[newoldtymer]

More proof that many people think of Freakwater as Janet's "other band" (I don't mean that in a critical, negative way)

First, a good Eleventh Dream Day discography.

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As DOA’s Unappreciated Album of the Month feature has proven over the last couple of years, there are innumerable sonic treasures - particularly ones released during the ‘golden decade’ of American alt-rock between the mid-80s and early-90s - that have slipped off the critical and commercial radar. Whilst it’s somewhat forgivable of us to have misplaced the odd obscure opus over the years (after all, there is just too much music and not enough time/money in the day to catch everything in our porous music hoarding nets), but for us to not have noticed the actual existence of a band whose 20-year career represents the very essence, invention, and elastic energy of inspirational indie rock is borderline criminal.

This band, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, are known as Eleventh Dream Day: a gang of musicians whose obscure status is an affront to the common laws of music industry decency (if that’s not a contradiction in terms). It's a group that has rode through the desolate wilderness of 80s rock independence, predated the grunge-rock boom times, and helped to lay the foundations for Chicago’s ever-burgeoning post-rock community, whilst still cutting a self-made niche over the course of eight eclectic studio albums.

So for one month only, in an attempt to allow all DOA readers to acquit themselves (or at least cook-up a decent plea bargain) come Judgement Day, we present to you a potted history-come-back-catalogue-buyers-guide for an ensemble who have the word “Unappreciated” written through them like a stick of Blackpool Rock (consult the English Tourist Board if that analogy is lost on any of you non-UK readers). And if you don’t like our benevolent-Stalinist storytelling then at least trust long-serving EDD members Rick Rizzo and Doug McCombs to shed their own, perhaps more modestly lit, thoughts on the past, present and future of a group you should hate yourself for not loving sooner.


Eleventh Dream Day (Amoeba/New Rose, 1987)

Eleventh Dream Day began sometime in 1983 when Chicagoite Rick Rizzo (vocals/guitar) met Kentuckian wife-to-be Janet Beveridge Bean (vocals/drums), sometime after the former had graduated from college in Lexington, Kentucky. It took until 1985 for the band’s line-up to solidify properly with the enrolment of Baird Figi (guitar) and Douglas McCombs (bass). Then between October 1985 and January 1986 the band cut five tracks for release as this, their first mini-album (a sixth track recorded in late-1984, with original bassist Shu Shubat, was also added to the eventual 1987 release). Although the group have since dismissed this self-titled starter set as being unrepresentative of the early EDD sound (and its subsequent development), these six songs are still some of the strongest and most stunningly diverse they have ever committed to vinyl. From robust Lifes Rich Pageant-era REM-like jangle (“Walking Through the Barrel of a Gun”), through pre-Calexico Mexicana (“Vein of Gold”), on to Violent Femmes cowpunk (“The Arsonist”) and Hüsker Dü-ish buzzsaw melodicism (“Liz Beth”), this mini-LP captures a band hungry for a lengthy artistic adventure.

Rick Rizzo: This was our first recording with the four-piece line-up, and if I remember we didn't have to pay for the session. Our pal Ric Menck (of Velvet Crush fame) had a friend, Michael Freeman, who let us record for a couple days. We were happy with all the songs, but after the release I felt that we didn't really represent our sound very well. It all sounded a little too "polite" to me, it didn't represent the way we played live.


Prairie School Freakout (Amoeba/New Rose, 1988)

Recorded in one bleary-eyed six-hour overnight session - sandwiched in-between day-jobs and incessant touring - Prairie School Freakout is EDD’s caterwauling call-to-arms. Fusing the raucous riffage of late-70s rock with the forceful propulsion of early-80s post-punk, this first full-length wears its influences as well as its heart firmly on its sleeve. Put in cruder terms, Prairie School Freakout is the bastard offspring of a three-way love-in between Neil Young’s Zuma, Television’s Marquee Moon and The Replacements’ Let it Be. Although best appreciated in one 11-track slab of misshapen guitar solos, ramshackle rhythms, and cajoling boy/girl vocals, if you must cherry-pick a clutch of early taste sensations then chew on the caustic chug of “Coercion,” the punkoid thunder of “Through My Mouth,” and the languorous-then-lurching “Life on String.” Prairie School Freakout is still a scolding statement of intent, powered by pent-up passion and drenched in adulthood-defying adrenaline. Look out for a long-overdue (and expanded) reissue on Thrill Jockey later this year.

