Heaneyland!

A band you've never heard of and CDs you'll never be able to find

A couple weeks ago I was once again reminded of a band I loved back in my college days, the Balancing Act. They were a eccentric folky band from California that was briefly signed to I.R.S., made two and a half very good but not so successful albums (New Campfire Songs, an EP; Three Squares and a Roof; and Curtains, produced by freakin' Andy Gill, people!), and vanished. I own all their albums on tape -- although, I must confess, I shoplifted them, because that was my preferred method of music acquisition when I was 18.

The last time I got curious about the Balancing Act and what ever happened to them, my investigation happened to nearly coincide with the release of a new album from bandmember Jeff Davis, who had started up a new band, Niagara. Niagara ended up releasing two CDs, both of which I own, and they're pretty good, although I didn't quite feel the old magic was entirely there; one of the things I most dug about the Balancing Act were their tight harmonies, and those were absent on Jeff's mostly-one-person singer-songwriter foray. Still, the CDs are worth having, and thank goodness I found out about them promptly, because the Niagara website is totally gone now.

This time around I decided it was time to try upgrading my old Balancing Act cassettes to CD, since the tapes were sounding a little creaky last time I listened to them -- and, more importantly, now that I have an MP3 player, I want those albums on it, and the tapes are totally useless for making decent MP3s. So I found the CDs on eBay (there are only two CD -- one of the CDs includes the EP), got outbid for them (and, I mean, I guess I should be pleased that I'm not the only person alive who remembers that band, but still -- couldn't you remember about them a different week?), but then managed to track them both down for cheap at two online used-CD sites, coming to about $15 total when you include shipping. Guess it's good I didn't give up and order from this guy, huh? (Though maybe I shouldn't gloat until the second CD actually arrives.)

Additionally, I discovered that another band that includes an ex-Balancing-Act guy among its members, MysteryPop (formerly Spanish Kitchen) had finally gotten itself organized and put out a CD. Haven't received my copy of the album yet, but the samples I listened to were promising. If you're feeling spendy, you can get yourself a copy at CD Baby -- and that CD is part of the $5 sale, where, if you buy three sale CDs, they cost only $5 each. I highly recommend these two CDs as your second and third choices.

At this point I must apologize if I've gotten you interested in a band that has largely disappeared from the face of the earth. But there are some MP3 rarities online that you could check out -- try the demos of "Dangerous Roof", "Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat", and "She Doesn't Work Here", and the live version of "Red Umbrella".

Posted by Francis at 02:32 PM