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FOR ALMOST EVER SCOOTER
(Scat)
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Led by singer-songwriter Bill Fox, the Mice were a melody-addicted power-pop trio from Cleveland whose existence seemed as brief and poetic as a haiku. The band’s songs — tidy little bursts of fuzz, jangle, and harmony that cross-stitched the Merseybeat popcraft of the early Beatles with the speedy teenage kicks of the Undertones — were just as succinct. Two years and 16 songs scattered across one scarcely distributed 12-inch EP and one full-length LP — both collected here — are all the Mice managed before their 1987 implosion. Their influence, however, outstrips the group’s modest catalogue: it’s manifested in similarly Anglophilic Ohioans like Guided by Voices. Fox’s bantam voice calls to mind Tobin Sprout’s, and a pre-GBV Doug Gillard provides leads guitar fireworks on "Just like Brick." The first six tracks here cover the contents of the snazzy, euphoric For Almost Ever EP (Herb Jackson; 1986), on which Fox and his mates — brother Tommy on drums, Ken Hall on bass — hurry up and explode like the Jam. That is, if Paul Weller had run his guitar through the Woolworth’s knock-off amp Fox used during these sessions. The big-beat bustle of "Downtown" (not the Petula Clark song) is an ode to city thrill seeking that echoes the Jam’s own jazzed-up "In the City." The generation-gap protest punk of "Not Proud of the USA" sounds as relevant today as it did back in ’86. The 10 Scooter (St. Valentine; 1987) tracks find the group expanding their range and fidelity. Chiming guitars and close harmonies make both "Little Rage" and "Guarding You" glistening, gorgeously giddy gems — reminders that, like the Mice, good things come in small packages.
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