Distant Shores - Epilogue

Well, someone has beaten me to the punch on a Distant Shores review, and it's on another blog: http://austintayeshus.blogspot.com/.

It's a pretty darn good review, too, though I disagree with one of it's assumptions, the one in this quote :"Truly, the influence this album has had on the C-86 and twee pop scenes cannot be understated." Now, being an older gent, I did have to look up C-86, and "twee" as a musical genre, both from the UK in the 80's, because I obviously missed out on those. And when I went to Wiki to look up "twee" bands, I struck out again because the only band I recognized there was Belle & Sebastian. Anyway, if by definition twee is defined as based on jangly Byrds-style guitar (think Rickenbacker 12 string) and childish, overly cute or quaint lyrics, I don't see Distant Shores as a reference point or influence at all. I only mean to stress this because this was their most adult sounding, complete LP to this point, and they were what, 24 at the time? Great song choices, wonderful arrangements by Chad on 7 of the 11 songs, and a truly sumptuous sound to it all.

But that petty disagreement aside, I think the blogger almost nailed it for me when he refers to the melancholy feeling at summer's end at the beginning of his post, but then refers to Summer Song. Yeah, but.

This LP was marked sort of a turning point in my life, as it was released at the end of the last summer of my first relationship. That relationship would crumble in the winter of 1967, so in some respects the melancholy reflected here in When You Love Has Gone, I Won't Cry, and Don't Make Me Do It, and the whole romantic tone of the album, take me back to that feeling at the end of that summer of 1966, with days growing shorter, a painful sophomore year in college ahead, and me growing up, little by little.