Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Arcwelder - Jacket Made in Canada/This (1989-90, Big Money))

A 30 second video clip for this album's "Missing You," broadcast on MTV's 120 Minutes eons ago, was enough to make me an instant Arcwelder fan. Released on Big Money Inc Records, Jacket Made in Canada was the follow up to the band's debut, This, which was originally credited to Arcwelder's original moniker, Tilt-a-Whirl. Name infringement ugliness ensued, and Tilt-A-Whirl became Arcwelder.
Imagine a cockeyed version of Husker Du, or Mission of Burma had they made a deliberate attempt to scale the pop charts, for an idea of what this off-kilter Minneapolis trio have in store. Over the course of the '90s, four more Arcwelder albums on Touch & Go Records would eventually hit shelves. As exemplary as most of them were, little on those records could quite adequately capture the spontaneity of Jacket's skittish punk-pop, particularly on standout tracks like "Favor," and "Everything." 

The CD version of Jacket includes Arcwelder's first album This, which was recorded in 1989 when the band existed under the Tilt-a-Whirl banner.

Jacket Made in Canada (1990)
01. Harmonic Instrumental
02. Daydream
03. Missing
04. Hint Taken
05. Left
06. Plastic
07. Favor
08. When You're Gone
09. Everything
10. Staback
11. I Hates to Lose
12. Bob Sez 

This (1989)
13. This
14. Such a Very Long Time
15. Blue
16. What Am I Supposed to Do?
17. Living Legend
18. What Have I Done to Me?
19. Arcwelder
20. Pint of Blood
21. Moment of Passion
22. It Won't Change
23. Understanding

Hear

8 comments:

dear amsterdam said...

Awesome post!!

Do you happen to have Xerxes by these guys? You got me wanting to here more Arcwelder, but I cant find that one!!!

jonny5 said...

I'd like to see Arcwelder's "Pull" LP on here. I have it on vinyl, but would love to have the MP3 versions too.

subrec said...

Linked up at MNPunk.com

Brennan Cavanaugh said...

Shoot, this album...thanks for posting, listening to it on vinyl right now...caught them in early 90s in Philly, instant fan myself. Appreciate this post, thanks, especially for the Humanist anthem When Yer Gone...righton...a bunch of their stuff on Amazon now, but not this Big Money Rex one...peace.

Unknown said...

*Finally*! I was going nuts trying to get a copy of this. You google it and on message boards this comes up as probably the favorite record and in the bio page for iTunes, etc they mention this as their 'break through' - BUT you can't buy it or listen to it on any of these sites (but you can get all the later records). If I could have bought it i would have. Pages upon pages of lyrics web sites but no way to listen to or buy this disc - or the track 'favor', probably their most acclaimed song but you can't buy it, download it , listen to it, etc - you just cant *get* the actual song anywhere.
Anyways - I was going fucking insane as I've searched off and on for years for this and *finally* I have it thanks to you.

NigelStJames said...

Thanks! Recently rediscovered this band, and this is oop for some stupid reason. Therefore, the disc sells for way too much.

Neuromancer said...

I'm pretty sure i heard this band on college radio in connecticut in like 1989 or 90 and had searched them out over the years to no avail. then 27 years later I make a slint channel on pandora and this comes on and a light went off! an old mystery solved! thanx very much...

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing such great information.D&H It is informative, can you help me in finding out more detail on Silicone Braided Hose,i am interested and would like to know more about this field and wanted to understand the basics of Silicone Tubing.