Welcome to Review Revue, where every Thursday I dig through the KEXP stacks to share DJ reviews and comments written on the covers of LPs (and occasionally CDs) in the ’80s and ’90s, when the station was called KCMU, the DJs were volunteers, and people shared their opinions on little white labels instead of the internet.
I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record (pun not originally intended, but I'm never one to steer clear of a pun), but I cannot believe that — however many years into this endeavor — this is the very first time I'm covering a Young Fresh Fellows* record! In my defense, they are way at the end of the local section, which is way at the end of everything else. It took me a while to get there. What I also can't believe is the incredible timeliness of this post. Not only did YFF just play last weekend as part of the Seattle Pop Punk Festival, which seems like a pretty big deal, but one of our fair KCMU reviewers (and a big Fellows-fan), happens to mention her birthday, which happens to be today (as I write this, so yesterday for you)! What are the odds? I mean, really? The insane levels of synchronicity I encounter through this series really has me . . . wanting to see what the comments on The Police's Synchronicity are like. Stay tuned.
By the way, in doing my customary "research" for this piece, I learned an important lesson. If you want YFF news, steer clear of the band site (which hasn't been updated since shortly after Scott McCaughey's terrifying stroke in 2017) and just follow McCaughey himself on Twitter, where he offers an updated — and much happier — view.
*Young Fresh Fellows, by the way, are one of those bands who seem completely unconcerned as to whether you write their name with a definite article or not. Some places (or album covers) it's The Young Fresh Fellows, and other places (and album covers) it's Young Fresh Fellows. I can't imagine the sort of mind that is totally fine with this level of ambiguity, but it's strangely impressive.
"It's the fellers . . . yes . . . from this here Seattle."
"I like it when a band can put out more than one record. This is swell music for nice teens."
"I am 22, and I find these Fellows young and fresh. I'll be 23 on January 16th. [Happy 57th birthday, whoever you are!] Buy me another copy to repace my worn-out one as a gift. Thanks.
"By the way, these guys are the best band in town, bar none."
"Bar none? Bar band!"
"Identify yourself, scum! Clumsy ol' rocker who thinks he's so eclectic!"
"They're down on my list. Rooma [Room9? I can't tell what this is.] is younger + fresher."
"Groovytown is a red dot!"
"'Trek to Stupidity' . . . going to a YFF show?"
"No . . . limiting your horizons."
"Attack of the Cornballs."
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