Years ago, CD Baby featured a release by a band called "The Seiche". I never could figure out if it was a CD or a CD-R, though I'm pretty sure it was the latter. To this day, it's still not in Discogs. Whatever the case, my impression upon hearing it was very favorable. Then I forgot all about them. Until I read about this reissue from Jackpot. Given that a CD release wasn't on the horizon, I plunked down for the LP (straight from the label), and here we are.
And where are we? At the very best of the late 70s and early 80s American grassroots creative hard rock movement. Right before the NWOBHM scene hit the States, many bands were forming in the garage and making a go at a Rush like sound, with perhaps a bit of early Van Halen intensity. Other bands from my collection that we've featured on the UMR in this style would include Message (New Mexico) and UHF (Florida). Long tracks, lots of invention, and some incendiary guitar leads. It was a creative and exciting time, one that lead to an explosion of interesting underground music throughout the 80s. Unfortunately we have scant examples of music such as this. That unique strain of progressive hard rock. Not progressive rock. Not hard rock. It's something different and both styles are blended together. Other references would be fellow Chi-Town underground obscurities Proteus and Ariel.
Buy it.
Ownership: LP: 2019 Jackpot. Recent online acquisition. Single sleeve with a 4 page insert filled to the brim with information about the band. Great sound. No bonus, though I'm sure for most everyone, the album itself is a bonus.
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