SPY GLASS BLÜE - LOUD AS FEATHERS + 1 Bonus Track (*NEW-VINYL 2023, Retroactive Records) Post-punk alternative rock masterpiece!
- Black vinyl with a 12x12 insert
- First time on vinyl!
- Limited to just 200 units
- Daniel Amos cover song - bonus track - 1st time on vinyl
- Remastered for vinyl by Rob Colwell at Bombworks Sound
- Originally released 2002 on Accidental Sirens (Records)
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Allan Aguirre is best known as the front man for the punk band Scaterd Few. He formed Spy Glass Blüe as a side project, to serve as his “mellower, artistic outlet” and to function as more of a ministry band. The group became his main focus for a brief interim (1995–1998) during which Scaterd Few was defunct. Shadows shows strong influence of general market artists like Bauhaus and Peter Murphy and so was immediately identified as a rare example of Christian goth music. Aguirre objects to the categorization but admits that “a lot of goths were into Scaterd Few” and that he “welcomes that audience.” Spy Glass Blue returned in 2002 with Louder As Feathers, once again waving their intellectual and spiritual lyrical flag to the rhythms of modern-alternative music. The hook-laden, impassioned songs on this project are far and away their most engaging and enjoyable yet, as Allan Aguirre's voice swoops and soars above their harmonic rock. The 2023 retroactive Records reissue is the first time this classic is available on vinyl. Each record comes with a 12x12 insert, and has been remastered for vinyl by Rob Cowell of Bombworks Sound. The vinyl does include the Daniel Amos cover song as an added bonus for fans. Limited to just a 200 unit pressing.
....MORE ABOUT THE ALBUM
The second Spy Glass Blue album Loud As Feathers is lustrous, fun and distinguished. The veiled lyrics and steam punk found on the debut have been supplanted by more personable lyrics and post-punk/goth leanings. The songs are tight and masterfully played.
Beginning with Light Machine, this mid-paced rocker sets a solid musical trajectory for this new band variant. Because Of You sounds like Big Star and is reminiscent of the style of lyrics Keith Green would have penned. Moving along, I hear the ambiance of Bowie in The Dreaming, a beautiful song that extrapolates on of purpose and calling.
Morning Star has Britpop sensibility and showcases mature songwriting: “Adulation – Comes in so many sizes, And in the end we’ll bow on bended knee to, the Giver of Life.” The next track Everything could have been recorded in a space capsule if you use your imagination and is equal parts brooding and enlightening. Ophelia sounds like something Peter Murphy might have done, majestic and joyous. Song For My Children is a heart-on-sleeve song about empathy felt for children growing up. Closing song And I Go is melancholic goth, a gorgeous romping song about searching and finding.
On this CD reissue is a song from the Daniel Amos tribute compilation, the song by the same name as the tribute album title, When World’s Collide. This is a brilliant DA song. While Allan’s version does not add anything strikingly unique, it does captures the song’s beauty well with his own keyboard and vocal delivery.
(Doug Peterson / Music Critic)
Tracklist
1 Light Machine
2 Turn And Remember
3 Because Of You
4 The Dreaming
5 Morning Star
6 Everything
7 Ophelia
8 (Looks Like) We Made It
9 Song For My Children
10 And I Go
LOUD AS FEATHERS BONUS TRACKS
11 When Worlds Collide (Daniel Amos cover)