Pastels

Up For a Bit with… (Velvel)
by Nik Rainey

If the ever-present jones for reinventing the past until we get it right isn’t enough for the inspiration-starved masses of all tomorrow’s yesterdays, the main by-product of the CD revolution, the digital repackaging of their analog antecedents, continues with no signs of abating. Due to the vagaries of the music business and of popular taste, the same source materials that once fetched downwards of twenty-five cents in the yard sales of the cultural elite have been plucked from their attic-scented cardboard homes, given complete makeovers (“That dark complexion of yours will never do. One application of this Sony shrinkage cream will give you a nice, smooth silvery cast, and the special remastering agents will bring you down from a bulky twelve inches to a nice, svelte five.”), and relocated to upscale neighborhoods lined with compact glass houses with higher rents. Sometimes these musical Jeffersons adapt well to their new digs, other times it’s obvious they should never have left the vinyl ghettoes. Let’s stroll around and take a gander at some of the new residents.

Velvel has returned the Pastels‘ first LP, Up For a Bit With the Pastels, to print after a long absence. (Like many worthy ’80s U.K. bands, the Pastels had the misfortune of signing to a U.S. label that swiftly went bankrupt.) One of the most beloved indie bands of our era, their early singles created the template that other bands and entire labels (like K) would take for their own – the knowledge that miniscule studio budgets, atonal singers, and extremely limited instrumental ability need not keep you from creating rough-cut pop gemstones. Perhaps inevitably, their belated LP debut suffers from an attempt to slick up their sound for possible commercial gain – certain tracks (“I’m Alright With You,” “Automatically Yours”) use their uncharacteristic lushness to appealing ends, but others are too busy, clashing uncomfortably with Stephen Pastel’s flat voice and pushing his usually-enchanting female foil Aggi into a shrill supporting role. The songs win out, but not without a struggle, and struggles do not befit such an easygoing band. Seek out Creation’s Suck on This import for a better representation of their early years.