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Avg: 3.5 (22 ratings)
- Date Released: January 1, 1993
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Label: Too Pure
The debut record from the scrawniest band of the mid-'90s British post-rock scene.
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We Say...
With their kindergarten keyboards, toy-town rhythms and four-track lullabies, it's fair to say Pram were probably the scrawniest band of the mid-'90s British post-rock scene. The music on debut full-length album The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small… Stay As You Are is almost painfully fragile: the vocals are thin and often indecipherable, the melodies simplistic sing-song affairs. Yet their fine, grainy songs get under the skin in a manner beyond more robust groups: their monochromatic textures take on a noirish tinge, transforming the familiar and suburban into dramas of lost innocence. The loping bassline and droplet-like melodies of “Loredo Venus” suggest Kraftwerk’s “Neon Lights” with a faltering, all-too-human heartbeat; the elegiac closing tracks “The Ray” and “Cape St Vincent” are like a ray of light illuminating a musty cellar of dark secrets. Their idiosyncratic lo-fi sound remains uniquely eerie: a toy orchestra animated by imaginary friends.
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They Say...
While there isn't anything unusual about a post-rock band that has absorbed the Velvet Underground's entire canon, Birmingham's Pram took things a step further with a seemingly close reading of short-lived VU vocalist Nico's strange solo career. And Yoko Ono's -- possibly even Miles Davis' minimalist material from the late '60s. Like Too Pure labelmates, Stereolab and Th'Faith Healers, they also appear to have fallen under the sway of German futurists Can and Faust. Maybe even Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch's composer of choice, as there's a pronounced cinematic component to their catalog. The results on this eight-song release are both original and enchanting. The surrealistic lyrics are disturbing and dreamlike, with references to insects and outer space, and the haunting music draws on a wealth of unexpected instrumentation (trumpet, toy piano, etc.) combined with Rosie Cuckston's wispy, off-key vocals -- a little like Alison Statton from the Young Marble Giants. It goes without saying that Pram isn't to all tastes, especially with challenging compositions like the 16-minute horn-driven "In Dreams You Too Can Fly," where Cuckston sounds a little too close to Marble Index-era Nico for comfort...and where the true fans are separated from the tourists. Pram's fans are a particularly dedicated lot and the group's early out-of-print recordings have become collector's items. The Stars Are So Big... is an especially coveted artifact, changing hands for substantial amounts at music stores, record conventions, and the like.
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| 01. |  |
Loco |
4:30 |
|
| 02. | |
Radio Freak In A Storm |
3:50 |
|
| 03. | |
Loredo Venus |
4:27 |
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| 04. | |
Milky |
4:17 |
|
| 05. | |
Dorothy |
3:54 |
|
| 06. | |
In Dreams You Too Can Fly |
16:12 |
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| 07. | |
The Ray |
3:41 |
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| 08. | |
Cape St Vincent |
3:33 |
|
08 Total Tracks, 44:24 Total Length
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