Quasi has never been the kind of band to give it to you straight. The very notion of the group-- a divorced couple playing pessimistic, oft-guitarless pop music-- elicits furrowed eyebrows from the uninitiated. In the case of those who've heard the scathing rumors as to the nature of the breakup between Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, those furrowed eyebrows are often accompanied by agape jaws.
Given the rather twisted nature of the band's history, it seems kind of disappointing that Early Recordings, 19 tracks culled from tapes recorded by Sam and Janet in 1995, is pretty much entirely what you'd expect it to be. That is, Early Recordings sounds like Quasi... but earlier.
One criticism that has been leveled against Featuring "Birds"-era Quasi is that, while their songs were unquestionably catchy and clever, they were all catchy and clever in the exact same way. Sam Coomes belts out some seventh-chord progression on his Roxichord, Janet Weiss pops in with a sparse but rocking beat, and one or both of the divorcees begin musing about the sheer suckiness of life in a sweet melody. And while it's true that Quasi's most distinctive and memorable songs are largely similar, their albums have always included enough variety to keep things from getting terribly stale. Perhaps more importantly, even when Quasi do sink into cliché, they sink into their own clichés, rather than usual ubiquitous clichés of pop music.
As is usually the case with pre-debut album collections, Early Recordings is all over the place. Small hints of what would go on to become the band's trademark sound are here in spades, but are often lost in general messiness. Which is not to say that the record is bad. It's a largely exploratory recording-- the sound of two people tinkering around with various instruments and trying to figure out what works. While the downside to such a recording is the previously addressed mess factor, the upside is that, every once in a while, you're privy to one of those moments when a band locks into something really, really good.
Early Recordings opens with "Two Hounds," a Coomes-penned instrumental that isn't all that different from the instrumentals that appear on later Quasi records. A simple piano figure, a straightforward drumbeat, and some guitar parts for flavor constitute one of the better tracks on Early Recordings. With cleaner production and more focused instrumental parts, "Two Hounds" would be at home on any Quasi record from R&B; Transmogrification to The Sword of God, making it a decidedly appropriate opener for this compilation.
"Time Flies By," an early Coomes/Weiss collaboration, sees the band further carving out their own distinctive sound. Quasi is one of the only bands that can pull off boy/girl harmonies without making me want to shoot myself in the face, and "Time Flies By" showcases the laid-back vocal interplay that sets Quasi apart from most cloying couple-rockers. "Homonculus" marks the first appearance of the moderately off-kilter chord progressions that would become a staple in later records, but disintegrates far too quickly into aimless fucking around.
Considering that these 19 songs were recorded before R&B; Transmogrification and haven't been released until now, it's not surprising that they're not exactly fit for public consumption. While there are certainly a few excellent moments on Early Recordings, they only reveal themselves to people who are willing to wade through 19 severely spotty tracks. If you insist on having every decent recording Quasi has ever made in your possession, by all means go out and buy Early Recordings. If you're curious as to what the band sounded like pre-R&B; Transmogrification, listen to any of their proper albums and imagine. It's pretty much the same thing.
