Shoes: 35 Years-The Definitive Shoes Collection 1977-2012 (Real Gone) | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
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Issue #43 - Animal CollectiveShoes

35 Years-The Definitive Shoes Collection 1977-2012

Real Gone

Nov 28, 2012 Issue #43 - Animal Collective

One of the long-lost power pop progenitors, Zion, Illinois’ Shoes, has had a remarkably consistent 35-year career since releasing its first studio album, Black Vinyl Shoes, way back in 1977. Over eight albums, through this year’s Ignition, the band has never wavered from its particular brand of pop songcraft, gently sung melodies wrapped in concise, tuneful instrumental packing. This 21-song set summarizes the band’s career and contains songs from each of the band’s studio albums. It leans heavily on late ‘70s/early ‘80s masterpieces Present Tense and Tongue Twister, with four tracks also taken from the mid-‘90s album Propeller. Regrettably, only one track, the lo-fi “Okay,” is taken from the band’s debut. The ordering is not chronological, a pet peeve of this reviewer, but in this case, the band’s output is so remarkably consistent that one hardly notices the decade hopscotch being played with the album’s sequencing. Altogether, the 21 tracks of 35 Years present a nice overview of an all-too-unknown band. (www.shoeswire.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10

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Average reader rating: 9/10



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