Neats--The Ace of Hearts Years 1981-84--Monkey's Head Soup

God, I was a handsome child

Neats were a great Boston band that put out an ep The Monkey's Head In The Corner Of The Room and a self-title LP in the early 80's on Ace of Hearts records. Ace of Hearts of course is the recording label that released music by notable Boston bands like progpunk icons Mission of Burma, farfisa powered garage popsters The Lyres, and shoulda been contenders The Neighborhoods. And of course the Neats, a band that was popular at the time and also well received critically. These days they are not nearly so well known outside of the Boston area. They play a dark eerie form of garage pop, in some ways like R.E.M., The Feelies, The Outnumbered and not unlike some of the bands on the Flying Nun label like The Clean or early Chills. I'm even reminded of some of the more melodic tunes by the Pixies. Vocally, Eric Martin does actually sound a bit like Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate. But unfortunately this music has never been available in Cd format, until 2009, when Rick Harte of AOH finally released their 2 recordings on his label plus 6 extras in one convenient package.

Neats were comprised of Phil Caruso on guitar, Jerry Channel, bass & vocals, Terry Hanley on Drums, and Eric Martin, vocals, guitar, and organ. Never saw them perform, but I played their two records way back when an awful lot. This record is chock full of dark melodic goodness. Of particular note is the fluid melodic bass lines of Jerry Channel and the drumwork of Hanley, a rhythm section whose level of musicianship helps set the Neats apart from their peers at the time.

Of the music on the Monkey Ep, of note is the first track Red and Gray, which is a classic song of the Boston scene. Chiming guitars, more melodious and less dark than most of their songs with a big chorus. Same, Lies and Monkey's Head are also outstanding tunes from the Ep.

The first Lp, with the great Escheresque cover sleeve is step up in the Neats development. This is a very very good record, not in a class with Burmas Vs. (understand that Vs. is one of the most important albums of the last 30 years), but nonetheless a very excellent and interesting album from start to finish. It may be merely that they had a bigger budget on this one, with a lot more organ on this and the songs seem more fully realized because of it. The band seems tighter than before. Martin's vocals are measurably better on the Lp, singing with intensity as before, but with a lot more subtlety and nuance. And Phil Caruso's guitar work is as always stellar.

I have to confess that I hadn't listened to the Neats in a while. I'm relistening to them as I write this. The Lp is great from start to finish. If you are into the Boston scene of the 80's or are huge fans of the bands I have compared them to, this is an essential purchase. The album is a long ignored classic. Maybe the last song Water, drags on a bit, but still not too bad. But everything else is top shelf. The first song Sad, is a fantastic leadoff, with sharp jangly guitar, melodic complex bassline and passionate confident vocals. They continue on a winning streak, with Sometimes, A.B.D., and Now You Know. Caraboo is one of my favorites here and is one of the intense highlights of the album, as is the jangle pop of Ghost.



In addition there are some extras here that are of the same quality as the Ace of Hearts releases. The song Harbor Lights seems to be a loungy goof cover of an old standard song which is unrepresentative of the rest of the music on the album. I don't have a problem with that though as it is is quite good. Six is a precursor to the Ace of Hearts releases, and is a organ swirling seemingly satanic (6-6-6) psychedelic tune. Very good. The other songs are from 1984, and for people who own the vinyl already, a good reason to be redundant in your purchasing. Of particular note are confidently understated vocal performance of Eric Martin on Saturn.
But these are all pretty superlative.

If you have any interest, you can buy this directly from Rick Harte at the Ace Of Hearts website. I definitely think you will enjoy this one.