How'd I miss this
for the better part of a year? God, I
really do need to remind myself to troll iTunes more in this day and age of
declining physical releases for relatively obscure music. I've posted elsewhere on this blog about my
admiration for the Nils, a Canadian band firmly in the Replacements/later Hüsker
Dü mold. Their leader, guitarist/singer
Alex Soria, was both their passport and their undoing, yet another brilliantly
talented guy who couldn't escape his personal demons. Ultimately, he threw himself in front of a
train a few years back, sadly putting paid once and for all to a career in
music that really could have amounted to something.
The Nils didn't leave too much behind, either: a handful of
EPs and compilation appearances compiled, along with some live stuff, on 1996's
Green Fields in Daylight, along with
a self-titled full-length LP that remains one of my absolute favorites of its
era. The
Nils is every bit the equivalent of Flip
Your Wig or Pleased to Meet Me, and
anyone who wants to tell you differently is lying. For years, since I first stumbled on it back
in 1998 or so, it has left me wondering what a follow up would have sounded
like. It's rare that rock 'n' roll ever
answers questions like this, but earlier today when I stumbled upon this
release, it did just that.
Sanctioned by Alex's brother Carlos, the band's other
guitarist, The Title is the Secret Song
collects the Nils' studio leftovers.
Information on exactly when any of this was recorded is nonexistent, but
my ears tell me that this is compiled from different sessions, and that all of
it probably post-dates the 1987 self-titled album. One song is familiar: "When You're Not
Around" was an easy highlight of Mala
Leche, the excellent lone EP by Alex's short-lived post-Nils band Chino, as it is
here as well, albeit in a somewhat different arrangement. By necessity, The Title is the Secret Song isn't as unified as The Nils, but song for song it's nearly
as strong. It's predictable in a good
way: while about half of the material would sound at home as-is on the 1987 LP,
the other half finds Alex, Carlos and their band mates becoming more
comfortable with slower tempos and more complex material. It sounds exactly like what I always imagined
Nils II to be in my mind, and I can't
imagine a higher compliment for a posthumous compilation than that. Except this: I'd recommend this even to folks
who've never heard the band before. How
many after-the-fact stitch-togethers of unreleased material can that truly be said of?
Of course, I'd have preferred it if Alex Soria's second act had
come while he was still drawing air.
Still, The Title is the Secret
Song is a long-shot wish fulfilled for a fan like me, who only found The
Nils well after they had left the building. I now know
what that second full-length would have sounded like - and, best of all, I can
go listen to it again and again, as I'm about to do right now.
Available from iTunes
here: The Title Is the Secret Song - The Nils
Bang on Will. I'm just discovering this band and absolutely love this collection. Brilliant stuff!
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ReplyDeleteFor now, though, you may want to concentrate on learning the chords and playing along to the track. It will be a great learning experience for you as it is one of the best songs to learn on guitar.Digitaljournal
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