RR: Now this was what we were looking for! I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Prairie School Freakout. It's really the sound of four people still learning their instruments, having a blast with no pressure at all.

Doug McCombs: It’s a totally fucked-up sloppy-sounding weird record, but that’s one of the great things about it.


Beet (Atlantic, 1989 / Collectors’ Choice Music reissue, 2001)

Although sharper and tighter than its predecessor, Beet is far from being your average major-label debut. The omnipresent axe duelling between Figi and Rizzo is belligerent and bruising, Bean’s backing vocals bellow bullishly to break through the din, and McCombs’ bass grinds beneath the grungy gristle. Buried amongst this corrosive clatter lies some of EDD’s most memorable hook sinkers. Hence the opening battle-cry of “Between Here and There,” checks the MC5 both musically and lyrically before thumping into the truculent Fugazi-flavoured (and one time MTV-endorsed) “Testify,” which in turn tumbles into the near-premonitory military satire of “Bagdad’s Last Ride” (“Your uniform stands for the green dollar bill,” hollar Bean and Rizzo in unison), and then into the apoplectic earthquaking of “Awake I Lie.” Later in proceedings, the Figi-penned “Bomb the Mars Hotel” has Rizzo comically daubing The Grateful Dead’s tiresome tour-greedy fans as “travelling microbus hordes,” whilst the closing “Go (Slight Return)” concludes the album with an air-punching anthemic crunch. Despite its corporate backing, Beet bafflingly failed to sink its fangs into the ears of contemporary college-rock followers, which, with hindsight, helped the band maintain a water-tight self-determination without having to conform to any reductive fashion regulations.

RR: This was originally recorded for Amoeba, but when Bettina Richards [erstwhile major label A&R scout and future founder of Thrill Jockey Records] came along and signed us to Atlantic we couldn't say no. I felt bad, but Amoeba had no hopes of good distribution. Another great time, we were really hitting our stride as a band and finding our strengths. We recorded this in about four days so it lacks polish, which probably cost us in the commercial major label world, but we were really happy, touring the US and Europe. Alas, these were pre-Nirvana days, and despite great radio play and press, Atlantic was more concerned about Phil Collins than some scruffy guitar band.


Lived to Tell (Atlantic, 1991 / Collectors’ Choice Music reissue, 2001)

Although short of sonic fidelity and a degree of self-editing - with muddy production and a few too many songs - Lived to Tell was nevertheless another positive step forward for EDD. Each band member shows signs of arrogance-free progression; as performers (Bean is granted her first lead vocal on the driving drum-heavy “You Know What it Is”), as collaborators (Figi and Rizzo’s co-written “I Could Be Lost” is one of the band’s sharpest slices of melody) and as individual songwriters (Bean’s Buffalo Tom referencing “Rose of Jericho” and McCombs’ feverish “Frozen Mile” are especially strong contenders for any best-of compilation). Although the bulk of Lived to Tell is characterised by Figi’s sprawling slide and lapsteel guitars - which cross-reference Uncle Tuplelo’s most Crazy Horse-slanted rockers - it’s the closing “Angels Spread Your Wings” that seals Lived to Tell’s compelling status. Being the band’s first stripped-down acoustic slow-mover, the song shows that EDD’s amplified heart still beats as well unplugged and unhurried. Despite hard-work touring the globe, Lived to Tell struggled to shift many more units than Beet, leaving the band disenchanted with their record company’s pitiful promotion. Seeing the writing on the wall, and suffering tour fatigue, Figi quit the band sometime after the release of Lived to Tell, to be replaced by the band’s long-serving roadie and studio aide, Matthew “Wink” O’Bannon, opening up a whole new chapter for the band, both musically and personally.

DMC: My least favourite probably. It’s mastered terribly, there’s a lot of really good songs on there that could have sounded better if they’d been recorded differently. But there’s people, like Greil Marcus [veteran US rock critic] who think that’s our best record.

