Saturday, April 11, 2015

Belly

The problem of alternative rock of 20 years ago is that it has dated badly, even by Bro Job Country standards or autotuned robotic vocals.  Let's investigate of a band that sold tons of CDs but most have been seen in dollar bins all across this fair land.

Best known for Feed The Tree, a nonsensical but hooky song, it basically captures Tanya Donnelly brilliantly. She started out in Throwing Muses and later The Breeders before striking out on her own with Belly.  In the death-thrones of MTV video music before boring the fuck out of everybody with reality crap, Feed The Tree couldn't be escaped from 120 Minutes or when MTV played videos.  As a whole Star was very uneven despite failed hits like Gepetto and Slow Dog. It is alternative rock but in the ears of mine, I prefer Lush a lot more.

The followup King, features Gail Greenwood on bass, Glyn Johns producer and a more rock and roll attitude although Donnelly continued to throw unlistenable stuff, but Super Connected was a pretty good song. King, the album didn't sell very well and in 1996 Donnelly retired the band.

You can basically find both albums for less than a dollar at thrift stores.  Even Sweet Ride, The Best Of Belly, the recommended album is full of b sides and questionable material. We really don't need a song sung in French for a best of.  This does have the radio mix and edit of Feed The Tree and with that gets my vote as the album to get.  Donnelly continues to write and play music as a solo artist.

Albums:
Star (Sire/Reprise 1993) C+
King (Sire/Reprise 1995) B-
Sweet Ride The Best Of Belly (Sire/Rhino 2002) B