pop and melody, initially as a studio project. In the era of grunge and hardcore, the musicians' heroes constituted the Zombies, Easybeats, the Monochrome Set, Nilsson and others, as Levy's songwriting proffered a similar bittersweet blend of musical melody and lyrical misanthropy.
With the addition of Englishmen
Daniel Swan (in 1986) and Alec Palao (in 1988), the lineup was complete and began to perform around the Bay Area. Appropriately, their debut release, the mini-LP
Lights Out!, recorded by Levy and Carges, was also issued in the U.K.
While that record was a rough-and-ready indie production, the Sneetches' subsequent albums, Sometimes That's All We Have and Slow, were expertly produced, carefully nuanced collections that gained the players notices home and abroad. Several tours of the U.S. along with visits to
Europe and Japan in the early 1990s, along with live and studio collaborations with Shoes and Flamin' Groovies, cemented the band's reputation as idiosyncratic power pop of the highest order. The band's final release was Blow Out the Sun in 1994.
With a playlist handpicked by the band, Form of Play draws on the group's recordings for Creation, Alias, Bus Stop, spinART, and other labels, with rare mixes and five previously unreleased cuts.
The fully remastered set is illustrated with previously unseen photos and comes with a personalized liner notes by Grammy-nominated producer Palao, who also oversaw the assembly of the compilation.
According to Palao, "I don't really know what, if any, legacy our band has. We didn't sell many records, we certainly weren't a big live draw, and we were never participants in any kind of celebrated 'scene' Otherwise, this compilation would be a big box set, the interweb would report Mike Levy's periodic emergence from rehab, and there'd be glowing testimonials from guys who look like D.H. Lawrence, crowing that the Sneetches were the first to do 'soundtrack pop.' Actually, someone did mention the latter to me not long ago. It's a compliment to be sure, but it wasn't much help at the time, when we were peddling pop in the face of grunge, the age that begat what I consider the great "forgiveness" of heavy metal. As a child of punk rock, I loved energy but I couldn't abide this sludgy new variant. So the Sneetches became a welcome respite from all of that. The songwriting skill and the delicate approach were familiar to me from so many of the vintage records I already owned and cherished, and so I relished the opportunity to contribute to such a project."
Track Listing:
1. Over 'Round Each Other
2. ... And I'm Thinking (single version)
3. What I Know
4. Voice In My Head
5. Don't Turn Back
6. Only For a Moment
7. Heloise (Live)*
8. What's in Your Mind
9. Julianna Why*
10. They Keep Me Running
11. Behind the Shadow
12. Take My Hand
13. Looking for Something
14. A Good Thing
15. I Don't Expect Her for You (Look at That Girl)
16. Wish You Would
17. Empty Sea
18. Let Us Go
19. Unusual Sounds
20. A Light on Above (Live)*
21. The Weather Scene (Live)*
22. How Does It Feel (Home Demo)*
* Previously Unissued
