American Music Club 4x RARE LPs - Everclear, United Kingdom, California, Eitzel

	£		40
	$		53

Four classic American Music Club albums, showcasing the lyrical  pathos and indie guitar melodies of Mark Eitzel, widely considered one of the most talented singer-songwriters of the 80s and 90s. Thoughtful, beautiful, painful love songs, set to slowcore/post-rock tunes with a bittersweet taste of folk and country thrown into the mix. This collection includes 1988's California, 1989's United Kingdom and 1990's Everclear, often lauded as their masterpiece. Bonus recording of Eitzel performing live at Borderline in London in 1991. If you love soft, seductive music with a huge lyrical punch to the gut, this is most definitely for you. 
All sleeves in excellent condition (except United Kingdom, which has a tiny tear - see photo); all discs in near-mint condition. United Kingdom is a RARE collectible copy, with missing label on B side. 
**AMC are now very rarely available on vinyl. Albums typically sell for £20+. Grab a massive bargain, with all four for just £39.95!**
Sample sounds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feshEKhWQgs&ab_channel=thecoldwaters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shdYkgqzNY0&ab_channel=Chezro69 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5fgaBxnLWo&ab_channel=SamWarren-Miell

Review (California) 'An outstanding combination of talents meets in Mark Eitzel: an expressive voice, the gift of melodies & arrangements as well as striking imagery that wallows at times in despair and hopelessness of the alcoholic variety. His use of understatement often intensifies the emotional impact. Loss, despair and rejection may be familiar themes but the effect is often uplifting because of the sheer exquisite beauty of the songs. Kicking off with the melancholy & delicately tuned Firefly with unforgettable poetic lines like: "Are you waiting for loneliness to paralyze, are you waiting for Sister Midnight to anaesthetize?" the sequence of gems continues with the grittier rock of Somewhere that even contains some wry humor. Pale Skinny Girl and Laughingstock are similar in style; the second shifts tempo between slow, half-spoken segments to sung parts and guitar sections. The vocals on Pale Skinny Girl vary from a whisper to a soar and the guitar from sensitive to a roar.
Another favorite of mine which is on a par with Firefly is the majestic Lonely, a song with a killer melody, aching words and penetrating imagery. The poignant and sensitive Blue & Grey Shirt is in my opinion the third entrancing masterpiece on California but the next track Bad Liquor rudely rips the listener out of the trance, being a harsh, up-tempo rock number. Another track with searing guitar is Highway, a slice of shimmering rock. There is much heartbreak in Now You're Defeated, a complex number with delicate guitar parts and plenty of vocal variation.
Of course the sound is unique but certain songs or feelings do call to mind other artists. Firefly and Lonely for example, remind me of Nick Drake. The exquisite melodies and elegant arrangements bring to mind Sufjan Stevens on a song like Sister from the Seven Swans album. The obsession with Demon Drink is shared by another master of melancholia, ex-Swans leader Michael Gira who is now with Angels of Light. It's difficult to decide which of California or Everclear is my favorite AMC album.'
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