I Know All This And More

There's some thing about the sound and feel of thirty year old, American alt- rock which is doing it for me at the moment. Apropos of nothing I was struck by the desire to hear Belly's 1993 hit Feed The Tree recently and it became an earworm for days...

Feed The Tree

Belly were Tanya Donelly's band, a breakaway from both Throwing Muses and The Breeders for Tanya (the former with step- sister Kristen Hersh, the latter with Pixie Kim Deal, Kim's twin sister Kelley and Josephine Wiggs). She formed Belly with Chris and Thomas Gorman and Fred Abong in 1991 and released Star in 1993. Feed The Tree is a beaut, with churning indie rock/ folk rock guitars and Tanya's honeyed but slightly weary vocals, chiming into the chorus, 'Take your hat off boy when you're talking to me/ And be there when I feed the tree'. 

The album Star also featured this song,  Gepetto, which was also released as a single. Geppetto, despite the sweetly sung/ chiming guitars sound, is a bit darker, a song about control and losing your soul. 

Gepetto

From Belly it's a short hop back to 1992 and The Lemonheads, a single from the It's A Shame About Ray album and a sparkling showcase for the songwriting talents of Evan Dando. 

Confetti (Remix)

So He's Lying On Top Again

In fact, having listened to yesterday's Belly song Feed The Tree and this one Gepetto back to back (both off their 1993 album Star), I think this one may be even better. Just pressing play makes getting up at the end of October worthwhile.

gepetto.mp3

Take Your Hat Off Boy When You're Talking To Me

Lovely US indie hit from 1993 from Tanya Donelly's Belly- an ode to mortality and respecting your woman, wrapped in a great tune and with some chiming guitars. Belly called it a day in 1996 after taking Radiohead on tour with them and themselves supporting superstar era REM. Tanya Donelly continues to record as a solo artist, leaving Belly's back catalogue stuffed with little gems like this one and it's follow up Gepetto.

01 Feed the Tree.wma