Comments on: The Artist Must Be Brave: Big Dipper Rediscovered

By: litotes

litotes — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:20:26 +0000

I too remember “Heavens” + “Boo Boo” with fondness. Several years ago I spent ‘way too much money retrieving them on EBay and have never been sorry.

We frequently play “All Going Out Together”, as my 9-year old resonates with the dark yet perky end-of-the-world motif. (As a wild guess it seems to have been inspired by the Larry Niven short sf story “Inconstant Moon”.)

Looking forward to the anthology, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:32:24 +0000

We can’t say Bedhead was an imitator of Codeine since they came up basically at the same time. In fact, Bedhead’s origins are earlier than Codeine’s.

By: Music Critic

Music Critic — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:46:11 +0000

The band deserves it. Good work Merge.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:11:26 +0000

Big Dipper were good, but the Embarrassment (band Bill Goffrier was in before Dipper) were great. They were retrospected once on CD in the mid-90s, highly recommended.

You know what band from this era is shamefully neglected? The Feelies. That seems strange to say since they were so influential, but their name doesn’t come up as often as you’d think and the discs are not too common (”The Good Earth” is effectively out of print).

By: Richard Eakins

Richard Eakins — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:32:35 +0000

Another band that would benefit from Merge’s deluxe treatment is LOVE TRACTOR. They were, without a doubt, the most eclectic/original Athen’s (Georgia, that is) band of the ’80s. Their early recordings (from 1983 to 1989) have been out of print for quite some time, although you can find a few on Amazon. A retrospective is too long overdue. Let’s make it happen!

By: New Music Fan

New Music Fan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:45:36 +0000

Thanks for the heads up, Really digged the sound.

By: Matt Kennedy

Matt Kennedy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:19:29 +0000

Big Dipper like Scruffy the Cat, The Neighborhoods and even The Fools never really got their due. I guess that it’s just surprising that among those bands Big Dipper is the first to get a retrospective, and it probably has more to do with the ease of which the publishing could be cleared than with anything else. The song “Ron Klaus” might even have won a Boston Music award against the Pixies if I recall, so many North Shore kids probably have fond memories of catching them at Grovers in Beverly or at Bills off Revere Beach. They were certainly the little band that should’ve. The other bands of the day that caught some (if not much) attention like Buffalo Tom, Blake Babies and The Del Fuegos have all had greatest hits compilations, but never career spanning box sets. Maybe someday we’ll get the Lemonheads catalog all in one package, too, or better yet, the ultimate Juliana Hatfield collection including the label-buried “God’s Foot” record.