RR: In our endless search for the fun recording experience, we found a barn in the middle of bumfuck Kentucky and took a mobile studio down there. I think this was a great collection of songs, definitely no radio hits. The guitars sounded great, but this was the all time worst mastering job - the vocals are not present at all. Bettina left right before the release, the "alternative" department folded and we were left in the nether regions of major label hell.


El Moodio (Atlantic, 1993)

After a one-off EP on German independent label City Slang, the band succumbed to the temptation of cutting a third (and final) album for Atlantic. Holed-up in a New York studio, for a relatively extravagant month of recording, found the band hanging-out with Television’s Tom Verlaine, whilst contending with the whims of pushy self-obsessed producer Jim Rondinell. But from this fraught yet fun time came the most rounded, and indeed most radio-friendly, record in the EDD Atlantic catalogue. El Moodio’s strength lies in its dual emphasis on melody and edgy experimentalism. Which means that the buoyant Breeders-esque “Makin’ Like a Rug” and the harmony-drenched “After This Time is Gone” capture the band in defiantly direct pop mode, leaving the epic eight-minute Spaceman 3-homage “Honeyslide” and the mellowed-out melancholy of “Figure it Out” to divert things into dreamier and more emotionally expansive vistas. Sadly, Atlantic failed to share this blossoming vision; dropping the band unceremoniously from the label and deleting El Moodio almost as soon as it hit record store shelves. Undoubtedly EDD’s most misunderstood and tragically lost long-player, hunt it down.

RR: We had a loophole to get out of our Atlantic contract; the devil, however, wasn't done with us, and we once again took the bait and his limp handshake to put out a third record for Atlantic. I think that El Moodio is very underrated, I really thought that the record had a combination of what could succeed on a major label and not betray what we were all about. I can't say I was dismayed, and I'm not bitter now, but Atlantic pulled the plug extremely fast, and that came after a lot of sweet-talking about giving the record time.


Ursa Major (City Slang/Atavistic, 1994)

The final collapse of the Atlantic Records relationship may have savaged the group financially - limiting EDD’s ability to continue as a full-time occupation - but liberation came, both on a personal level (Bean and Rizzo had more quality time for parenthood, and the latter withdrew from full-time musical activity to study for a teaching degree) and on a musical level (Bean gave more devotion to her country outfit Freakwater, and McCombs elevated his musical status by co-founding Tortoise). This in turn allowed the band to let rip with their most imaginative impulses with the unqualified support of two independent labels (Berlin’s City Slang and Chicago’s Atavistic). Expanding on El Moodio’s more outré objectives, whilst cribbing a trick or three from erstwhile touring partners Yo La Tengo, Ursa Major is a sumptuous selection of space-rock nuggets. Boosted by extra-curricular bass duties, McCombs takes a confident leading role on two instrumental excursions - the twangy “History of Brokeback” and the neo-dub groover “Nora Zembla.” Elsewhere, Bean’s gorgeous lead vocal on the celestial (cello-augmented) “Flutter” could melt the heart of any Kristin Hersh fan at 50 paces, and the tranquil beauty of “Talking Leave” anticipates the near spiritual grace of Low’s I Could Live in Hope. With the garrulous guitars of old somewhat subsumed in the mix, second six-string slinger Matthew O’Bannon left in dismay before the album was finished, but not before leaving his mark on the only true rocker present, the blistering Sonic Youth-indebted “Orange Moon.” Moving ever-onwards, Ursa Major documents EDD finding a firmer footing far from the maddening major label crowd.

RR: Never did have a reason to quit; I had a batch of songs, Doug and Janet had some, so we made a record, our last one as a four-piece. This sounds like a band that took a break, learned some new tricks, kept the old ones, and reinvented itself. This was also the first time that we recorded without really road-testing the material. We became, out of necessity, a studio band, and I think it's reflected in the songs.


