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Feb 13, 2024 Web Exclusive By Matthew Berlyant

Back in the ’90s, Los Angeles-based slowcore pioneers Acetone made some of the finest indie rock of the entire decade, that is until singer/bassist Richie Lee’s untimely suicide in 2001. His death inspired a tribute from Jason Pierce of Spiritualized entitled “The Ballad of Richie Lee” (on 2003’s Amazing Grace, also reissued recently). Honing a slow as molasses, drawn-out sound full of yearning vocals equally inspired by The Velvet Underground, classic country, and especially Neil Young, whose label ended up putting out two of the records found on this box set (but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here), all of Acetone’s studio albums are found in this box alongside bonus material like the self-titled EP from 1993 and their 1994 covers-only album I Guess I Would. The evolution it shows is beautiful, with 1993’s Cindy perhaps echoing as close as they ever got to any sort of mainstream sound given that some of its relatively louder (and it was in the middle of the grunge era), explicitly Neil Young-influenced guitar squalings are a far cry from where they would go just a short time later.

Though Cindy’s a very good record, they really found their own voice with 1995’s If You Only Knew, followed by the even more stunning and majestic self-titled album from 1997 (just check out “All the Time” for a taste of what they were all about). Their swan song, 2001’s York Blvd, was named for a major thoroughfare in the now very hip (but not back then) Northeast LA. All of them are essential releases for fans of similarly-inclined artists such as friends Mazzy Star, Yo La Tengo, and former labelmates Low, who became much more well-known than Acetone ever were during their lifetime.

To further illustrate the Mazzy Star connection, the hype sticker on each of the individual LPs feature pull quotes from Mazzy Star’s vocalist Hope Sandoval (who filled in for Lee during an Acetone tribute when Light in the Attic released the 1992-2001 compilation back in 2017) herself alongside Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, who was clearly listening back then as well. Again, it’s pure pleasure to have all of these albums—the first three initially released by the Virgin subsidiary Vernon Yard Recordings and the last two on Neil Young’s Vapor Records— available again and restored with such loving care, with gatefolds, liner notes, and generally excellent sound quality to boot. It’s also nice that for those who don’t want to get the box set, the individual LPs (not including I Guess I Would, which again is only available on the box set) are available separately, too. This is clearly one of the finest reissues of late 2023 and a labor of love that took years to pull together, but it shouldn’t be missed just because the calendar has moved on to 2024. (www.newwestrecords.com)

Author rating: 9/10