Music

Summershine   Year: 2001 | Run Time: 48:23

©2001 Compass Records. Produced by Tom Lewis, Bill Mallonee. All songs written by Bill Mallonee ©2001 CyBrenJoJosh (BMI).

Track List

    1. You Know That [3:52]
    2. She Is Fading [4:08]
    3. Galaxy [4:08]
    4. I Could Be Wrong [3:24]
    5. Along for the Ride [3:14]
    6. Stand Beside Me [2:48]
    7. S.O.S. [3:40]
    8. Puttin' Out Fires [2:45]
    9. Happy Being Lonely, Lonely Being Happy [4:03]
    10. It's Not Bothering Me [4:15]
    11. Green Summer Lawn [4:02]
    12. Making It Up As We Go Along [2:56]
    13. Sailors [5:08]

    About Summershine

    Described by many as Brit pop, and described by Bill as a "love album," Summershine is probably the biggest departure for the Vigilantes of Love since Welcome to Struggleville. It was released on August 14, 2001.

    Did you know?

    Summershine was released on August 14, 2001. It was recorded in three weeks along with four additional songs that did not make the cut. Because of time restraints, Julie Miller was not able to contribute vocals as planned. The original title Bill planned for this project was The Crush of Velvet Glove Starlight, a phrase taken from "S.O.S.," which appears on Summershine. Their record label, Compass, rejected this idea. Concerning packaging, VoL wanted a cardboard digi-pak with a simple painting of a daisy on the cover and no script, but with a stickered title on the cellophane. This was also rejected by Compass. Some have wondered whether the flower on the cover of Summershine is a poppy, since this album presents a more "poppy" sound than we've heard from VoL in the past. No... it's a gerber daisy.

    Quotes from Bill Mallonee

    DATE UNKNOWN: Unfortunately for us, Summershine came out and eleven days later the World Trade Centers were on the ground, and they pulled the record. We felt like we'd made a really cool record, but nobody heard it. And the label was completely faithless as far as putting anything into it went. We pleaded with Compass, we said, "look guys, I thought this was about a partnership, we'd like to see you re-release the record in Spring," but they just weren't going to do it.

    DATE UNKNOWN: I think it's way better than anything we've ever done... without a doubt, it's the best VOL record ever... it's very ambitious... and we did it with a small budget because the record company became a bit... well cautious... (but in Athens, GA studio time is all free)... summer-y: (like suntan oil), warm: (like a green summer lawn)... poppy (not like the flower), warm (like my wife's kisses)... emotionally it goes to a lot of places... very... open... and free-ing... but not freedom rock, dude...

    Jul 6, 2001: It's a very thoughtful record. What happens in love to everybody? Everybody in this tent has fallen in love. What could be a bigger theme than that? It's a falling in love kind of record. I've never made one of those before.

    Dec 19, 2001: Does it sound arrogant to promote ones own work?... This is a serious pop record I/we really believe in... I heard a lot of pop stuff this year... and I'd rate our little effort next to anyone's... think Athens/Beatles/Byrds and well... it's just us... I hear a thread of "vol commonality" throughout all of it... above all it feels relaxed, engaging and at the same time ambitious... I think this is it's strength... this is where i feel it stands out among a lot of the "pop i heard in passing" this year... it still holds all the freshness to us because rather than burning ourselves out on the tunes for a year before recording them, as you know, i wrote them and we recorded them in the compressed span of seven weeks... from the writing, tracking, overdubbing to finished master... the production ideas feel really right.... I'd change about five mixes a bit if I had the time or budget... but we didn't have that prerogative this time.... Compass gave us substantial deadlines... still it all stands up... along with the multiple releases of Audible Sigh and Electromeo, Summershine is my favorite VOL record to date...

    Apr 2003: I think when the record, when Summershine came out on Compass, the clear indication from those guys was that they weren't going to do anything for the record because they didn't understand it. It wasn't a country rock record. It wasn't even remotely an alt-country record in any shape, form, or fashion. And they just didn't know what to do with it. They had their own distributor, which was Cox Records at the time, just weeing all over themselves about it. And even their radio guy who worked in-house at Compass Records said that he thought it was the coolest thing they had ever released and had lots of radio potential. Because the record was full of singles, you know, initially I think they were thinking about releasing "She is Fading" and we were pushing for "Putting Out Fires With Gasoline," which clocked in at about two minutes. I mean, what's not to like about that when you're competing for air space? And nobody knew what to do with it.

    Aug 2, 2003: Consider the following: we were on a bluegrass label folks. That was who was dealing SUMMERSHINE to retail, radio, and press... A BLUEGRASS LABEL!... If I'd been pandering "for broader exposure," I'd have made another twang and bang record for them... then they might have been into supporting it... I think we took a rather big risk, both artistically and commercially speaking to make Summershine (when we could have just as well made "son of Audible sigh).... I'd like to think we did so convincingly, eloquently and with holy passion... and of course with integrity...

    Aug 3, 2003: We gave them a college-pop record more or less that their own in house radio person freaked over because it had singles all over it... AND their own distributor was full of energy over (moved it to the top of their release pile for that quarter, I heard)... and (I maintain) the record still died by a fair amount of neglect... it felt like no one knew what to do with it... and then 9/11...

    Jun 8, 2005: It was and is a very ambitious record... Tom Lewis and I sat for five weeks in an Athens studio watching something magical unfold easily surpassing (yes and gasp!) Audible Sigh... THAT record (AS) was so easy it wasn't funny... heck we'd played the same set for 100 years... it was set up mics, make some noise... and go grab a beer. But after about four records and 75 songs into the Americana thang it was time to... well, fall in love.... Enough of the rode hard put up wet, high and lonesome, country boy desperation meets Kierkegaardian hope! Time to explode one's consciousness in the arms of one's sweetheart.... Roll out! Roll out! Drowning in summer's cauldron like a bug in brandy: SUMMERSHINE! (sigh!)

