The Tell Tale Hearts Reach Back...

Maintaining an ability to work with music over the duration of one’s life is a rare thing at best. Some folks figure out how to do, but it usually proves relatively difficult. That being said, the man behind Ugly Things has had his hands in garage stuffs for over twenty years. Who knows if Ugly Things even makes a dollar now, but the fact that Mike Stax has kept a dedication to the genre is admirable if nothing else. And in fact, there’s a lot more…

The early eighties, much like the early aughties saw a resurgence in garage styled rock outfits. Whether or not that happens every twenty years or not’s gonna be a mystery for another decade, but we’ll see. Regardless of that, alongside acts like the Cynics and the Chesterfield Kings, San Diego gifted the world with the Tell Tale Hearts. It’s a cool Edgar Allen Poe reference, one that has very little to do with the music, but interesting none the less.

Stax, who played bass in addition to handling vocal duties and his cohort in the Hearts - Ray Brandes on guitar, Eric Bacher on guitar and David Klowden on drums – weren’t an original act. Neither were the groups that the Hearts were attempting to mimic, though, so it’s moot. The band issued a number of singles and a twelve inch during its brief three year existence spanning from 1983 to ’86. Amongst all those sides was a lone, self titled album that sought to distill all things ‘60s style.

With those appropriations the Hearts’ it might all seem as if this were some throw away covers band. It’s not, although, the band worked out a few covers on that aforementioned twelve inch. The Hearts’ long player was auspiciously void of other band’s material. That’s not necessarily a novelty amongst the ‘80s crop of garage bands, but a recognizable creative impulse. Often times, bands of this nature tend to rest on classics even if they’re only lesser known gems.

Anyway, most garage groups seek to focus on the most revved up strain of the genre. And while that tendency is represented in spades over the course of the Voxx Records released album, there are a few slower numbers spiked with a soul vibe that not too many garage acts would be able to muster.

“She's Not What Love Is For” finds the band moving around a slower temple and it seems that Stax is actually singing as opposed to growling out those couplets. The organ is a bit bothersome and unimaginative during most of the song, but the indecipherably fuzzy guitar solo makes up for any perceived transgressions. Both “Forever Alone” and “Keep on Trying” make use of similar tempos, although, it would seem that “She’s Not…” seeks to utilize open space more so then these other efforts.

Along with those slower offerings are the de rigueur blues rave ups. There’s nothing surprising here at all, but for the most part, the Hearts were able to accomplish what it set out to do.