Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Moss Icon - The Remaining Songs (remastered)


When i first started this blog i posted a 2xCD Moss Icon discography that i put together from various sources, which, aside from the studio material, included demo tracks, live tracks, and even the Breathing Walker cassette. In fact sharing this amazing collection was one of the reasons i started this blog. Moss Icon has been a huge infatuation of mine ever since i heard the Mahpiua Luta 7" in 1989, and has been a favorite of mine ever since. Over 20 years later i can still listen to songs like Kick The Can or Hate In Me and think that Moss Icon may very well have been the greatest punk band in the US (of course then i'll hear something else and think the same thing, but that's besides the point). Unlike many of the bands from that time that have faded from memory, Moss Icon remaisn timeless for me. Needless to say when i heard the band was releasing a complete discography i nearly stained my good jeans. For me, this was the most anticipated discography i could ever think of. When i finally got my hands on the 2xCD version, i was a bit disappointed that this wasn't a "complete discography" at all, but more like an anthology. I found this really odd, as there was more than enough room on these 2 CDs to include everything the band had recorded, or at least released. I can understand maybe not including the 1987 demo, which i love, but i'd wager the band doesn't think too highly of it at this point. What i can't understand is the exclusion of songs like Cape Of Holes, Nov. 10th, or Sioux Day. Songs that are every bit as good as anything on the band's 3 7"s, or the Lyburnum LP. I also don't understand why they didn't include that killer intro to Kick The Can from the Mahpiua Luta 7" version. Still, i'm glad this was released, and the sound is excellent. It's great to finally have the Hate In Me 7" and the Silver Bearing split LP in quality sound.


When i finally got this blog rolling again, i deleted the Moss Icon post because of the upcoming discography, leaving only a collection of live sets you can still grab here. But since so many songs didn't make it onto the official discog, some of which are crucial to the band's output, i've decided to compile them here. I "remastered" the tracks as best as possible, removing any background noise and making other adjustments, and not to pat myself on the back, but they sound better than ever. My advise would be to pick up the discography CDs or LPs, and download this collection, to hear What They Lack. Enjoy.

Moss Icon - The Remaining Songs

Jonathan Vance - vocals
Tonie Joy - guitar
Monica DiGialleonardo - bass
Mark Laurence - drums
Alex Badertscher - guitar (1990-1991)

The first 4 tracks were taken from The Life demo, recorded in 1989. I only included the 4 songs that were not later released on various records, aside from Cornflower Blue (featuring Daniel Littleton of The Hated, and Michael Littleton of Ida), which was included on the False Object Sensor compilation LP released on Vermiform Records in 2001. Since it was left off the discography, i included it here. Reflections Of An Old Man is the music from the intro to Kick The Can, but with lyrics. These 4 songs are up there with the best of the band's material.

Track 5 (Sioux Day) was on the Superpowers cassette released on Troubleman Unlimited in 1992.

Tracks 6-12 is the entire 1987 self-released demo tape. This is a great raw sounding recording. The first 2 songs, Hate In Me and What They Lack, were re-recorded a year later for the band's first 7", and Mirror was re-recorded for the Panx Vinyl Zine 3 compilation 7" released in 1989. Mirror was also included on the Lyburnum Wit's End Liberation Fly LP, recorded in 1988 and finally released in 1993 on Vermiform. Most all the band's other records were rleased on Vermin Scum Records. The four remaining tracks were exclusive to The Life demo, and never re-recorded, or even appeared anywhere else as far as i know.

Tracks 13-16 are various live recordings, dates and venues unknown. The song Today is an unreleased song. Great sound quality on these live songs, especially the last two, which were from the same show.

50 comments:

  1. Well, your blog is a reference to me where I always get good and rare music, so I'd like to know if you have something from THE CRUSTIES from Milwaukee and DXA from Boston.

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  2. God bless you, good sir. Your blog is essential. Was there purposely a State download in there too or did you accidentally link that?

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  3. Marcelo, i've never heard of The Crusties, but if i come across anything i'll let you know.

    Anonymous, the State link was put in there purposely, as i always try and put a couple of "Easter Eggs" in each post. There's actually another link in the post which is WAY out in left field compared to what i usually post.

    Vin

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    1. Hi Vin,

      THE CRUSTIES was an amazing formed around 1983 in Milwaukee - WI. There's a discography CD called Crustunes / In Yuk Park 7 released in 1997 by Beer City Records. I've found some mp3 files, but no good quality.

