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    Indian Giver

    Spectrum - Indian Giver

    04/22/2008 | Birdman 

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    All Music Guide Review

    Two of rock's great eccentrics have a meeting of the minds on this album, which finds Sonic Boom (aka Spectrum, and known to his mom as Pete Kember), the trance-rock acid evangelist of Spacemen 3 and Experimental Audio Research, sharing the studio with Jim Dickinson (here trading as Captain Memphis), who helped Alex Chilton craft Big Star's damaged masterwork Third/Sister Lovers and has worked with everyone from Ry Cooder and the Rolling Stones to the Replacements and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. While most of the musicians on Indian Giver are Memphis cats who have a history with Dickinson, Randall Nieman of Füxa serves as Sonic Boom's right-hand man here on guitar and keyboards, and he helps keep the approach of the album balanced. The songs have a deep, trippy feel with plenty of the droning textures and overdriven guitars Kember is famous for, but Dickinson and his pals help give the performances a solidly organic groove that speaks of the Deep South, complete with spooky found noises and crickets chirping in the background, and Dickinson's recitations on "The Lonesome Death of Johnny Ace," "Til Your Mainline Comes," and "The Old Cow Died" sound like an inspired fusion of Nick Tosches and James Ellroy gone beatnik. (Kember is a better singer, but he isn't half as good a storyteller.) Sonic Boom and Dickinson seem to be having fun tossing these songs back and forth as Southern gothic comes face to face with ecstatic noise, and they bring out fine ideas in one another; this is a Dixie-fried freakout that's appropriately laid-back but emphatic for fans of the right sort of madness. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

    Indian Giver Track Listing

  • Track#
  • Title
  • time
  • lyrics
  • 1
  • Mary
  • 1:37
  • Sound Clip for Mary from Indian Giver


  • 2
  • The Lonesome Death of Johnny Ace
  • 8:04
  • Sound Clip for The Lonesome Death of Johnny Ace from Indian Giver


  • 3
  • Take Your Time
  • 5:14
  • Sound Clip for Take Your Time from Indian Giver


  • 4
  • Til Your Mainline Comes
  • 3:55
  • Sound Clip for Til Your Mainline Comes from Indian Giver


  • 5
  • When Tomorrow Hits
  • 5:36
  • Sound Clip for When Tomorrow Hits from Indian Giver


  • 6
  • The Old Cow Died
  • 5:50
  • Sound Clip for The Old Cow Died from Indian Giver


  • 7
  • Hey Man
  • 6:07
  • Sound Clip for Hey Man from Indian Giver


  • 8
  • Confederate Dead
  • 7:14
  • Sound Clip for Confederate Dead from Indian Giver


  • 9
  • Mary Reprise
  • 4:56
  • Sound Clip for Mary Reprise from Indian Giver


    • Indian Giver Notes

    from Birdman: A once in a lifetime musical meeting between Spectrum (Sonic Boom from Spaceman 3) and legendary producer Jim Dickinson (Big Star, etc...).

    Featuring a cover of Mudhoney's "When Tomorrow Hits"

    A few years ago Sonic Boom (Spaceman 3, Spectrum, EAR) traveled to Independence Mississippi to work with legendary producer Jim Dickinson aka Captain Memphis. The result is the record Indian Giver, a true collaboration that finds both artists sharing a stage and sharing their musical visions.

    "The Lonesome Death Of Johnny Ace", a biopic-epic groover shows the two musicians playing off a southern fried radiation telling the tale of a of a famous singer's Russian Roulette tragedy on Christmas day. The rest of the album finds Sonic revisiting his past: a new, fuzzier rendition of Mudhoney's "When Tomorrow Hits", a revamped version of ultra-rare Spectrum popper T"Take Your Time" and Spaceman 3 staple "Hey Man (Amen)" where Dickinson throws down some back-ups. The Dickinson tunes are brand new and eerie...with his resuscitations backed by ecstatic symphonies.

    The record is book ended by new Spectrum number "Mary", which carries with it a decidedly NEU! Theme. A once in a lifetime musical meeting and a resultant sound that could only have come from these two musical icons.

    For fans of: Spaceman 3, Neu!, Spectrum, Mudboy and the Neutrons, Mudhoney, the Staple Singers, Captain Beefheart, Spiritualized, Fuxa

    Liner Notes written by MOJO writer and Memphis resident Andria Lisle

    Also features Tate County Singers (Otha Turner's kin), Fuxa

    Captain Memphis IS Jim Dickinson, producer of Big Star, Mudhoney, Texas Tornados, Ry Cooder, Alvin Youngblood Heart, The Replacements, Toots and the Maytals

    Recorded in Zebra Ranch Studio

    Credits of Indian Giver

    • Randall Nieman
    • Guitar (Acoustic), Keyboards, Guitar (Electric), Artwork, Layout Design

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