Songtown - Vol. 12 (The Glutton Of Sympathy)

Artist: Jellyfish
Song: The Glutton of Sympathy
Album: Spilt Milk
Year: 1993
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I remember getting really excited in 1993 when Taco Bell announced that they were sponsoring the first annual Battle of the Bands to be broadcast on some network station. When the night came around, I settled in front of the TV, with my Fruit By The Foot or mayonnaise sandwiches or whatever I was into at the time, and was thoroughly wowed that I was finally witnessing one of these battles. I had heard about these battles and I longed to be involved in one on day, but for now, I was happy to just be a tertiary part of the process.

To me, it seemed like this was a week long event or at least a few hours, but after my research, it appears that it was all kept with a 60 minute (live?) telecast. I think there were four bands total, with current Recher Theatre faves Too Skinnee J's going heads up against the Noise Boys. I remember liking the Noise Boys more, but I remember very little about them. I can guarantee that they weren't these guys. Well, Too Skinnee J's pulled it out in the end and I wasn't all that disappointed because I thought they were a lot of fun.

The show must have been a royally unpopular one, as this ended up being the first and last annual Battle. No one ever told me, so I continued to tune in year after year until the invent of the internet in hopes that it'd pop back on any second now. I might have even gone as far as to probe a Taco Bell employee as to the future of this world changing event. The irony of the whole thing is that Fox is now presenting their search for the Next Great American Band, and I could care less.

Well, back to the point. As a treat, they had established pop/rock group Jellyfish perform at the half-way point. I had heard of them, but had never explored them because I stereotyped them as being music for clowns, based on their clothing. Well, anyhow, they played. Their lead singer was their drummer. And he was standing up and playing the drums too! Unheard of. I was hooked. I told myself that they were going to be my favorite band from that point on. But instead, I resisted picking up either of their albums and it was only when I got the record store job did I finally invest in them.

I'm not sure how my 13 year old self would have felt about these albums. I would like to say that he would have loved them even more than I do currently, but that might be wishful thinking. Either way, I can't really imagine a way how Jellyfish would have vastly improved my life between the years of 1993 and 2005.

The two Jellyfish albums represent absolute perfect pop music production. The vocals are all pitch perfect. There's no flubs to be heard in any of the instrument takes. No signs that these guys aren't Jesus himself playing some powerpop tunes.

Of course (and oddly), the perfection can be a bit of a turn-off. There's a certain charm to the occasional screw-up, so the sheen could possibly drive you nuts. Matthew Sweet does this same thing, but he winds up pissing me off much more than Jellyfish. Sometimes I just want to scream when I listen to a lot of his stuff.

Striving for recording perfection isn't for everyone. First and foremost, you have to be capable of creating perfection. Matthew Sweet and a lot of other mid-nineties powerpoppers aren't actually capable of perfection, but they try and it turns out more frustrating then anything. To me, "Powerpop" is defined as "a failed attempt at perfection" so that's why I typically avoid that term like that plague. Jellyfish, however, totally rocked it. I don't know how they're holding up these days, but Brian Wilson probably went nuts because he was chasing perfection. So my second point is just that...be careful, guys!

Anyhow, here's my favorite track of theirs, "The Glutton of Sympathy." Perhaps the lead vocal might be a little too dramatic for you, but maybe not? That said, I challenge you to pin point even one note or beat that sounds like its out of place or out of time.