Sub Pop 7"s (2 of 6)

As the title suggests, this is post number 2 in my series of 6 in which I am trying to cover all of the early Sub Pop 7"s that I have picked up this year and haven't got around to posting about. I'm doing this in catalogue number order, so let's dive straight into the mid 70s...

SP75 Sister Ray 'The King' released in August 1990. There were 2,500 on green and 1,500 on black. The guitar slightly reminds me of the slower, less furious Dead Kennedys songs in places, but with singing over the top. It's ok, but I'm not in a hurry to listen to more of this.

SP77 Sister Double Happiness 'Don't Worry b/w Wheels a' Spinnin' released October 1990. Apparently the first 2,000 copies were on green, but other rarer colours also exist. The band was, according to discogs, an 'Alternative blues rock band' that existed from 1986 until 1995. Based on that description, I approached this one with caution, but goddamn, this is fucking awesome. I can see that they had an album on SST too. I will definitely be checking out more from this band. A good lesson in 'don't judge a band by their record cover'.

SP88 Poster Children 'Thinner, Stronger b/w Pointed Stick' released in October 1990. There were 3,000 on pink and 1,500 on black. The band are an indie rock band from Illinois who formed in 1987 and are surprisingly still going all these years later. This 7" has a really cool vibe going on and really reminds me of something that I can't quite put my finger on. I would definitely listen to more of this.

SP94 Thin White Rope 'Ants are Cavemen b/w Little Doll' released March 1991. The first 1,500 were on dark purple vinyl, and the rest black. My immediate thought was that I would not like this based on the cover art. I mean, look at it. Then the title of the first song 'Ants Are Cavemen'... what the hell are you talking about? I have to say though, when I put it on, there is something kinda interesting about the first song. The vocal sounds like a man eating gravel, and the whole thing plods along at a relatively slow pace. I kinda dig it. The second song, however, made me want to end my own life to escape it. It drones on for 8 minutes and at no point did I enjoy any aspect of it.

SP102 Velvet Monkeys 'Rock the Nation b/w Why Don't We Do It in the Road?' released in February 1991. There were 4,000 on clear, and 3,000 on black. This is ok, although no doubt the cover makes it look way better than it is. It kinda sounds like you would expect from the back cover photo. The first song kinda rocks, the second song is pretty stupid, but very early Sub Pop. It's ok, but isn't going to land anywhere near the top 50% of Sub Pop releases for me.

Credit where credit's due: the pressing info in this post came from the Pette discographies site. Thanks to John Pette for developing and maintaining such a great resource for Sub Pop collectors.