Living in Obscurity

After 14, Home seemed to drift off with the rest of the neo-psych movement and fade away with the turn of the century. I filed away my prized collection of Home discs and kept them hidden like a time capsule I would open again somewhere down the road. My only interaction with the band from 1999 to the present was a freak trip to NYC and Kim's Mondo Video. There I found the holy grail of Home collectibles, or at least an abriged version of it. The British label, Cooking Vinyl, re-issued a compilation of the elusive "box set," the eight albums Home released on cassette, and though it was a hefty $30, I bought it. The kicker being that the clerk was Home's former drummer, and he was suprised that anyone even remembered the band, let alone would pay an unreasonable amount for the earliest recordings. This is my least favorite only because it's a snapshot of what might be contained on those early albums, instead of a full-flegged retrospective. I'd really like to hear each one seperately, in their respective contexts, rather than a mish-mash of what might or might not be salvagable. Long story short, after constant nagging on my part, Mr. Eric Morrison has promised to send me a "box set" when they return from thier tour. I'm holding you to it sir.

With that out of the way, I was equally suprised that Home broke from their monastic existence sometime in 2002 and released 15 on Cooking Vinyl, but only in the UK. It's never been heard round these parts, and I still can't find anywhere on the internets that sell it for dollars rather than pounds. What I have heard from the album made me giddy. It's got the pristine production of 14 (Fridmann mixed this one), but is positively the band's most rocking affair; forgoing orchestration for more straight-forward crunch. Word on the street is that the Home's current label, Brah, will be putting this out later in the year.