I've Seen Age Upon Your Skin

"Mirror Blues", Died Pretty's second single, has considerably more added stomp than the other two Died Pretty records that I've posted already ("Free Dirt" and "Next To Nothing"). At over ten minutes long they had to split it into halves to make it fit over both sides of a 7", though I believe there was a 12" version also. This is what you were doing if you were me back then, still listening to hardcore but moving further and further out, sticking your nose in Forced Exposure and Conflict a lot while soaking up what was coming out of Homestead and Australia as much as possible. Anyway, the middle part gets a bit fluffy as it goes on, but then it comes right back for the coda at the end.




Died Pretty -

"Mirror Blues I"

"Mirror Blues II"

Creeps Like These Don't Disappear

I own more Died Pretty records than I can count, some that I've never even listened to because I've been figuring they might be a bit too new wave/120 Minutes for me. Died Pretty's songs are worth sorting through, though, because there's some real gems to be found among the pile. Likewise, the first side of the "Next to Nothing" 12-inch isn't so hot; side two is where you'll find the meat. "Final Twist" is above-average psych-jangle, and "Desperate Hours" is the classic Died Pretty build-up-and-release, reaching the payoff when Brett Myers' guitar announces itself with a couple of squawks of feedback at around the 6-minute mark, and then it's all amazing from there on out.




Died Pretty -

"Desperate Hours"

"Final Twist"

I Will Leave Some Spare Time To Breathe

As the Died Pretty proved on some of their later releases, there's a fine line between really good rawk stuff and shitty college rock; a step or two in either direction, and before you know it you're Toad the Wet Sprocket or the Mighty Lemon Drops. What kept the Died Pretty out of the ditch, more often than not, was the sheer heft of Brett Myers' guitar playing.

I'd already thoroughly digested Died Pretty's less-languid "Mirror Blues" 7-inch (which I still have) by the time I heard "Free Dirt", so when I first dropped a needle on this it didn't grab my attention right away. I can still remember how I was standing off to the side of my room, barely listening, when the first of one of Brett Myers' impeccable, wailing guitar solos came pouring out of the speakers. I immediately stopped whatever else I was doing and stood in awe for a few seconds.

The guitar solo on "Just Skin" (a fairly crappy song otherwise) is literally like nothing I'd ever heard before or since.




Died Pretty -

(these files are now listen-only)

"Life to Go (Landsakes)"

"Just Skin"