Eighth (City Slang/Thrill Jockey, 1997)

The lengthy lay-off between releases and live shows may account for the deepening studio-based explorations undertaken with Eighth, but it may also explain the lack of focus present, making it EDD’s only underdeveloped record. The needlessly noodling instrumental “Motion Sickness” and the clumsy anti-drug allegories of “April” in particular show signs of rust growing around the edges of the collaborative construction processes. However, two gorgeous bass-led bliss-outs - “For a King” and “Write a Letter Home” - capture Doug McCombs flexing his post-dub muscles (with the percussive/production assistance of Tortoise/Sea & Cake drummer John McEntire), and the punchy “Two Smart Cookies” along with the Farfisa-fired “View From the Rim” show that school-teaching will never temper Rick Rizzo’s raging rock heart. In essence, Eighth is an excellent EP buried within a sketchbook of unfinished, though never less than interesting, ideas.

RR: John McEntire worked on this one, and we just kind of went forward from the last one. At this point we didn't practice and we learned the songs together shortly before the session. It was just the three of us, and we had come to a point where we had a great feel for hearing each other and playing together. It was a blast adding sounds to it. John added keyboards and his phenomenal studio touch. A fully realized and satisfying record.


Stalled Parade (Thrill Jockey, 2000)

Bean and Rizzo’s marriage may have ruptured in the wake of Eighth, but as a band EDD have never seemed so tough, together, and teeming with ideas as on the seriously stunning Stalled Parade. Once again enlisting the enigmatic expertise of John McEntire, Stalled Parade is a smorgasbord of sonic shape-shifting, and the best entry point for any wannabe EDD follower. From the title track’s swirling psychedelia to the contagious college-rock retro of “Interstate,” via the cracked country of the Bean-sung “Valrico74,” through the frazzled fuzz-pop of “Bite the Hand” and over to the barroom punk of “Way too Early on a Sunday Morning,” the only thing Stalled Parade really lacks is length - nine tracks is not nearly enough from a band cutting such a compelling chameleon-like stride 20 years down the long and winding independently-minded rock road.

RR: Same recording scene as Eighth. Maybe this one is more aggressive. Janet insisted I turn my amp all the way up (alas it only went to 10), and it survived the session before it crapped out. Lots of personal turmoil on these songs; it was a rough patch of time personally, but it may be my favourite.

DMC: I really like Stalled Parade a lot. It captures some of that sloppy raw feeling of a band that’s been together for 20 years.


POSTSCRIPT: With such retrospective thinking to the front of the EDD thought-train, we shouldn’t however overlook the fact that the band are still very much an ongoing concern, even if the length of waiting time between albums seems to be growing painfully longer and longer. McCombs recently observed that the band is gradually increasing the number of gigs played each year, and there are some loose plans to commemorate the reissue of Praire School Freakout with a few special shows in the US and Europe, possibly with original second guitarist Baird Figi in tow. As for a new studio album, Rizzo is keen to stress that it’s really only a matter of time and the right songs before a new collection hits discerning ears; “There certainly isn't a reason to stop, and as long as there is a batch of songs to record that we feel good about, we'll put them out. I have some brewing now, and I'm sure Doug and Janet have ideas as well. When the planets align, we'll be back in business.” So when the EDD mothership next comes to collect its crew, be sure to hop onboard for the ride of your life. And in the meantime there’s certainly plenty of back catalogue catching-up to do…

Thanks to Sarah Deacon, Jeff Marsh, Jessica Linker, Jonathan Webb, Tom Bridgewater, Mike Brewer, Matt Dornan, Doug McCombs, and Rick Rizzo for their patience and assistance in bringing this feature together.

[newoldtymer]

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ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
Friday and Saturday 8/31-9/1, Abbey Pub; Rizzo and Bean also perform Thursday 8/6, Empty Bottle.

