The CD changer in my car is on the fritz and I've been too lazy to reload my ipod, so recently I've been rolling with a college mixtape — probably circa '92. In doing so, I've rekindled my love affair with The Ocean Blue.
Those Hershey, Pennsylvania boys wore their influences on their sleeves — and their influences were the same as mine: The Smiths, New Order and Echo & The Bunnymen. They were as close as we Americans came to truly emulating British new wave.
To this day, their self-titled debut
and its follow-up, Cerulean
, still hold up and are still sorely under appreciated. The chiming guitar of their first single, "Between Something And Nothing", brings you right back to 1989:I've never been one for sax solos, but for some reason "Drifting, Falling" and Steve Lau's smooth jazz tones always do me right:
From Cerulean, enjoy the "artsy" video for "Ballerina Out Of Control":
And finally, my mixtape jam, "Mercury":
A quick check of the band's official website shows they're still active and plan to put out a new album — their first in more than 10 years — sometime in 2011. Welcome back, boys.
3 comments:
Yes! One of my favorite bands of all time :-) To me they're sort of like the Beatles: they still sound good years after their records came out.
Never heard them much back in the day, but after searching for great bands from the past that were somewhat unknown, I love to listen to them now!
Been a fan since a thing on MTV back in 1989 called smash or trash, played two videos and you could vote. Heard btw sm and nth and was just blown away. Purchased the tape the next day, have had it ever since, saw them live in 96 met them, got pics and autos, really nice guys, went to Hershey this past thanksgiving and stayed a night in Hershey, been waiting years for a new release.
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