Any Love For Jellyfish?

Herb Tarlek · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:56 pm Any Love For Jellyfish?

I just got back my Jellyfish - "Fan Club" Boxset

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006ALDR/gloriousnoise-20/ref=nosim

from a friend who I'd loaned it to over a year ago and I've been listening to it incessantly. They were such an amazing band, especially in concert judging by the 2 discs of live stuff - 1 from each of the Bellybutton and Spilt Milk-era tours in the box. Unfortunately since I live off the beaten path, I was never able to see them peform live back in the day. Here's hoping for a REUNION tour someday!!!

Other than DJMurphy - who I've heard proclaim his love for this band - are there any others out there who were or are fans of this sadly underrated early 90's band? Did you get to see them live? Once? 100 times? Just curious if there are people out there who like them (and miss them) as much as I do.

Oh yeah and if you get a chance to pick up the boxset I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it.

Dreamin · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 5:56 pm

I'm pretty sure that I would love Jellyfish, but I'm not too familiar with them.

Herb Tarlek · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:35 pm

Jake · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 10:37 pm

I saw a video on "The Alternative" on VH1-Classic, and those dudes look like a bunch of fucking hippie clowns. Sorry, I know a lot of you power poppers love them. But damn, they look ridiculous.

DJMurphy · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 5:31 am

The image was a bit nutty, yeah; the music is fuckin' phenomenal.

Dreamin', you only have two CDs to get to have the entirety of their catalog, save for the box set. I recommend getting their second album, Spilt Milk, to hear them at their zenith. It is an amazingly detailed masterpiece. If you get those and want more, let me know; I would love to make you a "rest-of" comp.

Barabajagal · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 6:55 am

How is Jellyfish as compared to the Grays?

DJMurphy · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 7:46 am

Jellyfish is similar but definitely superior to the Grays. The song on the Grays album most similar to Jellyfish is "Very Best Years", which makes sense seeing as how it's a Jason Falkner (ex-J-Fish) composition, produced by Jack Joseph Puig, one of J-Fish's producers. That Grays album is great, but a little schizophrenic, as you have 4 songwriters contributing to it. Spilt Milk definitely eclipses it in terms of sheer amazing powerpop. Git it.

grounded5am · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:45 am

that jack joseph puig has a lot great producing and mixing credits to his name. he mixed the cd strangest places, which is one of the reasons that the cd was unbelievable.

Barabajagal · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:14 am

I'm curious because I am always recommended stuff from this sort of L.A. power pop scene. I love power pop, but I balk because song-wise, these guys seem way too enamored with saluting the past without having much to say in the present. Maybe to clarify: they have a kindred spirit in Elliott Smith in terms of being "pop classicists," but Smith always seemed to have his own thing going on underneath his Beatles/S & G moves, whereas these guys seemed content just to find the perfect White Album keyboard tone or whatever. I liked that Grays record, but after a bunch of listens it began to sound more like the exquisite demos of several control freaks (that schizophrenic effect). It's still full of great musical/production ideas (what else would you expect from Falkner/Jon Brion/other guys). I have Jason Falkner's Can You Still Feel and it's a befuddling mixture of incredible musical talent and soulless songwriting.

DJMurphy · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:32 am

Hmm, the problem with your Falkner exposure is that you started in the wrong place; his first solo, Author Unknown, is leagues better than Can You Still Feel. And Jellyfish was a San Francisco band, not L.A. But aside from those points, you raise some relevant criticisms. Jellyfish's music is a huge exercise in derivative music and paying tribute to its heroes. Does it have anything "new" to add to the climate of music from which it came (the early-to-mid-'90s)? Probably not a whole lot of new stuff. But at the same time, it wasn't lacking in originality. They didn't blatantly rip off their influences; they merely slavishly aped the sounds. The distinction is a small one, but a crucial one.

I'd say the same criticism can be made of the early Black Crowes albums. For as great as they were, they didn't re-invent rock writ large. They merely took the sounds they loved and plugged 'em into their own songs. Similar thing with Jellyfish.

And if you've heard the Grays CD, you haven't heard Jellyfish. If you've heard Spilt Milk and still don't like it, or at the very least appreciate from where they were coming, you will have given them a fair shake. 'Nuff said; I'm spinning it now...