Dad

Description

Dad is the sophomore full-length album by the American indierock band Breakfast with Amy, released on Blonde Vinyl Records in 1991. (Christopher Colbert and Paul Pelligrin were also in Fluffy at this time.)

Previous to the release of Dad, Breakfast with Amy recorded an album entitled Tuck In Your Love Gift for a mainstream label, Relativity/Vinyl Vox Records, that never was officially released. The tracks “Tell Mama” and “Ad America” were re-recorded for Dad, while the rest of the songs (re-mixed and / or re-recorded) were released by Blonde Vinyl as product # bvcd 3482 (love gift).

Well, here we go again. Buckle your shoulder straps, ’cause we’re in for a strange, enjoyable ride through what Johnny Clegg once called this “cruel, crazy, beautiful world.” Face to face with this honest reality, lesser people might hide their heads in the sand, or create alternative realities with a specially coded language to separate them from the unsafe environment and the others who dwell there. Into such a world enters Breakfast With Amy with its second release, ‘Dad’. Don’t let the different terrain fool you, and try to keep your sense of humor intact; this is only life we’re taking about.

Since its vastly underrated debut, ‘Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt…‘, we’ve waited for BWA (not the female rappers with attitude) to return with more of its patented zaniness. The strange juxtapositions compare more to bands like Primus and King Missile than anything in the Christian market, although the obvious mix of silly and serious can be found in Swirling Eddies as well. Songs like «Me», «You», and «Your Name» offer a direct spiritual agenda, and a first class cover of the Etta James classic «Tell Mama» securely defines the Amy’s musical roots in R&B, via some strange ’90s alternative vision of ’60s psychedelia.

However, «Sea Shanty of an Icelandic Midwife» and «The Short Happy Life of Henrietta» shall heretofore define the term “out there” in all future reviews. What really works, in a cool and cynical fashion, is «Mermelstein and the Disappearing Sink», a twisted take on Christian cliches and the kind of meaningless pseudo-spiritual-babble that keeps Christianity in an irrelevant sub-culture to the real concerns of everyday non-believers.

Breakfast With Amy offers up another fine, interesting work, one that is fun to try and sort out. ‘Dad’, while still wearing a few rough edges, does present a band with a significant contribution to make. Let’s just hope being funny and different doesn’t get in the way of a project really breaking through on future efforts. [Brian Q. Newcomb, CCM, October 1991]

CD tracklist:

01. Me
02. Tell Mama
03. You
04. So It Goes
05. Mermelstein And The Disappearing Sink
06. Ad America
07. The Short, Happy Life Of Henrietta
08. Your Name
09. You’re Soaking In It
10. Sea Shanty Of An Icelandic Midwife
11. Come On, Joan

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Blonde Vinyl Records.

CREDITS. Produced by Breakfast with Amy.

Musicians: David Koval (vocals, electric sitar, acoustic guitar), Caryn Colbert (guitar), Christopher Colbert (guitar), Edwin Wohler (bass), Paul Pelligrin (drums). Guest musicians: Additional vocals by Debbie Devore, Mr. Rhumba, and Jeremy Woods. Additional guitars by Michael J. Pritzl.