Search - Embarrassment :: Blister Pop

In the early 1980s, Wichita, Kansas's Embarrassment secretly set a template for American indie-rock: edgy, rocking tunes full of clever wordplay and subtle wit, as played by four guys in thick glasses. They fell somewhere between the Feelies' perpetual nervousness and the Replacements' inebriated garage-rock; it's hard to think of many other peers from their era. Bar/None collected most of the Embos' studio work a few years back on the Heyday double-CD, but Blister Pop captures the group in a live setting: on college radio, at various dives throughout the Midwest, and on two-track demo tapes from their practice space. More than one-third of Blister Pop's tracks are covers, and virtually every song the band tries becomes utterly their own (from "Oh Pretty Woman" to "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "Pushin' Too Hard"). Also included are primitive versions of "Faith Healer" and "You're Not You Anymore," both of which were later reworked for Embos' guitarist Bill Goffrier's later band, Big Dipper. Blister Pop pulls off the rare trick of collecting some valuable artifacts from a legendary independent band while remaining an engaging listen for even the casual fan. You, too, will wish you were there. --Mike Appelstein