Hail - Kirk
SKU
21-ReR Hail 2
Second and final Hail album. Songs by Suzanne Lewis and Bob Drake, both ex-Thinking Plague - a punky cross between Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and early Jefferson Airplane. This time, Bob Drake and Susanne Lewis are joined by some guests: Dave Kerman, Chris Cutler, Bill Gilonis.
“There's very little information available on this band but the Internet suggests they are part of the late-80s Rock in Opposition and avant-prog scene -- in fact, other albums by Hail are tagged as avant-prog on this site. Maybe I haven't heard enough avant-prog or rock in opposition to truly be the judge, but I'm left clueless what this has to do with either genre. Instead this is a slightly noisy and slightly experimental alt-rock album with the typical dreams (a nightmare is a dream, after all!) and delusions of radio play commonplace in the era.
The super-bright, super-clean yet no-frills production, clean yet spiky guitar delivery, and plain Midwestern vocal delivery -- when juxtaposed with the jagged yet simultaneously well-worn and familiar songcraft -- often result in songs reminiscent of Thinking Fellers Union Local 282's more straightforward material (no "Feller Filler here", for better or worse) or those super-spare Unrest tunes where Bridget took lead.
Fans of both bands, or of left-of-the-dial '90s major-label castaways in general will find something enjoyable here.”-Aaron Leclair / rateyourmusic