The Costanoans - San Francisco music 80s-90s

"The Yanks have colonized our subconscious" (Wim Wenders - Kings of the Road) Any kid listening to rock music has his/her mind haunted by America, at least by its image. I've never been to San Francisco, yet I consider it something like a promiced land, ever since I learned about Ashbury Height and Summer of Love (Yes, I know there's nothing left today, but this doesn't change a bit of the image I have). For many years I've listened carefully to any band came from there - and still do. Every now and then I find music that assures me that my little ...err obsession is not wrong at all, on the contrary it's very rewarding (the latest find is of course Wooden Shjips). (This was my introduction to World of Pooh's 'Land of Thirst' LP on Lost-In-Tyme, but I think it fits perfectly here) 01 Donner Party - The Ghost 02 Cat Heads - Sister Tabitha 03 Bedlam Rovers - Objectivity 04 X-Tal - Misandventure 05 Blue Movie - Mary & Riley 06 Barbara Manning & SF Seals - 8's 07 Penelope Houston - Fallback 08 Wannabe Texans - I Cut Myself 09 Camper van Beethoven - ZZ-Top Goes To Egypt 10 Yo - Charm World 11 Ophelias - I Dig Your Mind 12 Game Theory - We Love You, Carol and Alison 13 Swell - Get High This is a tiny portion of S.F. music (including Oakland, Davis etc). , compiled with the connections between the bands in mind. David Immergluck of Ophelias was in Camber Van Beethoven, Sam Babbitt also from Ophelias was in Cat Heads, Melanie Clarin in Donner Party, Cat Heads and SF Seals (and a million other bands), Wannabe Texans and Penelope Houston were performing together in SF clubs, Alan Korn and Mark Zanandrea were in X-tal and later in Cat Heads, Greg Freeman produced everything (well, almost),and Pat Thomas recorded everything (again, almost). 1.Donner Party: Sam Coomes, Melanie Clarin, Reinhold Johnson. After Donner Party, Coomes moved to Portland where he founded Quasi and Blues Goblins among others. The Ghost is from Donner Party (Cryptovision LP) 2.Cat Heads' Sister Tabitha is from 1988's Submarine, produced by Camper Van Beethoven's David Lowery. They seem to have reformed. 3.Objectivity opens Bedlam Rovers Froathing Green from 1988, the band of Caroleen Beatty, Cindy Wigginton and about fifty more members. Released on Heayday with Pat Thomas producing it. 4.Misadventure is from Who Owns Our Dreams? CD that compiles 3 of the last releases of X-tal. 5.Mary & Riley is from the first LP of Blue Movie - you can find it here, and if you want to read something more, go here. 6.I often write about Barbara, most recently posted 'World of Pooh'. 8's is from her Nowhere (or Now Here) album. 7.Penelope needs no introduction if you have seen my family photos or the intro to this post. 8.I Cut Myself is from Devouring Our Roots, a compilation released on Subterranean, when this scene was at its absolute height. Wannabe Texans , who had two if the best tracks in this comp, released only one album, which you can find here - and say hi to J Bradley Johnson. 9. I must have listened to Camper Van Beethoven's ZZ-Top Goes To Egypt about 500 times, not because I was obsessed with it, but because it was the intro to my favourite radio show. 10.Yo were Bruce Rayburn, Sally Engelfried and Greg Baker, active around 1983-87, making some highly original music. Bruce and Sally went on and formed El Sob, also defunct now. No signs of recent activity. 11. Dig Your Mind is of course Nervous Breakdown's song from the 60's, covered by the Ophelias, who in their two releases managed to cover every music genre under the sun. David Immergluck later in Counting Crows. 12.We Love You, Carol and Alison is from Lolita Nation, maybe the best release of Game Theory. Too pity it's out of print and, as I've said in my previous post (10 covers), Scott Miller doesn't seem to flirt with the idea of a re-issue. 13.Swell are again active, as David Freel has released a lot of music recently. Get High is from their first album from 1990.

Here's the link.