    Jun 8, 2005: We tried: "Please, oh, Please of Mr. High and Mighty 'we-care-about-the-artist' Compass records... please re-release SUMMERSHINE! Why not try it later in 2002? We really love waht we've done and indie rock press is digging it and can get behind it!!!" (like say Ben Fold's Rockin' the Suburbs, a record that was released ON 9/11, gently pulled back and then was re-released in top of 2002 and did very well.) "No!" thundered Mr. Gary West, label Prez! The shocked artist responded, "Well, I have to lose the very special band of friends Mr. West... they were counting on support and a tour this fall and... what should I do, now?" "You just run along with your little acoustic guitar and build yourself a following," retorted the all-knowing Mr. West... The befuddled singer reply: "I thought we had given you a following, Mr. West! Before we got here we gave you 20,000 sales of the last record... not a small number by the days standards!" "Sorry... what I say... goes," Mr. West harrumphed, as he pondered about how to cash in on the current "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," extravganza that was kicking Nashville by the gonads. "Ummm, ok... and see ya!"

    Jun 24, 2005: When Summershine came out it was wonderfully refreshing and it was a band... and THAT's what an artist does.... He creates and explores, the ones I listen to scratch their skin and bleed on the tape... and it's a lovely sound... even when it's disturbing... no apologies for not catering to the "needs" of the audience...

    Nov 11, 2006: Summershine and Perfumed Letter seem to me now to be conscious attempts to "pep talk" myself out of life despair... as most of you know I feel they were the most ambitious records I've ever done... attempts to embrace love and light... we expected great things for them.

    A Review by joshjackson / Sep 4, 2001

    There is nothing new under the sun. That's a bit of the theme of the opening track of VOL's tenth full-length release, Summershine, and a bit of the truth surrounding this band. Through different record labels and brief independent ventures, through a list of band members longer than a baseball roster in September, through various folk-rock, college rock, alt-country phases, Bill Mallonee has been repackaging the same themes over and over. But Bill's ability to tell those stories is simply unmatched by any songwriter not named Dylan.

    Through metaphor, historical allusion, cultural observation, and kickass turn-of-phrase, he speaks of the tiredness, bitterness and fallenness of this life, the joy of communion (particularly marriage) and the hope of redemption in a way that resonates with his growing legions of fans on two sides of the Atlantic. And regardless of the lineup and influencing styles, the music has always been original, reflecting Bill's love for experimentation -- roots rock with effects and alternate tunings.

    Even fans used to the progression of VOL's sound, though, might be a little startled by the opening licks of "You Know That." As the band has spent much time touring the U.K. in support of their last project, the very alt-country Audible Sigh, they absorbed two generations worth of Brit pop. This is the stuff that Bill and the boys grew up on, and the conspicuous melodies and catalyzing beat are a pleasant surprise. Jangily reminiscent of early REM, this other Athens band has only grown better with age.

    "Galaxy" might be the biggest shocker on the album, a spatial Euro-pop ballad beautifully unlike anything VOL has previously done. Athens legend Randall Bramblett fills the voids on the CD with other-worldly organ, piano and mellotron.
    While the music may be light and airy, the lyrics are just as beautifully poignant, and the disc is filled with Bill's trademark heat-seeking missiles. If anything, the themes are broader, more fluid and abstract. From "You Know That":

    moonlight be a friend tonight
    we're all wrecked up on these dreams
    holding on a bit too tight
    i've got splinters from these moonbeams

    And from "S.O.S.":

    she said, "these storms are too strong on the sea of my winter
    look at me; i'm all cursed with this thirst to remember
    if my lips touch the host i will be alright
    don't we all feel the crush of velvet glove starlight?"

    At times the record feels like both sides of a confessional booth. We hear Bill's cathartic cleansing and recognize the voice as our own. In "Putting Out Fires," he crosses back and forth through the hole in the wall, switching between second and first person. "your life's a live wire you can't seem to ground / my thoughts are criminal / and a bit obscene / yeah puttin' out fires / with gasoline."

    This is indeed a summery CD, but a late summer day at the park from a quiet dew-filled morning to a cool walk at dusk, not a carefree June day at the beach. On this August night with the call of locusts accenting the final spare, lonely strains of "Sailors," nothing sounds more perfect. And as Bill sings in "Galaxy," "we're both gonna be alright." (from www.pastemusic.com)

    Credits

    Bill Mallonee: all guitars, lead and background vocals

    Jake Bradley: bass guitars, baritone bass

    Kevin Heuer: drums, percussion

    Tom Lewis: bgv's on "nothing" and "stand," arpeggio guitar lines on "sailors" and "nothing," harmonium on "sailors," percussion bits

    Randall Bramblett: piano, organ, electric piano, mellotron, chamberlain

    Elisa Hadley: background vocal on "galaxy"

    Daniel and David Clausen: strings on "along for the ride" and "green summer lawn"

    Produced by: Tom Lewis and Bill Mallonee. Arrangements: VoL and Tom Lewis. Mastered by: Glenn Schick at Glenn Schick Mastering, Atlanta, GA.

    Liner Notes

    this venture was lovingly recorded and exhorted, analoged and monologued, finalized and digitized (oh my!) by the band and tom lewis on days sprinkled with copious amounts of goodwill and sunshine between may 11th and june 20th, 2001 at 3rd ear studios, athens, ga.

    the band thank yous:
    thank you one and all very much... and to all a goodnight!

     

     

     

     

     

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