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"It's time to pass KONTIKI on to a new generation." - Digitally remastered and expanded deluxe two CD edition of the critically lauded 1997 sophomore album from the Austin-based Power Pop band founded in the early 1990's by Robert Harrison. Includes a bonus 11 track CD. Features new artwork with extensive liner notes about the making of Kontiki and the history of Cotton Mather. Cotton Mather's first album, 1994's Cotton Is King, was fine guitar pop with a decided Squeeze influence, but it doesn't prepare one at all for the sonic onslaught of its 1997 follow-up. Kon-Tiki is one can't-get-it-out-of-your-skull pop song after another, interspersed with bursts of tape collage and random studio noise. "Vegetable Row," for example, sounds like a hard-candy circa-'66 Dylan outtake before it ends with a few seconds' splice of a completely different song, which is rudely chopped off in time for the organ-driven "Aurora Bori Alice." Variety is the watchword on Kon-Tiki. The wildly overdriven feedback-fest "Church of Wilson" leads straight into the gently swirling keyboards and acoustic guitars of "Lily Dreams On," which immediately makes way for the classic harmony-filled jangle pop "Password." The amazing thing is that, despite the wild mood and style shifts, the album doesn't sound fragmentary in the least; the pieces all fall into place. Brad Jones' production features studio chatter, audible edits, remarkably loud clicks, and yet the overall sound is enormous, filled with amazing sonic depth. Lo-fi this ain't. Song titles like "Camp Hill Rail Operator" or "Animal Show Drinking Song" might recall Guided By Voices, and the audio-verite "Prophecy for the Golden Age" wouldn't have sounded out of place on Pavement's Westing (By Musket and Sextant), but neither band could possibly come up with a song like the instant classic "My Before and After," three minutes worth of non-stop hooks grounded with a percussive low-register piano part that makes it sound like a lost outtake from Revolver. In an album's worth of non-stop pop delights, "My Before and After" is a clear masterpiece.
Condition:NEW. Brand New Factory Sealed
TRACK LISTINGS
Disc: 1
1. Camp Hill Rail Operator
2. Homefront Cameo
3. Spin My Wheels
4. My Before and After
5. Private Ruth
6. Vegetable Row
7. Aurora Bori Alice
8. Church of Wilson
9. Lily Dreams On
10. Password
11. Animal Show Drinking Song
12. Prophecy For the Golden Age
13. She's Only Cool
14. Autumn's Birds
Disc: 2
1. Homefront Cameo (4-Track)
2. Pine Box Builder No. 1
3. Camp Hill Rail Operator (Acoustic)
4. Little Star
5. Baby Freeze Queen No. 1
6. Altar Boy (Live To Adat)
7. Flying Annie's Kite
8. Innocent Street (Acoustic)
9. Spin My Wheels (Electric)
10. Church Of Wilson (4-Track)
11. Private Ruth (Acoustic)
12. The Gold Gone Days
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