Green Pajamas
(Copyright © 1999-2024 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
Ghosts Of Love , 6/10
Strung Behind The Sun , 5/10
Indian Winter , 7/10 (comp)
All Clues Lead To Meagan's Bed , 6/10
Seven Fathoms Down And Falling , 5/10
The Carolers' Song , 5/10
This Is Where We Disappear , 5.5/10
Jeff Kelly solos
21st Century Seance (2005), 6/10
Links:

(Translation by xxx/ Tradotto da xxx)

If English is your first language and you could translate my old Italian text, please contact me.


Scroll down for recent reviews in english.
I Green Pajamas sono una delle formazioni piu` sottovalutate di Seattle. Formatisi e cresciuti durante il boom del grunge, rimasero emarginati dal grande giro discografico perche' il loro sound era l'antitesi del genere in voga. L'album Summer Of Lust (Baktun, 1984 - UBIK, 1990) conteneva in realta` canzoni come Green Pajamas e Mike Brown che avrebbero ben figurato sugli album di Elvis Costello e che anticipavano il Brit-pop.

Le cassette Happy Halloween (Green Monkey, 1984), Baroquen Hearts (Green Monkey, 1985), November (Green Monkey, 1988) passarono comunque inosservati. Furono i singoli, Kim The Waitress (1986), Jennifer e Sister Anne, a tener desto l'interesse per il pop innocente di Jeff Kelly, piu` ispirato dai fiori del Paisley Underground di Los Angeles che dai cannoni grunge di Seattle.

Book Of Hours (Green Monkey, 1987) perfeziono` gli arrangiamenti. I Green Pajamas non erano certo gli Young Fresh Fellows, ma, in quel loro genere epigonico, avevano raggiunto un notevole livello qualitativo, facendo spesso pensare agli XTC.

(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)

Kelly tried to get out of the stereotype they had built for themselves with Ghosts Of Love (Bomp, 1990), by far their most experimental work, but also the one that almost decreed their demise. Wedding Day will remain one of Kelly's most tender songs.

Portugal (Green Monkey, 1990) and Private Electrical Storm (Green Monkey, 1992) appeared only on cassette.

The band was given for dead. They came back, instead, years later with Strung Behind The Sun (Camera Obscura, 1997), in which songs arranged in the psychedelic pop manner of the mid 1960s (Doctor Dragonfly) coexist with the usual unassuming ditties (When The Summer Said Goodbye). The new edition of the band, which kept only Kelly and drummer Karl Wilhelm of the original line-up and introduced Eric Lichter, is inferior in fact of sprightliness and enthusiasm, but has the gift of never lowering itself to amateurism. The various Dying To Love You and Andrew and Paul may sound all alike, and all trivial, but never ridicule.

Indian Winter (Get Hip, 1998) collects the singles cut by the band from the beginning to Emma Is Crying, which are likely to constitute the best of their art.

The psychedelic phase peaked with All Clues Lead To Meagan's Bed (Camera Obscura, 1998), and its Rattlesnake Kiss, The Secret Of Her Smile and Queen Of Sunshine, although they still sound mainly tributes to the 1960s. The band always had the vocation, but still hasn't found the ambition. The psychedelic raga of Egyptian Snowflake and Morning In Myra's Room is the Beatles variant, not the Velvet Underground variant. The ballad Dear Jane almost accidentally strikes gold.

Seven Fathoms Down And Falling (Woronzow, 1999) marked the debut of guitarist Laura Weller and boast a couple of additions to the major repertory (Seven Fathoms Down And Falling, Just A Breath Away and She Doesn't Love You Anymore), but the band has never sounded so tame (or adult, depending on perspective).

The Carolers' Song (Hidden Agenda, 2001) is a collection of pop ditties inspired by holiday music.

Goblin Market is Laura Weller's original band and side-project. Kelly collaborates on Ghostland (Camera Obscura, 2001), a collection of gothic/baroque ballads.

The title-track is the highlight on This Is Where We Disappear (Woronzow, 2001).

Narcotic Kisses (Camera Obscura, 2002) is a collection of singles and rarities.

Jeff Kelly had readied seven solo albums, beginning with Coffee In Nepal (Green Monkey, 1987 - DiDi, 1991), and four of which make up the boxed Melancholy Sun (Camera Obscura, 1999), and two of which are limited edition and home-made: Ash Wednesday Rain (Green Monkey, 1996), with Baby Jane Approximately, and Twenty Five. Indiscretion (Hidden Agenda, 2001) is perhaps the closest his solo works have come to recreate Green Pajamas' (catchy, gentle and well-orchestrated) sound.

Through Glass Coloured Roses (Hidden Agenda, 2003) is a career retrospective.

Jeff Kelly's skills both as songwriter and as arranger shine on 21st Century Seance (Hidden Agenda, 2005), at least in the most melodramatic and tense songs (The Secret's of Bethany's Mouth, Salome, Black Guitar) that employ an arsenal of tricks to complement his literate lyrics.

What is unique about this music database