and finally, we've reached the one, and the only: 2012'salthough recorded in april of 2010, before Frond even released. Beard, Wives, Denim.
i will be completely honest in saying that when i was first getting into Pond, i listened to this album exactly once and then proceeded to ignore it
afterwards, save for like three songs i put in my liked playlist.
it wasn't until last year that i decided to check it out again and actually try to listen to the songs,
instead of listening to an artist's discography going from bottom to top like i'm just going through the motions.
Beard, Wives, Denim sees the band take a new approach to the more frantic psychedelia of the first two albums, with most songs having a noticably more "woozy" sound to them, with the added experience gained from recording Frond; which is to say that it's more coherent this time around.
interestingly, it is their first of many later albums to be produced by Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), who is also featured on drums here!
it is their longest album TO DATE at ~55 minutes; even their latest release - Stung! (which is a 2xLP) is shorter by just a few seconds.
the album is full of highlights, i really like pretty much every song.
"Fantastic Explosion of TIme" is the most energetic and explosive (sorry) of them, a fantastic (sorry) opener.
"Sorry I Was Under The Sky" is where the album starts slowing down a bit, a relatively melancholic song about (i think) accidentally falling asleep.
"Allergies" is relaxed and mellow. one of my absolute favorites from the album, i especially like the little organ bit at the end of it... some seriously cool stuff.
"Moth Wings" has... a really funny music video...
"Mystery" is another favorite of mine. the word i'd use to describe it is sleepy, it's very sleepy. the long ending solo is made of the same matter that dreams are made of.
"Eye Pattern Blindness" is a song that bounces between aggressively bombastic and calming. the ending sounds like it was ripped straight from their next album after this, Hobo Rocket.
"Moreno's Blend" is a proto-"Medicine Hat", so naturally i like it. a very nice and soothing song to properly cap off the album, with a pretty funny backstory!they wrote this song as a last ditch effort to get free coffee from a cafe called Moreno's
...except that's not ACTUALLY it! see, Beard, Wives, Denim has two B-sides! we're gonna ignore the other one, since it's just a cover, but i'd like to talk about the first one.
"Pond in a Park"... i don't know why it was excluded from the album proper, it's a REALLY good song. actually, wait, maybe i know.
perhaps it's because their recording of it sounds... uh... bad. i have zero clue WHY it sounds like this, and whether or not there exists an insanely rare high quality version, but it is what it is. if you're able to look past the hilarious low fidelity, it is a wonderful ethereal piece.
so yeah, all around, very well-rounded LP. i'm not sure why i ignored Beard, Wives, Denim for so long, but i'm glad i gave it a second chance. if Frond was where that unique "Pond sound" started to rear its head, it's finally become apparent here; and it reflects, this was their breakthrough!
the release of this album, for me, marks the end of an era. it was Pond's first major commercial success, first break-out from obscurity; there were now eyes on the boys.
now of course, they went on to do great things;
i know them for The Weather and Man It Feels Like Space Again, after all... but Pond's early discography is still wildly
neglected. the first three albums are, as i've said before, officially omittedbarring Psychedelic Mango on Apple Music from popular music platforms, with BWD seemingly only barely escaping that fate as well.
there's been talk from the band about releasing a "Best Of" compilation of their early works, but that was years ago now, and so far there have been no signs of that coming any time soon.
and... idk... it just seems wrong; such wonderful music, overlooked and/or inaccessible.
but despite that, i'm still listening.
END OF EARLY POND REVIEWS