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  4. Oops, I can't seem to log in on my wordpress for some reason but I was "anonymous." Well, I never noticed your Easter eggs but now I'm going to go back and look because that State collection is the SHIT!

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  5. Mike, unfortunately all the old easter eggs are gone. The only ones remaining are the ones in posts made after i brought the blog back from the dead. There's a really good Void one somewhere though. Happy hunting.

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  6. THANKS! One last thing... any more State recommendations? I'd never heard them before. Loved Moss Icon, of course.

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  7. Mike, i'd say the 7" and demo are all you really need from The State. They also released an LP in the late '80s i believe, but it's lackluster compared to the early stuff.

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  8. Thanks for answering all my questions! Appreciate it.

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  9. Great post! I was curious about what would become of your discog when I learned of the Temporary Residence release. Glad to see that you were judicious about it so as to not divert their business.

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  10. I heard that the masters were lost for the unreleased songs from the life demo. I also thought it was weird that they used the 7" version of the life and the album version of kick the can but sequenced them like the 7".

    I can think of one unreleased track that's not on this "our hearts to conquer" from the memorial sessions.

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    1. I've never heard Our Hearts To Conquer. Where is that from?

      Also - if anyone is having a problem burning this collection to CDR (as i did), open the songs in iTunes, or whatever program you use, and rename the tracks deleting all quotations and parentheses.

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    2. I got it on a CDR of all the later recordings. I'll upload when I get the chance.

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  11. this rules, but i'm even MORE grateful for that State easter egg! looking for the Void one right now....

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    1. Sorry, turns out the Void is gone. And i can't find the CDR right now either. I'll up it when i can.
      Vin

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    2. please re-up this void easter egg!!!!

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  12. I love moss icon, i bought a tape years ago off of ebay, i'm assuming it's some sort of demo, but the track listing is: "Memorial", "As Afterwards the Words Still Ring", "Our Heart to Conquer", "Sioux Day" and "Guatemala". I've never seen it on any blog anywhere, but both "our heart..." and "sioux day" are great songs....

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    1. The track order is different from the cdr I have. Is it a proper tape with artwork, or just a dub?

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  13. I'm not sure, it's got artwork, but the tape is a maxell cassette, it's not a pro tape or anything...most of the demos i bought at this time weren't pro tapes, so I'm not sure as to the origin of it.

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    1. thanks for the info, any chance of a scan of the inlay?

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    2. here is the demo and the pictures of the cover....the pictures aren't the greatest, i cleaned them up the best i could. "memorial" has a cool tribal drum intro, and the version of "guatemala" is live. enjoy!

      http://www.mediafire.com/?t32i3kft16tlg7u

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    3. Awesome, thanks so much for this! I've just uploaded a live set and some other bits at dime a dozen if you're interested.

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    4. Anonymous with the eBay demo tape.. any chance you could re-rip this? It was ripped too "loud" and it's totally blown out (on top of being a mono rip). I have access to a studio, so email me if you'd want help!!!

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  14. I've just uploaded 'our heart to conquer', link below:

    http://www.sendspace.com/file/fyg300

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    1. Hi Chris, I'm not sure if you'll see this or not but I couldn't find a way to contact you directly through Blogspot. I downloaded the Moss Icon live sets you shared on Dime in early 2013 and was absolutely blown away by them. Sadly, my main hard drive was lost a few years ago (and with it the vast majority of my collection of 1000+ live recordings I'd traded for and downloaded). I've been slowly putting it back together since then, but have never been able to find any of those Moss Icon shows again despite a lot of searching... as far as I can tell, they have not been reuploaded to any trackers since, and nobody I've contacted has copies. I would *really* love to get ahold of those sets again, especially the full 1991 audience tape (with the It's Taking Its Time / Lyburnum hybrid) and the live soundboard that I believe included an otherwise unknown song titled "Home of the Brave". Along with Colin Newman's 1981 Toronto set, these are probably the recordings that I miss the most.

      If there's any chance you do see this message and can help me out, I'd be extremely appreciative. Or, if anyone else who has these rare recordings happens to stumble across this note, I'd love to hear from you as well! You can get in touch with me at:
      theclassicremains❲-ᴀᴛ-❳gmail❲-ᴅᴏᴛ-❳com
      (just replace the AT and DOT with @ and ., this is to keep my address from being spammed.)
      Thanks a bunch!

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    2. Hi, just seen this. I am disorganized, but I think I still have all/most of what I posted. Will email you.

