Elevated language, usually glowing in nature, accompanies anything written about the Ian Svenonious fronted Nation of Ulysses. It’s not that the group doesn’t deserve such affection thrust in its direction, but the fact that the band is perceived to be something of a political force is a farce. The line about politics was profligate by the band’s lyrics and furious efforts to present themselves as something more than just a musical ensemble. It worked. Today, the Nation of Ulysses is one of the more heralded Dischord bands from the label’s formative period. Again, the adulation is deserved, but not for the reasons that people expound.

Musically, the Nation was ahead of the curve, but lyrically, everything that flies from the mouth of Svenonious sounds like an updated White Panther Party polemic. He’s an intelligent song writer, able to touch on a wide variety of topics and in detail, but to present it all as something new is disingenuous. How the political beliefs of the group were presented, though, is interesting to say the least. Screamed, shouted, blurted and even written in the form of a zine distributed at shows made the Nation of Ulysses a singular group given its aural tendencies. After all, by the ‘90s, hardcore scenes were comprised of well informed miscreants as well.

Separating the group from the like minded hardcore kids wasn’t the yelling that Svenonious related his message in, but the music of his group which included the brother of Fugazi drummer, James Canty. For its second album Plays Pretty For Baby, produced by Dischord label honcho Ian MacKaye, the Nation set about forcing open the tropes of punk and its related music. Svenious may have always considered himself a jazzbo, but this disc sports a track entitled “N.O.U. Future Vision Hypothesis.” During the song’s three minutes, the Nation takes a break from the speed up rock stuffs of other offerings on the disc. Instead what listeners get is a laid back, thoughtful drum beat – if not too complicated – and Svenonious getting all mellow on the horn. Giving listeners a moment to recoup from the inundation of noise and screaming was a good move, but also served to showcase the band’s ability to switch up musical ideas as well as ideological ones.

All but two other tracks from Plays Pretty For Baby can burn a listeners ears, but “Depression III” and “N.O.U.S.P.T.D.A.” attempt to incorporate a beatnik thing that doesn’t work too well. Neither song is horribly flawed. But again, neither reaches the same heights as “N.O.U. Future Vision Hypothesis.” They gave it a shot at least.

The Nation would head back in the studio and begin work on a follow up album only to have guitarist Steve Kroner depart prior to the work’s completion. That could be a plus, because really, how would the band have been able to maintain not just the intensity it touted philosophically, but musically as well? That woulda been tough.

Subsequently, Svenious has performed with the Make-Up, basically a more garage styled version of the Nation, Weird War and most recently Chain and The Gang. Perhaps that first group after the Nation came closest to what was going on – spiritually at least – on Plays Pretty For Baby, but nothing afterwards would capture that abandon again.