Jellyfish-Spilt Milk

I'm not going to lie, I have been a little bit intimidated about reviewing this album. I feel like whatever I have to say about this music, will never get close to describing its sheer awe inspiring sound. This masterpiece is the greatest album by the greatest band that no-one knows. This band has influenced my musical taste more than any other music ever, and it is so unashamed in what it is. So, sit back, start listening to the album at the bottom, and try to understand a little bit of what may be the greatest rock and roll band of all time.

Jellyfish is a short lived tale, consisting of two albums, a huge japanese fan-base, and the future writer of the theme song for Cartoon Networks hit show Teen Titans. The four members that started the band consisted of singer/songwriter/drummer Andy Sturmer (he played a stand-up kit and rocked harder than KISS), keyboard player/multi-instrumentalist Roger Manning, His brother Chris on the bass, and the incredible Jason Falkner who played guitar like none other and sang and wrote some of the songs. The band recorded the second greatest album of all time, Bellybutton, in 1990, and proceeded to tour for year. However, the road proved too much for Chris and Jason who split after the tour was over. The next year, the remaining members herded together all kinds of musicians such as Tim Smith and Jon Brion to record the best album of ever; Spilt Milk. After releasing in 1993, the and once again toured for year before finally calling everything off and parting ways. The bright light of music in the 90's faded almost as soon as it started.

The band aren't doing that bad for themselves though, Andy Sturmer became a wildly popular composer/producer who worked with The Black Crowes, Ozzy Osbourne, and Puffy Amiyumi, a Japanese girls pop band that I have actually somehow heard of. Roger Manning paired up with mind-blowingly talented guitarist Eric Dover and Brian Kehew to form the cult hit The Moog Cookbook, toured with Beck, and released a pair of solo albums. Jason Falkner formed the the similar power-pop group The Grays with Jon Brion, worked with Eric Matthews, and released quite a few great solo albums. Chris does nothing.

In 2003, superfans of the group, with the help of every one of the members released one of the best two-album-band box sets ever. MY dad snagged it when I was about ten, and I immediatley clung to it. The set features a disc for each album and tour with many new songs, as well as an exstensive booklet I remember reading when I was 12. It's a really great buy if you can find it anywhere.

Spilt Milk offers boundless variety. "Joining A Fan Club" embodies Queen and Cheap Trick, while Russian Hill is a twangy Simon and Garfunkel. "Glutton of Sympathy" pours its heart empty, while "He's My Best Friend" is a precursor to the tongue in cheek bro-mance movement of todays pop culture. The album covers the widest variety of music I have ever heard, and it doesn't miss a mark. The mystical bed time symphony, "Hush", choses not to open the album with a huge bang. It doesn't look to impress, that would be like begging. They wait till' track two to blow the lid off. "Hush" opens doors in your mind. It widens the musicality from one sound to everything but. It's an orracle to the next hour of music, obviously intended to be heard all together.

The last chord mellows out of existence when, BAM, you're sucker punched by a tremorous power chord that describes, through music, the thrill of being a fan. The wild dream that one day, you will be chosen out of whatever your fan club may be to get to meet the myth, the legend, that is your favorite artist, and then waking up to realize, "That'll never happen". The grabs listeners by the hand, and runs them into a wall. It's painful, but it is so outstanding that you take the sad message like ice cream in July. On any other album, this song would steal the show, but here, it's just another four minutes in the untitled greatest hits.

After the lavishly confusing but delightfully light "Sebrina, Paste, and Pluto", and the jaunty psychedelic poppy "New Mistake", a song plays that changed my view on love songs, lyrcially, for life. I've got to post the lyrics, they are too good not to read.

In the breathless hush of 4 a.m.

In the dark sits a sad cliche.

Cloaked in the navy blue of slowly fading stars

Tell me how this came to be

Sleeplessness talk to me

She'd say over and over again

Fumbling through a cut glass vase

Passing lipstick, cotton spools

Burning jealous pictures of marriages of friends

You never asked to be

The glutton of sympathy

She says over and over again that this is the end

Cause I see it in your eyes

What you don't know, time to let go

I see it in your eyes

There is so much more out there to be learned

Such mournful words on this snow white vacant page

All the lessons that she learns she packs away

Will you never cease to be the glutton of sympathy

She writes over and over again

Tossing turning roll away

Indecision won't you ever make up your mind

Lifetime Nigh time wake the day

Cause tomorrow will see if you've had your fill of sympathy

Will you never cease to be the glutton of sympathy?

Don't you know the stars are all fading let the sunshine capture the sparkle

of your smile

Truly amazing song-writing. Paired with some of the best lead and backing vocals of any band I know, the song, at the right time, can move me to tears. It's a beautiful song, with a passionate reason for being. Like any great love song, it has it's problems, more so than most others. A couple is on the verge of breaking it off completely. Jealousy for perfection and sad nostalgia for the past play a part in this split, but even through the times of tribulation, the voice can still speak of how amazing his love is. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and the acoustic version on the box set is even more powerful than the full sound on the album.

I'm going to stop myself here, because I don't want to lose your attention. Trust me, I could keep going for days on how great this album is, but I want you to experience is for yourself. Let it affect you. Gain your own opinion on it. Allow this music to get under your skin, and affect the way you hear music. It is the first bit of fuel that drove me into my lust for great music. It has shaped a bit of who I am, and I can only hope it hits you the same way.