Popdose: Why You Should Like … The Ocean Blue
Jack Feerick
· 1 year ago
Sweet write-up as always, John.
I think if anything the Ocean Blue were undone by this weird myth that every band must "progress." There's nothing intrinsically wrong with your records being kind of samey, with doing one thing and doing it well—but it seems to be anathema in the pop world. I can think of only one band who were able to turn their very lack of "progress" into a selling point, and that's the Ramones. Everybody else is under constant pressure to reinvent themselves, even if they don't really need reinvention.
Cerulean wasn't a bad record, but you could sense the pressure behind it, the push for Schelzel to pursue some ideal of sophistication, even world-weariness, that simply didn't suit him. I mean: putting a song called "I've Sung One Too Many Songs for a Crowd That Didn't Want to Hear" on your second album? When you're 22 years old, fa chrissakes? Dude, that's just Trying Too Hard.
CarlosRamirez
· 1 year ago
I still think their BENEATH THE RHYTHM AND SOUND album is their best. Their unique blend of Johnny Marr/Byrds guitars and horns gets me every time! I remember when MTV's 120 Minutes always played "Sublime."
RLB
· 1 year ago
See may have its faults, but the whole thing has a really heartbreaking "I hate you/Come back" feel. I have a fondness for that sort of contrariness.
Jeff
· 1 year ago
You could hardly have picked a better band to do a WYSL on. At least for me. I appreciate the retrospective on them. They always sounded vaguely British to me but I did know they were from the US (although I was thinking Nebraska for some reason). Good job.
All Comments
I think if anything the Ocean Blue were undone by this weird myth that every band must "progress." There's nothing intrinsically wrong with your records being kind of samey, with doing one thing and doing it well—but it seems to be anathema in the pop world. I can think of only one band who were able to turn their very lack of "progress" into a selling point, and that's the Ramones. Everybody else is under constant pressure to reinvent themselves, even if they don't really need reinvention.
Cerulean wasn't a bad record, but you could sense the pressure behind it, the push for Schelzel to pursue some ideal of sophistication, even world-weariness, that simply didn't suit him. I mean: putting a song called "I've Sung One Too Many Songs for a Crowd That Didn't Want to Hear" on your second album? When you're 22 years old, fa chrissakes? Dude, that's just Trying Too Hard.
Jeff