From Amazon.com
Singles and Beyond--the Olivia Tremor Control's collection of early singles, EPs, and rarities--serves as a sprawling 20-track document of the band's work from 1992 to 1995. Compiled in chronological order by OTC frontmen William Cullen Hart and Bill Doss,
Singles and Beyond offers fans a chance to finally hear much of the band's out-of-print and hard-to-find early work all on one disc. As one would expect, OTC covers a lot of ground on
Singles, tracing their evolution from the four-track psychedelic noodling of their debut EP, "California Demise," to their stunning
Giant Day EP, to their groundbreaking double record,
Dusk at Cubist Castle. With brief blasts of divergent sounds, OTC peppers the compilation with the collages of experimental noise and indulgent multitracking that have become their trademark. However, the record's best moments occur when the band members stop fiddling with their knobs and simply play the amazing psychedelic pop gems that they seemingly toss off at will. With its ringing guitar refrain, "Love Athena" almost sounds like the Flaming Lips, while "Fireplace" and "Beneath the Climb" sound like missing tracks from the Meat Puppets' acid-drenched best. OTC's fixation with '60s psychedelia is evident on "I'm Not Human" and "A Sunshine Fix," which play like lo-fi outtakes from the Beach Boys'
Smile sessions. Likewise, the songs from
The Giant Day EP manage the seemingly impossible task of evoking both Harry Nilsson's
The Point! and Pink Floyd's
Ummagumma.
Singles shouldn't serve as an introduction to OTC, as the bursts of brilliance are too random and ephemeral for the uninitiated. But to OTC fans, it will be an invaluable addition to their collection.
--Paul Ducey
