SHOUT AT THE SKY!

How Red Lorry Yellow Lorry ever got a major label deal is beyond me.  It was those heady days when REM, Replacements and Husker Du were all getting signed up, but I'd love to meet the exec who said "THESE GUYS WILL BE HUGE!!!  SIGN THEM NOW!!!"  I assume it must've been a licensing deal. 

They rocked, tho.  Nothing Wrong was the first thing I ever heard by them, living my sheltered small town life, and I loved it.  Not really goth, definitely not a Joy Division ripoff, as has been claimed.  Some fine, fine post-punk. 

The next one, Blow, took me a while to get into.  Not a sell-out, but definitely some commercial leanings.  I liked Lifting Off, too, even tho it seemed to have a whole different agenda than the other stuff.

The early stuff kicks ass.  This 3 CD compilation of their early singles, BBC sets and first two albums is the bee's knees.  The single disc Generation - The Best of is also awesome.  Not as comprehensive, but probably cheaper, and end-to-end HEAVY AS SHIT.  One of the few bands that truly knew how to punish their drum machine.  I forget what the deal was, if the offices of the record company caught fire or got flooded or something, but a lot of the master tapes were lost, so a bunch of these songs were sourced from vinyl.  I've read a lot of bitching about this, but mildly crackly music is better than no music at all, y'know?  Suck it up, wussies.