ARTIST: The Posies
TITLE: Dear 23
YEAR RELEASED: 1990
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: Golden Blunders (#17 Modern), Suddenly Mary
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Apology
LINEUP: John Auer, Ken Stringfellow, Rick Roberts, Mike Musburger
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Moving from acoustic to electric, the Posies major label debut established their power pop credentials.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Adding bassist Rick Roberts and drummer Mike Musburger, the Posies moved toward a power-pop sounds in a mixed bag of an album.
There’s some highly produced songs (“Apology”), some songs that show their love of the psychedelic era (“Flood of Sunshine”), and a few cuts that seem leftover from their acoustic days (“My Big Mouth”). When this album is on point, it’s great. There’s hooks, and harmonies, and definite channeling of Badfinger here (listen to the guitar under the verses in “Apology”).
However, it doesn’t hang together as an album in my ears – it’s a collection of songs, yes, and some are fantastic, but it caught them in transition. They’d evolve fully soon enough.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: Ringo covered “Golden Blunders” on an album
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B+-: I didn’t like the flow of the album, the songs were great but it seemed put together in a haphazard way.