At Least, At Last

At Least, At Last Artist: The Posies
Label: Not Lame Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Format: Box set
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 4


UPC: 618403100625
EAN: 0618403100625
ASIN: B0000507VQ


Release Date: 2003-05-06

At Least, At Last


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Categories | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
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Tracks:

  1. Believe In Something Other (Live At FOE, Bellingham 8/28/87)
  2. I Don't Want To Talk To You (Demo)
  3. Help Yourself (Demo)
  4. Thinking Aloud (Demo)
  5. Apology (Ken's Demo)
  6. I May Hate You Sometimes (Live At The Moore Theatre, Seattle 12/8/88
  7. Keep Me Guessing (Studio Outtake)
  8. Diary Of An Insecure Girl (Demo)
  9. Now They Want Your Head (Demo)
  10. What Am I Supposed To Do (Studio Outtake)
  11. Any Other Way (Demo)
  12. Suddenly Mary (Demo)
  13. Apology (Jon's Demo)
  14. Beck's Bolero (Studio Outtake)
  15. 21 (Studio Outtake)
  16. This One's Taken (Studio Outtake)
  17. Magnifying Mirror (Studio Outtake)
  18. Ramblin' Rose (Live At The OK Hotel, Seattle 8/25/91)
  19. Spite And Malice (Intro Vocals A Cappella)

Tracks:

  1. Flood Of Sunshine (Live At RCKCNDY, Seattle 5/16/92)
  2. Dream All Day (Demo)
  3. Will You Ever Ease Your Mind? (Demo)
  4. Ever Since I Was Alone (Demo)
  5. Going Going Gone (Demo)
  6. Forrest Recovery (Demo)
  7. Sullen Waistcoat (Demo)
  8. Depression Child (Demo)
  9. Solar Sister (Demo)
  10. Finally See It Right (Demo)
  11. Earlier Than Expected (Demo)
  12. Ladies And Gentlemen (Demo)
  13. When Mute Tongues Can Speak (Demo)
  14. Lights Out (Demo)
  15. How She Lied By Living (Demo)
  16. Fete Le Muzz (Studio Outtake)
  17. Velvet Monkey Theme (Studio Outtake)

Tracks:

  1. Trace My Falls (Demo)
  2. Burn & Shine (French Radio, 1993)
  3. Dreaming (2 Meter Sessies (Dutch Radio/TV))
  4. Wiggly World (Studio Outtake)
  5. Come Along And Dance (Demo)
  6. Revelation To Follow (Demo)
  7. Daily Mutilation (Demo)
  8. You're The Beautiful One (Demo)
  9. World (Demo)
  10. Pay You Back In Time (Demo)
  11. Throwaway (Demo)
  12. Sad To Be Aware (Demo)
  13. Everybody Is A Fucking Liar (Demo)
  14. Somehow Everything (Demo)
  15. Fight It (If You Want) (Demo)
  16. Oh Michael (Demo)

Tracks:

  1. Hate Song (Demo)
  2. Broken Record (Demo)
  3. Terrorized (Non-US Album Track)
  4. The Star-Spangled Banner (Live At The Kingdome, Seattle 1995)
  5. Surrender (Studio Outtake)
  6. What's Going Ahn (Studio Outtake)
  7. Grant Hart (Live On Swedish Radio, 1996)
  8. Ontario (Live At Podi-Jum Rock Festival, Beselare, Belgium 4/5/97)
  9. Oceanic Exploration (Recorded For Bill Nye, The Science Guy (US TV))
  10. Start A Life (Live At The LVC, Leiden, Netherlands 8/12/98)
  11. Flavor Of The Month (Live At The Crocodile Cafe, Seattle 2/13/98
  12. Solar Sister (Live At Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco 9/18/98
  13. Golden Blunders (Muzak Version)
  14. Suddenly Mary (Muzak Version)

Similar Items:

  1. In Case You Didn't Feel Like Plugging In
  2. Dear 23
  3. Failure
  4. Amazing Disgrace
  5. Frosting on the Beater

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars 1,000 blankets.......2000-12-30

I wrote a bad review for Ken's solo CD. I said he should make it up to his fans, and this does, but if your a fan you know, and by now, have this in your collection. It's amazing.

4 out of 5 stars For real fans of The Posies, it's worth the money.......2000-12-13

I'm a devoted fan of The Posies, but I have to admit I was initially wary about buying this box set, based on the sludgy "Alive Before The Iceberg" performances. But I'm definitely glad I picked this up -- it's given me a new appreciation of the early songwriting/singing talents of Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer. The crack-the-whip performance of "I May Hate You Sometimes" and the raw guitar melody of "Suddenly Mary" demo are Disc 1 highlights. The crackly, electric harmonies on "Solar Sister" and "Ladies and Gentlemen" (which later morphed into "Every Bitter Drop" on the group's last studio album, "Success") alone carry Disc 2. On Disc 3, "Come Along And Dance" combines a bittersweet wistfulness with raw rock 'n' roll guitar crunch, while the demo of "Everybody Is A Fucking Liar" reveals how strong this song was before Ken and Jon put the finishing touches on it. Finally, not to be missed is the ebullient fun of "Oceanic Exploration" (a.k.a. "Flavor Of The Month") that the band recorded for Bill Nye, Science Guy, and a note-for-note faithful cover of Cheap Trick's "Surrender" (OK, the band credits at the end of the song are a bit of a departure from the original, but otherwise it sounds just like Rick Nielson, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersson!) If you're not into The Posies yet, start with "Frosting On The Beater," "Success" and "Amazing Disgrace" before you invest in this. But I promise that once you're really a fan of The Posies, you won't be disappointed with this box set. And it has cool liner notes, too.

