Track Listing
1. Soul Drain
2. My Superior
3. Marcia and Etrusca
4. Hyde Street Virgins
5. Baby Hard-to-Be-Around
6. It Just Wouldn't Be Christmas
7. Better Nature
8. Still Its Own Reward
9. For Beginners Only
10. Ballet Hetero
| Details | | Producer: | Mitch Easter | | Distributor: | (Independently by Label) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
The title of this 1994 release refers to a notorious bootlegged tape featuring Linda McCartney's off-key vocals, recorded during a concert by a mischievous techie. The obscure reference is fitting for Scott Miller, who named the Loud Family after a cinema verite TV special from the early '70s. Obviously, Miller's penchant for in-jokes and pop cultural arcana is unrivaled in rock, but fortunately, so is his gift for the gorgeous pop hook; one listen to "Hyde Street Virgins" will leave power pop fans grinning from ear to ear.
The first true group effort by the Loud Family (its predecessor grew out of a solo project,) THE TAPE rocks harder and more consistently than the group's first release. Relatively straightforward riff rockers like "Baby Hard to Be Around" and "Soul Drain" feature muscular guitars blending with chiming keyboards and Miller's wispy but evocative tenor. Of course, he can't completely resist aural trickery on "Marcia and Etrusca," which employs a churning, acid-house beat. The lyrics are fascinatingly obscure--with their inverted puns and references to Jacques Cousteau and "the science of losing by one," evidence of a unique sensibility at work. The closer, "Ballet Hetero" has a stately, shimmering beauty.
Editorial Reviews
...[The Loud Family] draw...as freely from Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and the psychedelic Beatles as they do from standard rock & roll radio....An untrammeled delight.
Rolling Stone
...puts enough muscle behind the music to ensure the Louds live up to their name...
Musician (11/01/1994)
...If you swooned to hookmeister Scott Miller's Chiltonian whine and pencil-necked, rococo rock, you'll want THE TAPE OF ONLY LINDA...
Alternative Press (01/01/1995)
...Producer Mitch Easter turns up the volume with a Spector-ish melange of sonic shadings, harmonies and big, big guitars. There's something familiar in the sound--that loving ode to Big Star. Happy reconstituted Beatle melodies romp around, underscored by synthesizers and the straight-ahead energy of power pop...
Option (03/01/1995)
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