Tin Huey are the embodiment of every rock-critic cliché imaginable. They came out of the same mid-Seventies Akron/Cleveland scene that produced Devo, Pere Ubu, The Dead Boys, The Bizarros, and Rubber City Rebels. After wooing Village Voice lifer Robert Christgau, they were signed to Warner Brothers, who released their Contents Dislodged During Shipment LP in 1979.
It was a brilliant debut, full of quirky songs and wild time changes, all done with a sense of humor not unlike that of NRBQ. It went nowhere, and sealed their fate as a critics band forever. Chris Butler moved on and formed The Waitresses with Patty Donahue, and the rest of the group made their own way through the music business jungle. In 1999, Tin Huey got back together for a second album, Disinformation. It sold even less than Contents.
And now we are presented with a collection of leftovers and live tracks, with one of the best titles ever: Before Obscurity. Actually, the full title is Before Obscurity: The Bushflow Tapes, Bushflow being the name of the studio of the late founding member of Tin Huey, Mark Price.
I use the term “leftovers” facetiously, because a hell of a lot of bands would salivate at having material this good as remnants. From the opening track “Heat Night,” (which later appeared on The Waitresses debut Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful?) through their live take on The Stooges’ classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” Tin Huey just flat-out rock.
As Christgau states in his liner notes, “This is not the kind of band I usually like.” It is a point well taken, because as Tin Huey’s career showed, they are not for everyone. But for those who choose to partake, Before Obscurity contains a wealth of clever music.
My first thought on hearing their previously unreleased version of “Heat Night” was of Steely Dan. Not the Dan that we are familiar with though. More like if Becker and Fagen had returned to New York after Pretzel Logic, and gotten involved in the then burgeoning CBGB scene.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Great review Mr. Barbrick. I'd forgotten about these guys, and never even knew they had a connection to the Waitresses (no comments about stumping the Rockologist though, please).
Sounds like a kick-ass little collection of odds and sods, and one I'll definitely have to seek out.
-Glen
2 - Frank Mauceri
Pretty sweet Derf art/design as well!
3 - Greg Barbrick
Thanks guys, this is a very cool collection.
Frank- Yes, the Derf packaging and artwork is excellent, and I was remiss in not mentioning it in the review.
Glen- Once in a blue moon us mere mortals are able to one-up the Rockologist, but it doesn't happen very often.
4 - Tim Gilbride
Continents Dislodged - Chris Butler, not Cutler.
5 - Greg Barbrick
Thanks Tim-
You are correct that in my original review I typo'd Chris Butler's name as Cutler, which has since been corrected.
But what do you mean by Continents Dislodged? Their WB LP that I mention is titled "Contents Dislodged During Shipment"
Is there something called "Continents Dislodged" that I am unfamiliar with?
Greg