Jellyfish - 1993-05-16 - Munich, Germany

Jellyfish
1993-05-16
Munich, Germany
'True Believer'
Radio broadcast?, very good quality recording
mp3 @ 320 kbps

Despite the lackluster response to the previous posts, I will continue on, undaunted, with more of the best of Power Pop, and present now some live Jellyfish. Jellyfish has become a somewhat legendary band in the Power Pop realm, being discovered and loved by more people, and probably having greater popularity now than they ever had during their short-lived career. Jellyfish was formed by the San Francisco-based songwriting team of Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer (formerly of Beatnik Beatch), along with guitarist Jason Falkner, and they recorded their first album, Bellybutton, in 1990. The album showed their range of musical style and influences including artists such as the Beatles, Beach Boys, Queen, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, XTC, etc. Although the album was highly acclaimed, and some singles, including 'Baby's Coming Back', That is Why', and 'The King is Half-Undressed' were released and received some airplay, they never quite became successful. After the first album and tour, Jason Falkner became frustrated at just being the guitarist, as it was clear that Manning and Sturmer were only interested in playing their own songs, so he left, to eventually form The Grays (another transient, but very good pop band, previously featured). Bassist Chris Manning (Roger's brother) also left, so Manning and Sturmer carried on by adding bassist Tim Smith, and several session musicians (including future The Grays member, Jon Brion) to complete their even more ambitious and elaborate 2nd album, Spilt Milk (1993). The album produced a couple singles ('Ghost at Number One' and 'New Mistake') that did fairly well, and charted OK (at least in UK and Japan, not in the US), but again, just never quite made it at the time. They toured in support of the album, but by 1994, creative differences between Manning and Sturmer lead to the break-up of the group after just 2 albums. Since then, however, as I mentioned previously, their popularity as a band has been growing steadily as more people discover their music. In 2002, their Fan Club issued a 4-CD compilation of demos, rarities, and live tracks. I, myself had never heard of them until a couple years ago, when I discovered them through another blog. In recent years, in addition to bonus track CD reissues of the 2 albums, there have been official releases of a 20-track 'Best of' collection (2006), A live album (2012), and even what is called 'Stack-a-Tracks' (2012), which is a release of just the instrumental backing tracks from both their albums.
The show I am presenting here comes from the Spilt Milk Tour, a radio broadcast (or very good audience) recording, with nice sound quality, and a few bonus tracks taken from a record store appearance in 1994. So, if you haven't yet heard this band, here is your chance to hear why this relatively unknown, short-lived, defunct band have become big favorites for a lot of people interested in pop and power pop music.

Tracklist
01 All Is Forgiven
02 Sabrina, Paste And Plato
03 That Is Why
04 Joining A Fan Club
05 I Wanna Stay Home
06 My Best Friend
07 Ghost At Number One
08 Man I Used To Be
09 Baby's Coming Back
10 The King Is Half Undressed
11 No Matter What
12 All I Want Is Everything
Bonus tracks (1994 - Philadelphia - Tower Records)
13 That Is Why
14 Joining A Fan Club
15 King Is Half Undressed
16 Baby's Coming Back

Jellyfish_-_1993_-_True_Believer.rar
Link Updated 08/18/21