Avail: Over the James

Avail: Over the James

1998

Lookout Records

Format I Own it On: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Deepwood  2. New #2  3. August  4. Fall Apart  5. Nickel Bridge  6. Scuffle Town  7. Sanctuary 13  8. S.R.O.  9. Mid-Town West  10. Lombardy St.  11. Vine  12. Cross Tie  13.Ask  14. Fifth Wheel 

This is an album I love to an almost ridiculous degree, It was a real staple during the Summer of '97. The songwriting is more fleshed-out, the choruses are even catchier and the hardcore is even harder...I mean, this album might just have been the reason Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield's ear a month after this came out...

My faves this time around are almost too numerous to mention, the hooky hardcore and soaring chorus of "Nickel Bridge," the surging anthem "August," the towering closer ,"Fifth Wheel." I honestly don't see a weak spot on this thing, and I don't think this band put out an album this good again...If you check out only one Avail album I'd recommend this...but why check out only one Avail album? These guys really hit upon a sort of rustic majesty that makes me wanna drive a John Deere in the moshpit...

.I'm calling it one of the greats of 90's punk...

Remember a couple weeks ago I was trying to think  of great album covers of the CD era, and I couldn't come up with anything better than Fabio? Well, I gave it some more thought and came up with these CD covers I like...

Shins: Chutes Too Narrow

(I'm kind of a sucker for fun foldy CD covers...But I think this one goes beyond novelty...I like the colors and design and everything...)

Mars Volta: Amputechture (I find this really fascinating for some reason...)

of Montreal: Hissing Fauna...Are You the Destroyer

(Although I didn't really fully appreciate this one until I got a vinyl copy of it...)

Pink Floyd: The Division Bell (all the story and mystery behind this album cover had me really captivated at the time...There's still not a clear answer as to what the prize was...some people involved say they forgot, or there wasn't one, or it was an area with a bunch of trees planted...who knows...but it was pretty memorable...I also liked this Pink Floyd one...)

Pink Floyd: Pulse (I don't really like the cover so much...It reminds me of one of those all-over shirts you'd buy at Walt-Mart...I like this one for that flashing red light that's built into the cover... .It cracks me up to hear that people still have a faint red flashing light that's going 24/7 twenty years after the fact...I never bought it because I think that's too big a commitment for me...)

Cut Copy: Zonoscope (I have no idea who this band is but I saw the cover at the record story and really liked it...I think it's dance music or something...I don't really have any reason to listen to dance music, since I'm totally averse to dancing.

Except this dance...

...that dance was awesome...)

Well, that's all the cool CD-era covers I can think of today...If I think of any more later I'll post them too...In the meantime, let's check out by Avail. Enjoy...