5 out of 5 stars At last..........2000-11-16

Talk about getting more than you bargained for. A few short years ago, we were told the Posies had broken up. Yet between 1999 and 2000, we have seen a plethora of Posies releases (two live albums and a Best-of), a brilliantly executed acoustic tour, and now, a four-CD box set of unreleased Posies material? If all bands who break up are this active, I hope all my (other) favorite bands break up too.

Now let's examine what we have here. Four (!) CDs of previously unreleased demos, live recordings, a few scattered b-sides, covers (Blondie, Cheap Trick, Big Star, MC5), and most amusingly, actual Muzak recordings of two of yr favorite Posies hits. For the hardcore-Posies head, this is manna.

While it's really not necessary for anyone other than devout Posies fanatics, their greatness would be obvious to anyone listening to this box. Put simply, Ken and Jon are exceptional songwriters, two of the best we've seen in the past twenty years or so. Startlingly insightful, literate, bitingly sarcastic, with a talent for pop melody that rivals the greats (McCartney, Difford/Tilbrook, Chilton/Bell). It's all here, and it's all blindingly obvious. Even on these outtakes. This is a testament to the Posies; a band that combined the melodic genius of Big Star or Badfinger and the lyrical brillance of an Elvis Costello, and who on an angry day could rock as hard as Nirvana or Mudhoney.

The demos are interesting, since many of them are full-band performances simply stripped of the various production styles used on whichever record they ended up a part of. For instance, it's fascinating to hear various Dear 23 songs without John Leckie's tower-of-swirling-echo production and realize how some benefited from it ("Any Other Way") and some would have been better off left alone ("Help Yourself"). Likewise, Amazing Disgrace songs like "World", "Fight It (If You Want)", and the particularly brilliant "Throwaway" shine equally when stripped of their grungy-guitar bombast.

The early recordings are equally fascinating; the charmingly ernest pop of "Thinking Outloud" or "I Don't Want To Talk To You", the rough early live recordings of Failure favorites "Believe In Something (Other Than Yourself)" and "I May Hate You Sometimes" (it's a shame that this box is missing "Saying Sorry To Myself", which previously appeared on the Yellow Pills Vol. 2 compilation and, for me, is the epitome of their early earnest/psychoanalytic period).

It may be intended just as a treat for fans but this box also effeciently tells the band's story. How Jon and Ken had grown from something great and beautifully naive to something far more complex, as seen on songs like "Burn and Shine" (heard here in an acoustic live performance) by the end of their (first) career. Through it all, their intelligence and inate sense of melody carried them through.

Here's hoping the story continues for a long long time.

5 out of 5 stars A MUST HAVE FOR POWER POP FANS.......2000-10-28

Being a long time fan of the Posies, it is hard for me to listen to this cd and not be immediately pleased with just being let into this world of Ken & Jon's. A honour and a pleasure listening to some of my favorite Posies melodies in the fella's original recorded attempts. Not only is this a great fan item, but these four CD's have more to offer beyond fan product. CD 3 is exceptionally beautiful in it's instrumental beginning, it's rocking Blondie cover and some favorites on 4 track recording. To round out this box set is the inclusion of Ken & Jon's notes to each song, along with pictures throughout the years in the over sized liner notes. Even if you've just recently discovered The Posies or Jon or Ken's side careers (Jon Auer Band, Saltine, REM, Orange Humble Band), I would recommend this box set whole heartedly.

5 out of 5 stars

Music Album:

  1. Songs I Hate
  2. Forever Now ~ Level 42
  3. Simply Acoustic: The Music ~ Rick Wakeman
  4. When Heroes Fall
  5. When Pregnasaurus Ruled the Earth ~ Donuts N Glory
  6. Torch the Moon ~ The Whitlams
  7. Everyone Here Is Wrong ~ The Working Title
  8. I'll Never Get Over You ~ John Hiatt
  9. This Present Darkness ~ Chimaira
  10. Electric: Very Best Early Electronic New Wave & Synth ~ Various Artists

Music Album

Music Album

Music

Coltrane for Lovers ~ John Coltrane

Duets: An American Classic ~ Tony Bennett

Frehley's Comet ~ Ace Frehley

Out of Exile ~ Audioslave

Songs of Separation ~ 108

Master Serie V.2 ~ Ange

Liego La India ~ Various Artists

Jaga Ondo/Hakucho Odori ~ Teichiku Minyokai

Samba Only ~ Various Artists

Kantsubaki ~ Eisaku Ohkawa