Head to Toe
scum stats: two versions on 7-inch, one on transparent green vinyl, one on opaque mint colored vinyl which is listed as "initial pressing of 8000" on Discogs. If I'm a betting man, 8000 is the total across both colors, they came at the same time and there was never an additional pressing
Haven't been listening to a TON of music this past week, but I did go on a tasty little Breeders kick two days ago, happily clicking through all the depths of their catalog. I was kinda surprised none of these songs were on streaming, but their oeuvre is deep enough that I didn't think about it for more than five seconds.
As a bit of an exercise, I asked my wife to pick a 7-inch single for me to write about this week. That was the only parameter I gave her. Without any telegraphing or signaling...she picked this one.
So let's pause a moment to celebrate true love connectivity between soulmates.
The Breeders just might be the band that we both love to the fullest extent of our hearts. I remember going to a show of theirs 12+ years ago and realizing that all of our couple friends were there as couples, BOTH parties in the relationship being big fans. The ultimate couples band? I'm hard pressed to come up with a group that shares a comparable profile.
Anyway, this single came hot on the heels of the gargantuan H-bomb of their "Last Splash" album and while Kim Deal wrote ZERO songs here...it still just absolutely slays. A-side is penned by bassist Josephine Wiggs and the singalong chorus of "Your face looks good to me" is just chant-worthy in how warm it makes my heart.
B-side of "Shocker In Gloomtown" is a Guided By Voices cover and is as good an example of why Kim Deal is quite likely my favorite singing voice on the planet. Just...so unique, one-of-a-kind, living in a world all it's own. Only today, some 20 years into my appreciation of this record, have I finally scoped the actual lyrics to the song and I think you should just peep them yourself and then click the annotation as to the line "PS. dump your boyfriend."
I never paid too much mind to GBV, but maybe this is the time. Anyone got an original copy of "Propeller" they're willing to let go of? Also, big props to the Breeders spending the time it took to make a video of a non-album song that's running time is 1:17. That's commitment and getting the original band to actually BE in the video...beautiful.
"Freed Pig" is a Sebadoh cover that I can honestly take or leave. "Head to Toe" and "Shocker" just mean the absolute world to me and they are absolutely worth the $10 asking price on Discogs for either version. Get it.
