Friday, May 28, 2010

Power-Popscurites: The Cavedogs: Joy Rides For Shut-Ins (1990)


Power-Popscurites is a series meant to bring to light power-pop bands so unknown that they've even been missed by greater minds of the blogosphere.

Well, early nineties Boston pop-nerds The Cavedogs have had some pixels spilled over them (thanks to Willfully Obscure and Little Hits) but still no one seems to have posted their prime, long out-of-print Enigma albums, like this Ed Stasium produced one from 1990, Joy Rides for Shut-Ins. So while some might say that "if you can recall a time when the search for the next Smithereens was a worthy pursuit of record label executives your musical memory is overcrowded" to which I say, "Sorry, I can't hear you above the noise:"


Joy Rides For Shut-Ins link is in the comments


Speaking of comments, Tell us your view on The Cavedogs
.


The band re-united in 2002 (supposedly at the behest of former class-mate/collaborator David Cross) but there' s not been any great rush of activity since:

Amazon

MySpace

Fanpage



Update: Aaron adds:
"At one point or another each of the Cavedogs (I think) got involved with TV, writing both music and script content. Drummer Mark Rivers wrote the theme songs for Mr. Show and Moral Orel, among others. Todd Spahr has done some scores and more recently collaborated with Ilyana Douglas to create the Swedish pop band Sparhusen (iTunes link) as a tie-in with the web series Easy To Assemble. He also writes and performs with the bands Banquet Hall and Matt Bunsen & the Burners. He's a great songwriter and he just keeps going, so check it out!"

Update II Larkin Mayberry IV adds:
Todd Spahr also fronted a great Boston band in the late 90's to early 00's called The Gravy. I caught them many times and they quickly became my favorite local band.I believe they only had 3 releases. Hangman's Pop, an EP (known as the Hollywood EP), and Lollipolyp. All well worth the price of admission.
The physical copies are probably hard to find, I believe Lollypolyp wasn't even released in the US (just a small batch sold at shows). But here's a link to The Gravy on itunes:

Update III majornista adds:

Gravy video I

Gravy Video II

And don't miss this vintage news piece:

14 comments:

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    PLEASE LEAVE US A COMMENT ABOUT THE CAVEDOGS.





    http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tyzmdmygjmi

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks buddy!

    As a college guy in Boston in the 80s I saw these guys a ton. They were great. Very funny onstage and a fabulous drummer. They shoulda been stars!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This album was a big hit at my college radio station and I was lucky enough to see them live around the time it came out. And, apparently, they formed at the university where I teach, which takes this school's contribution to good music from 0 to 1 in the last 20 years. Yay?

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  4. One fine band.Great in concert.I had this album on cassette tape.

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  5. Haven't heard of this band before, but the clip was good so I downloaded it. Thanks mate. Interesting thread you have going here.

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  6. I saw these guys around 1990 - they were great. Love this albu.

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  7. Caught these guys a coupla times before this album. They were a whole lot of fun.

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  8. Anon
    Welcome, Buddy, and thanks for adding the memories.

    Cliff
    Hey not every school boast alumni as good as the Cavedogs - take pride!

    DJ Useo
    Ah, I remember when having albums on cassette seemed almost as good as the real thing!

    Piratecyan
    Glad you're enjoying the thred -enjoy the Cavedogs.

    YankeeBoy
    Lucky man, I wish I'd seen 'em.

    Ron
    Yeah I'd really like to have seen them when they played with David Cross' comedy troupe - sounds like a real curious mix.

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  9. Never heard of them either - but sincerely agree with previous poster: clip was really good, so I got them both.
    Thanks.

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  10. Thanks for posting these hard-to-find albums! At one point or another each of the Cavedogs (I think) got involved with TV, writing both music and script content. Drummer Mark Rivers wrote the theme songs for Mr. Show and Moral Orel, among others. Todd Spahr has done some scores and more recently collaborated with Ilyana Douglas to create the Swedish pop band Sparhusen (iTunes link) as a tie-in with the web series Easy To Assemble. He also writes and performs with the bands Banquet Hall and Matt Bunsen & the Burners. He's a great songwriter and he just keeps going, so check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Pete
    I make it a point of having a sample of the material I'm posting and I'm glad that was effective here.

    Aaron
    Y'know comments that fill in the blanks are on of the best things about this blog. I added your work as a postscript. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Todd Spahr also fronted a great Boston band in the late 90's to early 00's called The Gravy. I caught them many times and they quickly became my favorite local band.

    I believe they only had 3 releases. Hangman's Pop, an EP (known as the Hollywood EP), and Lollipolyp. All well worth the price of admission.

    The physical copies are probably hard to find, I believe Lollypolyp wasn't even released in the US (just a small batch sold at shows). But here's a link to The Gravy on itunes:

    http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-gravy/id13753685

    Tiiimmmmmbbeerrrrrr!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. LArkin
    This post is becoming like a wikki, and that's great! Thanks so much for the additional info

    ReplyDelete

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