You bet Eleventh Dream Day get recommended every time they play--after all, it isn't very often that they do, and what's more, they're seemingly incapable of putting on an uninspired show. Their 19-year story is the story of the Chicago underground rock scene in microcosm: they've survived major-label abandonment, fluctuations in fashion, marital trauma, and a couple of "side projects" (Freakwater and Tortoise) that outstripped the parent band commercially, all the while continuing to produce excellent records (most recently last year's Stalled Parade). Guitarist and vocalist Rick Rizzo, drummer and vocalist Janet Bean, and bassist Doug McCombs remain intimately involved in the Chicago music world, lending themselves to dozens of diverse projects--and the sight of Rizzo and Bean's young son bouncing up and down at their shows only confirms that rock 'n' roll is not some youthful passion to be outgrown but rather a way of life. If you missed the first part of the saga, now you can catch up: recently the Collector's Choice reissue label produced new editions of the band's turn-of-the-decade albums Beet and Lived to Tell. Those who were there say the records don't capture the ragged glory of the shows from that era, but they hold up well nonetheless. As he has for the past year, former Coctail Mark Greenberg rounds out the live lineup, switching between guitar, bass, and drums as needed. Friday, August 31, and Saturday, September 1, 9 PM, Abbey Pub, 3420 West Grace; 773-478-4408. Rizzo and Bean also perform, along with Bobby Conn, Manishevitz, the Nicole Mitchell Trio, and Terminal 4, to benefit the Inspiration Cafe (a restaurant and networking hub for the homeless) on Thursday, September 6, at 9 PM at the Empty Bottle, 1035 North Western; 773-276-3600. --MONICA KENDRICK

Chicago Reader, August 31, 2001



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Rock review, Eleventh Dream Day at Empty Bottle
By Kevin McKeough

Rick Rizzo's guitar was wriggling in his hands as if he were handling a cobra, and the crying, squalling flurry of notes he was producing suggested a life-or-death struggle. Behind Rizzo, Janet Beveridge Bean was matching him with the violence she was doing to her drum kit, while off to the side, Douglas McCombs' loping bass groove provided the calm in the eye of the hurricane that was "Tarantula." It was a moment both familiar and increasingly rare, as Eleventh Dream Day performed for a capacity crowd at the Empty Bottle on Saturday night.

In the first 10 years or so after their 1983 founding, Eleventh Dream Day's incendiary shows were a staple on Chicago's indie rock scene, but the band has since weathered changes that have limited its appearances to a few hometown shows a year. Eleventh Dream Day lost its major label record deal, its members have become increasingly devoted to other professional interests, and last year Rizzo and Bean separated after 10 yeas of marriage.

These setbacks would be enough to put most bands out of commission, but Eleventh Dream Day continues on in its low-key way as resolutely as one of McCombs' bass lines.

After exploring abstract instrumentals and moody textures on its last few CDs, Eleventh Dream Day's new release, "The Stalled Parade," integrates its arty leanings with the churning guitar rock that's been the band's signature from the beginning. If the delicate instrumental "On Ramp" recalled past experimentation, it immediately lead into the exuberant rush of "Interstate," with Rizzo drawling an urgent melody over Bean's insistent drum roll.

Similarly, "Ice Storm" balanced the barking, staccato riff of the song's verses with its chorus' pummeling barrage. The new material broadened Eleventh Dream Day's musical palette as well. With Bean's dreamy singing floating over her shuffling backbeat and Rizzo's jangling riffs, "Bite the Hand" verged on pop, while "Valrico74" was Appalachian folk as a fever dream, with Bean's mournful warble wrapped in Rizzo's dissonant guitar sonics. The only down side to this daring was that the music seemed a bit diffuse, particularly as Bean and McCombs took turns on guitar, with keyboard player Mark Greenburg ably substituting for them.

If the newer music lacked the headlong rush older fare of such as "Tarantula" or "Watching the Candles Burn," there's no denying that Eleventh Dream Day is a deeper, more emotionally and musically complex band than in its youth.

The years may have tested its member's bond, but the strength of the band's musical relationship was evident as McCombs and Rizzo jabbed at each other like ninjas while producing white noise flurries on their guitars, as Rizzo and Bean shouted down a song together, or as McCombs anchored Bean's momentous drumming and Rizzo's squalling, furious solos.

The look of glee that crossed Rizzo's face at times made clear why Eleventh Dream Day has carried on despite obstacles, and their performance made one thankful yet again for their perseverance.



