Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Secret Stars

I have loved this band since the first time I played their first LP. I bought the first two singles and was lucky enough to snag a copy of the cassette at Amoeba in Berkeley one day for a few bucks (I uncovered a number of Shrimper cassettes there over the years). This version of Shoe In is ridiculously good (especially when compared to the version on Genealogies).

I very recently picked up the split with Ida, which I have been looking for pretty much since it came out. It was literally the first time I ever saw a copy, and I have been to a record store or two in my time.

I had quite an afternoon listening to all these records again, it had been far too long. I used to listen to them all the time in college.

I had the pleasure of seeing them play exactly once -- at The Angel Orensanz Foundation with Ida and His Name Is Alive. They never came out to play the west coast, so that was my only opportunity.

I did not include either of their excellent LPs as they are both widely available as we speak. If you need more you know where to look. I am providing access to their minor works -- but this is not to say that these are not all excellent listens (which they are).

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, several recordings by The Secret Stars.

The Secret Stars CS (Shrimper)
1. Auto Reverse (Arcane 17)
2. Court
3. Our Voices Are Getting Higher
4. Shoe In
5. Math = Vacuum
6. Polaroid Prints
7. Tag Yours
8. Dating Is Stupid
9. September













Wait b/w Riot Kill (Simple Machines)
1. Wait
2. Riot Kill




















Nightingale b/w RPMs (Atlas)
1. Nightingale
2. RPMs




















The Secret Stars/Ida (R.W.)
1. Sanity Assassins





















Fourteen Days In Belpaese (Candy Apple/Green)
1. RPMs
2. Congress

6 comments:

Crumple Morris said...

I love you. I have the cassette and the Wait 7" - which I both treasure dearly. You're right - what a song 'Shoe In' is@!!!

Thanks a million times over for all the great music you are sharing - and for the music I never knew.

Unknown said...

woohooo! thanks for this!!! i had one of their early casettes with sinatra, september and shoe in and others that were not as good on the cd... alas it was stolen with all my casettes as i dozed on an airplane back in... 95... have been looking for it ever since.

even if this is not it, so nice to have a teaser!!

Unknown said...

yeah, i had the first cassette til someone stole all my tapes :( no chance you have that or know someone who does??

the only way i've heard of to find it (despite many letters and then emails to geoff farina over the years) is to get lucky and find it on ebay... :(

jodify said...

Puck, get in touch with jodi@secretstars.com. BJ, thanks for posting this stuff, it's hard to find.

Scott said...

I can't thank you enough for posting this stuff. I've been looking for that cassette tape for so many years now. I have all of these 7 inches, but not that cassette tape. I think there's some other stuff that I'm missing as well. I'll be sure to fire off an email to Jodi and see if I might be able to complete my collection. Thanks so much!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for posting this and keeping the link up for so long for others to find. I always really liked "Wait" and wanted to hear more from this band. Needless to say its really good. Some hidden gems here.