RED TANDY EP
Album Review

By Dave Terpeny

While Nirvana was becoming an MTV staple, Tim Bluhm, Paul Hoaglin, John Hofer and Greg Loiacono were trying to struggle their way out of the grinding commercial music machine that eventually ate up poor old Kurt.

You see, instead of channeling angst and flannel, The Mother Hips were channeling Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds and The Band, along with some shaggy hair and not a few patches of paisley. And while their unique modern psychedelics created a rabid cult following and critical acclaim, it never translated into much more than that. They simply wouldn’t let the machine even touch with them with its gears. And so they paid the price for artistic honesty and, after multiple label changes, went on an extended hiatus in 2001. It was a dark day in music history. But, as Jerry sang, ‘the sun will shine in my back door again’ and it has.

For the boys are back with a limited release 2 song vinyl/4 song cd EP called Red Tandy, with rumors of a full-length studio album in the making. And let me tell you, they haven’t missed a beat. The charisma, the melodies, the sheer aural joy of their music overflows from these four songs as if it were recorded in 2001, or 1967 for that matter.

And the lyrics have gotten even better. Always witty, intelligent and occasionally satirical, they have taken it up a notch, especially with “Colonized,” described by Bluhm as being “about the human soul clashing with the incredible greed that thrives in our culture, where anything that’s cool or appealing is instantly ‘colonized’ by advertisers until we become almost afraid to express an original idea for fear that it will be used to sell fucking coffee or surf trunks.”

And that doesn’t even include the amazingly brilliant line in "Red Tandy:" “it’s pleasing in an Oscar Wilde way.”

So now that The Mother Hips have returned with a more wary attitude, their throwback psychedelic rock and roll sound and a tentative foot in the water with this EP, what do we do? The only thing we can do; squint at the brilliant warm sun, rest in the fragrant green grass at the waters edge and wait with them for the tide to bring some more music in.

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