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Eleventh's power: Perseverance has been the watchword for Eleventh Dream Day
By Greg Kot

The toughest task for a rock band is deciding when to pack it in. The second toughest is determining when to go on. For Eleventh Dream Day, playing a Dec. 2 show at the Empty Bottle (click here for more info.), perseverance and resilience are their own reward. Since 1983, guitarist-singer Rick Rizzo, drummer Janet Beveridge Bean and bassist Douglas McCombs have been making adventurous music of staggering vitality in a variety of guises.

Consider their accomplishments, separately and collectively. Then consider the possibility that this is one of the greatest bands Chicago has ever produced:


Eleventh Dream Day's 1988 full-length debut, "Prairie School Freakout," prefigured grunge and the alternative rock explosion of the '90s.
Bean has released a half-dozen albums as Freakwater with Louisville-based singer-songwriter Catherine Irwin. The duo's dramatic, minor-key ballads helped lay the groundwork for today's resurgence of hard-core country music in the rock underground.
McCombs' work in Tortoise, the group he co-founded with John Herndon in the early '90s, has become a touchstone for the "post-rock" movement, incorporating jazz and avant-garde influences.

That these three friends and collaborators have sustained such a fruitful working relationship for so long has little or nothing to do with commercial reward. To makes ends meet, Rizzo, 43, is a Chicago public schoolteacher, and Bean, 36, works at a Loop law firm. Only McCombs, 38, doesn't have to work a day job, thanks to the success of Tortoise, which has sold more than 100,000 copies of its last album, "TNT." At its commercial peak, Eleventh Dream Day sold about 30,000 copies of its releases for Atlantic Records in the early '90s. Now it sells about one-third of that total for Chicago-based indie Thrill Jockey Records.

Yet the group not only perseveres, it continues to grow artistically. Most rock bands never make it to their 18th anniversary like Eleventh Dream Day has. Those that do often keep going for economic reasons; few continue making great records. Eleventh Dream Day is a notable exception. The group's latest album, "Stalled Parade" (Thrill Jockey), is among the finest guitar-based rock records of the year.

"All the bands I work with don't seem to be concerned with the overall musical environment or industry requirements, but Eleventh Dream Day take that attitude to the extreme," says Bettina Richards, whose Thrill Jockey label is one of the most respected indie labels in the world with artists such as Tortoise, the Sea and Cake, Freakwater and Bobby Conn, besides Eleventh Dream Day. "They take the approach that they don't have anything to lose. To them, there is nothing at stake except the music. It has to satisfy them, completely. I work with other people who are keen to do a bunch of advertising for a record, or express concerns about press coverage, or have discussions about whether they should hire outside publicists to help them promote themselves. Eleventh Dream Day just doesn't care about those things. They care about only one thing: making great music."

That attitude says as much about Richards as it does about Eleventh Dream Day. Few label executives would be content with a band that makes an album every couple of years and then does a handful of tour dates to promote it because the band members' work schedules and outside projects won't permit more.

"Sure, it takes a lot longer for people to find out about their records that way," Richards says. "But their records have a long shelf life. People are still finding out about and buying their previous record, 'Eighth,'(released in 1997)."

To non-believers, Dream Day may sound like an esoteric, willfully obscure art project. But one listen to the first few seconds of the "Stalled Parade" should quash those notions. This is monumental, surging, three-chord rock washing over a dream-like melody. "Save yourself," Rizzo pleads, while Bean's voice drifts behind him. "If you save yourself, you might save me."

It would be a song of heartbreaking beauty even if the listener didn't know its subtext. "Stalled Parade" could be read as a message from Rizzo to Bean, his wife of 11 years, from whom he is now separated.

"This record is really hard for me to listen to in that sense, because to me it's profoundly personal," says Bean. "His life is changing, our lives are changing. In a way all our songs are like that, they revolve around us, our lives, and they're releases for us."

Rizzo says "Stalled Parade" isn't specifically about his relationship with Bean, but acknowledges that "my songs always have to do with my life, and that song is about a guy looking at life clipping along when suddenly it just ... stops. That's how life felt to me at that point. This record is not about defeat, but it is an affirmation of getting older."

That emotional honesty peaks in the poetry of ambivalence and beauty that is "Ice Storm," another song on the new album. It was inspired when Rizzo was leaving his apartment one winter night to see the movie "The Ice Storm" by himself.