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  15. I can't believe Cape of Holes was nevered released. this is the first ive heard about it totally up there with their best material

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  16. I rate this AAA+++++

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  17. Great blog sir. Sitting in my yard,deep in the Mississippi woods, enjoying that Joy Division live set.

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  18. Chris, thanks so much for the Our Heart To Conquer upload. Everyone else, glad you dig thr post.

    Vin

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  19. thanks Stormy, you are the best!

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  20. Holy shit, this is amazing.
    Years and years back my friends on the long deceased Underground Obituary forums compiled what was supposed to be every track the band ever recorded. It's incredible to get to hear more of one of my favorite bands ever. Thanks so much!

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  21. Hey Stormy, do you know anything about a band called April Psalms? They apparently had Moss Icon's vocalist and recorded a 7".

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  22. Never heard of April Psalms. I'll be on the hunt for that now. Thanks for the heads up.
    Vin

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  23. i cant download "our hearts to conquer"

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  24. dl the entire demo mediafire link above it

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  25. yall might dig the book by jon vance i published:

    http://www.easysubcult.bigcartel.com/product/book-by-jon-vance

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  26. Out there somewhere is an instrumental song by Moss Icon called Dime. It was recorded at the same time as Locket and Divinty Cove.

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  27. Does anyone have a copy of the lyrics to As Afterwards The Words Still Ring, the "altar consume me" version that doesn't seem to exist online anywhere I can find em

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    1. A year late but:
      https://genius.com/Moss-icon-as-afterwards-the-words-still-ring-lyrics

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  28. Download link seems to be dead. Any chance these songs could be reposted?

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  29. I am trying to find copies of four (possibly five) Moss Icon live recordings that were uploaded (in FLAC format) to the bootleg-only torrent tracker DimeADozen, at some point between mid-2012 and early 2013 if I'm remembering right. I don't believe these sets have been reposted since then, and do not seem to have been publicly shared elsewhere... I lost my entire collection of live/demo/rare material (including these M.I. recordings) around five years ago, and these shows are among those I miss the most.

    • The first recording was a longer version of the second set on B&Q's live comp, from 1991. I'm pretty sure it was shared with the venue and exact date unknown, labeled simply as having been recorded in the D.C. area in 1991 - the correct venue is likely the Safari Club. The full recording had around 8-9 songs, including absolutely incredible takes on "Kick the Can", "The Life", and most notably a version of "It Disappears" that blew away the released version (not an easy feat).
    • I believe the second recording was a slightly longer version of the 1988 Annapolis set that opens B&Q's live compilation here, with one or two additional songs.
    • The third recording was a longer excerpt of the Crofton Fire Hall show, from which "I'm Back" and "It Disappears" (on the It Disappears 12") are culled; I think it was only around 6 songs long, so probably not the full set.
    • Finally, there was a brief set (or excerpt of a longer one) that I believe was from 1990/91/92, also around 5 songs long, which included an otherwise totally unknown tune called "Home of the Brave Song" which was really quite amazing. I have a vague recollection of the notes attached to this last set explaining that it was part of a multi-band benefit affair along the lines of the Positive Force shows of the day.

    I would love to reacquire these special recordings for obvious reasons. They have not been reposted to DimeADozen to my knowledge, but the fact that they were initially distributed there is encouraging - after all, these are digital files that dozens of people downloaded only a few years ago, not a single copy of an analog tape slowly degrading in someone's garage. If anyone who has copies of one or more of these M.I. shows (or any others) sees this message, I'd be extremely appreciative if you could get in touch with me at:
    theclassicrremains⦅ᴬᵀ⦆ɢᴍᴀɪʟ⦅ᴰᴼᵀ⦆ᴄᴏᴍ
    (replace the latter part of the address with @gmail.com - this is to avoid my address being harvested & spammed.)

    Hopefully the limited information I detailed above will encourage others to seek these recordings out and/or make them accessible to other fans of this unique and wonderful band.

    Thanks!!

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    1. Did you have any luck finding this stuff ?

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    2. https://youtu.be/J5cOj3zIRCA
      Moss icon 1988 LIVE

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  30. There are a few songs I've not heard and can not find anywhere , where can I access these absolute gems? Is there a link to these mp3s anywhere?

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  31. Looking for a re-up if you can. I had a hard drive crash.

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  32. Boy am I late to the ballgame. Any chance of a re-up?

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  33. Once again asking if anyone still has this and can re-up... I lost it some years ago in a hard drive crash.

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