Thumbs No Price On Earth Ramona Music Inc 1982

Thumbs No Price On Earth Ramona Music Inc 1982 CAT# RM2

Of the two Thumbs' LP, this is the better one.  Overall, the band still sounds lean, off balanced, and awkward.  However, the songs are bit more polished and Steve Wilson calmed down his manic vocal style.  The artiness and Velvet worship really shine through on this one too; in a good way.  It sounds more 1978 than it does 1982, probably because they were soaking up the college scene.  Locals like the Embarrassment, likely Athens based groups like REM, had shown the Thumbs how to embrace their off kilter influence into shambolic power pop tunes.

Whereas the homespun recording of their first LP almost destroys anything good about the band, No Price on Earth, is actually bettered by the Lo-Fi recording.  The song "Jennie Says" sounds like it should be your standard MOR skinny tie affair, but with the production gives it a twee sound and feel, like a teen band from the 60's.  Most of the album falls into this wanna-be raver, teen stompers, with just enough teeth to get to the power part of power pop and enough references about girls to keep them out of any sort of punk realm.

The band tries to get ultra-arty on the tune, "I'm The Jesus," using a bunch of Jesus tag-lines to sound witty and smart, it's a low point of the LP.  But, the high points like "The Coast is Clear," Out of His Mind," "It Won't Satisfy" and the surprisingly pretty, "The Payload," make the LP worth searching out for a couple of bucks.

Thumbs do the Velvets

Thumbs S/T Ramona Records 1979

Thumbs S/T Ramona Records 1979 CAT#RR1

The Thumbs were a late 70's, early 80's band from Lawrence, KS.  This debut LP stinks of 1979 and lies somewhere between skinny tie new wave and working class Midwestern power pop.  It falls closer to the power pop spectrum, as there isn't synth on LP (keyboards got switched to the organ setting), and the only reason to compare it to New Wave is because singer, Steve Wilson, approaches the vocals like a cartoon character.

That's my main problem with the album.  Steve Wilson, who is an awesome guy and still a heavy supporter of local music in Lawrence, just draws out his words like Lou Reed, but he can't sing or sound like Lou Reed.  On this LP, he's pitchy and all over the place, he's in the higher register and to me, it seriously sounds like a cartoon character.  It's distracting and takes away from what's going on with the songs.

As for the songs, production is pretty muted, the drums sound muddy and it can be hard to pick up a bass line.  The levels all over sound unven as the guitar is really high and sometimes the organ is too loud.  The production is distracting and probably hides a lot of great moments in the LP.  I've heard people claim it to be a lost power-pop gem, to which I don't really agree with.  It's pretty par for the course.  The organ is cool, but overall, it's middle of the road for 1979.  To the band's credit, it doesn't appear they were trying for a straight ahead power pop as they are better compared to college rock bands like the dBs or later, REM.

There are some gems, "Is It Too Much?," done correctly could have been classic.  "Still Bound to You" has the right idea and even some harmonies (which most the LP lacks).  Second to last song, "Rags to Rags" starts promising and I kind of dig the twee-pop break down (likely not meant to sound twee, but again, production isn't the LP's strong point).  The final song, "Art History," must be singer Steve Wilson's favorite as it's the sole video on YouTube and posted by him.  The organ is pretty killer and there is some Byrds jangle to it.

The band released a follow up in 1982, which I haven't listened to in years but it's on the stack of
to be discussed soon".  Steve Wilson (I should really talk about the other guys, but he's kind of the leader of the band) would go onto to front another Lawrence favorite, the Mahoots, and by that point had calmed down his vocal approach considerably.

Art History