"Our son Matthew, who was about 3 or 4 at the time, couldn't understand why I would want to do that," Rizzo says. "He was crying, 'Don't go, dad. Don't go.' The movie has all these images of isolation in it before the family potrayed in it comes back together. I remember coming home, and all the Christmas lights were up in the city, and they looked like beads of ice on the trees. It was a beautiful thing. I like those little moments where the world outside and my inner emotions converge. Those connections are why I have to write songs."

That sense of excitement and discovery is why the members of Eleventh Dream Day rejoin forces every two years to make an album and play a few shows, despite their other far-flung projects and responsibilities. Even McCombs, who is touring or recording most of the year with other groups, finds that Eleventh Dream Day still brings out a side of his musical personality that can't be tapped elsewhere.

"First of all, no one writes songs like Rick," he says. "And I've never worked with a drummer quite like Janet. I learn things by playing with Tortoise that I bring back to Eleventh Dream Day, but we all bring in things from outside the band. Rick has grown as a songwriter; he's begun writing these melodies that float over more atmospheric, modal ideas rather than standard rock chord changes. We went from trying to make records that captured our live sound to making records with John McEntire (of Tortoise) that use the studio more as an instrument."

The low point for Dream Day came in 1993, after it was dropped by Atlantic Records. At that juncture, most bands probably would have called it a career. Dream Day used it as an impetus to make even better records.

"We refused to accept that it had to end because we didn't sell enough records to become commercially successful on a major label," McCombs says. "To the three of us, it didn't detract one bit from our thinking that this was a good band and it was worthwhile to still do it. For us it was much more important to keep playing together. And I think we've made better and more interesting records because there no longer was the pressure to churn out a record on some label's timetable."

Though Eleventh Dream Day's sound has evolved over its nine releases to incorporate more layers and nuances, lyrically and sonically it remains a go-for-the-throat garage band, riding on adrenaline.

"Eleventh Dream is a burst of emotion," McCombs says. "It's about conveying the idea of a song without being meticulous about presentation."

In that sense the band hews to its mid-'80s roots in punk rock, as influenced by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Television and the Velvet Underground -- the holy trinity of Rizzo's youth as an aspiring guitar player.

"In a way, I never want to learn too much about my instrument, because I want it coming from the gut," Rizzo says. "Punk rock was my life, and it's not that way anymore. But then Janet will kick us in the butt in rehearsal and say, 'Turn that damn thing up to 10. Don't be afraid to blow up the amplifier.' After she does that, and I'm doing it, I'm in heaven."

Where do they go from here?

Bean shrugs off the idea that because she and Rizzo are no longer living together that their instinctive communication as musicians would suffer. On the contrary, she says, the band members appreciate one another even more now because Eleventh Dream Day is no longer the center of each of their lives.

"I've learned your world can change in a day," she says. "But every time I sit behind the drums and listen to Rick's guitar and Doug's bass, I think how heartbreaking it would be not to have this in my life. Just to watch Rick's face when he's in the middle of one of those solos -- that's more fun than anything. That beatific expression he gets, it looks like he owns the world at that moment. And I live for that."

[newoldtymer]

When Prarie School Freakout was reissued in October, 2003, critic David Fricke, in Rolling Stone #934, wrote:

"This Chicago band was the perfect pre-grunge daydream: the twin, incensed guitars of Neil Young's Crazy Horse and the boy-girl vocal quicksilver of X with a pungent, country air. Reissued with mucho extras, PSFO is a vital, forgotten antecedent to alt-country and the White Stripes. Start remembering."

And here is a good 2003 EDD interview.

[sleeping sheep]

Eleventh Dream Day are one of my favorite bands.I first heard them in Feb `97 one night listening to the radio.They did a profile on them and I was hooked ever since.

Here`s my thoughts on their albums...

Eleventh Dream Day-my least favorite,it did`nt capture their energy and spirit.The song Cascade is superb though.3 out of 5 stars

Prairie School Freakout-A big improvment from the debut.One of the best albums of the `80s I think.EDD at their most garage.My fave song is Tarantula,there`s a part near the end where it`s like Rick is channeling Duane Allman.4.5/5 stars

Beet-the production annoys me a bit but some great tunes here.Testify,Bagdad`s Last Ride,Bomb The Mars Hotel,Teenage Pin Queen,etc. 4/5 stars

Lived To Tell-a desert island disc for me.The mastering is terrible but who cares with guitar sounds like that!Recorded in a tobacco barn on a farm shows that you don`t need a studio sometimes.Dream Of A Sleeping Sheep is my favorite song as you can tell by my screenname Janet takes her first lead vocals on You Know What It Is.
5/5 stars

El Moodio-Another great great album.Makin Like A Rug has the best chorus I EVER heard in a song.The guitar solo at the end of Motherland is pure guitar euphoria.Murder is sung by Wink O`Bannon.4.5/5 stars

Ursa Major-not one of their strongest but still some good songs here.Orange Moon is one of their best,Taking Leave is a nice mellow one,and Bearish On High has the memorable lyric:"irony means alot to me,it gives me faith".3.5/5 stars

Eighth-adopting more to the post rock Chicago sound.Two Smart Cookies is so much fun!Insomnia and April are great too.4/5 stars.

Stalled Parade-I`m not totally into this one either but it has it`s moments.Ground Point Zero,Interstate,Way Too Early On A Sunday Morning,Ice Storm... 3.5/5 stars

[gerryuk]

EDD what a great band. I find that the last 3 albums to be pretty decent, but not that great, but everything up to and including El Moodio, is just fantastic.

[sleeping sheep]

[Quinn]

In response to your recs, I ordered a copy of El Moodio. It arrived last night and I listened to it. I was impressed. Janet is an excellent drummer and the music strikes a nice balance between pop and the avant-garde.

With better label support, I imagine it would have done pretty well on college radio.
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"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

- George Orwell

[sleeping sheep]

Glad you like El Moodio! Yeah,Atlantic did`nt put much promo into EDD which is sad.Check out the Makin Like A Rug video,I think it might still be on Launch with a couple of of their other videos.

[newoldtymer]

I really like El Moodio too.
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if you wait for a good breeze to blow through the orchard, the peaches just fall to the ground

[Quinn]

My next CD purchase will be 'Lived To Tell.' I listened to the clips on Amazon and it sounds rockin' indeed!
_________________
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

- George Orwell

[newoldtymer]

EDD returns to the studio this week! Also, they will play the Hideout Block Party in Chicago on the 16th. (Freakwater plays the 15th)
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if you wait for a good breeze to blow through the orchard, the peaches just fall to the ground

[sleeping sheep]

New EDD album!

[sleeping sheep]

Someone told me that the AMG says that the new EDD album will be out in April

[sleeping sheep]

Someone on another site posted about EDD when I did thread on them.I thought it was good enough to repeat here:

He starts saying about one of his favorite concerts...

"I`d have to say that my favorite one remains EDD on March 16,1993 at Gabe`s Oasis in Iowa City.The band was tight,joyful,imaginative,loud,and rocking.My wife and I stuck around and had all of them(Rick,Janet,Doug,and Wink)sign a poster and Janet yelled out "Hey guys they like our band".They made a respectable move in gravitating into a more experimental mode after being dropped by A and M.The early interplay between Rizzo`s Neil Young-ish Les Paul and Figi`s dry strat is not to be missed.Each Of their releases are valuable with remarkable moments of different kinds in each one.Furthermore they`re personable and immensly human,if immensly should be used in that sense.Unlike most acts,they have charm as well"
-Razorbackhawkeye

[newoldtymer]

Eleventh Dream Day, the rock band Freakwater's Janet Bean plays in, will release a new CD, Zeroes and Ones, on April 25th. Preview a track from the new record at thrilljockey.com. EDD will play these dates:

Wednesday, April 12, Detroit
Thursday, April 13, Cleveland, Beachland Tavern
Friday, April 14, New York, Mercury Lounge
Thursday, May 18, Chicago, Empty Bottle
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if you wait for a good breeze to blow through the orchard, the peaches just fall to the ground