Spilt Milk (Remastered) Jellyfish

• 1Hush02:10
• 2Joining A Fan Club04:03
• 3Sebrina, Paste And Plato02:23
• 4New Mistake04:03
• 5The Glutton Of Sympathy03:49
• 6The Ghost At Number One03:36
• 7Bye, Bye, Bye04:02
• 8All Is Forgiven04:10
• 9Russian Hill04:45
• 10He's My Best Friend03:44
• 11Too Much, Too Little, Too Late03:15
• 12Brighter Day06:12
• Total Runtime46:12

Info for Spilt Milk (Remastered)

When Jellyfish released their second album, Spilt Milk, in February 1993, critics didn’t know what comparison to make of the band. The band had released their first album, Bellybutton, to rave reviews and even had a Top 40 hit with the catchy “Baby’s Coming Back,” which wasn’t even one of the better tracks. The melodies flowed, and the harmonies shook you down to your core.

The duo was celebrated for their defiance in the grunge era, crafting deliriously sunny pop jams. In a Newsweek feature highlighting the Best Summer Albums from 1985-1997, Zach Schonfeld wrote a blurb on Spilt Milk, saying, “God bless Jellyfish for releasing this lost power-pop masterwork at the height of the grunge explosion. With angst on the airwaves, Andy Sturmer and Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (with help from soon-to-be-star-producer Jon Brion) crafted 12 unfashionably sunny and remarkably well-built pop gems.

“It’s the colorfulness of it all that makes it such a great summer record; nods to peak Queen, 80s metal, and The Beatles at their sugariest abound, but Spilt Milk couldn’t have been made by anyone but Jellyfish. Shame they didn’t copyright the title ‘Bye Bye Bye’ before NSYNC nabbed it.”

The history of Spilt Milk is legendary in Jellyfish circles. When they began writing in 1992, Brian Wilson paid them a visit to the studio, having been impressed by their debut Bellybutton. The duo showed off their electric harpsichords and clavinet, which left Wilson unimpressed. He wanted to see something new. This sparked an idea in the duo.

As explained in PopMatters, “‘This whole idea of retro,’ he [Puig] decided, ‘is baloney.’ He was now on a mission to go beyond that retro baloney and ‘use all the things’, he said, past and present: both harpsichords and digital samplers; timpani set up right next to rock drum kits; new ways of working alongside old, each informing and improving the other.

“All the things, including time: beat by beat, second by second, he wasn’t going to let a moment on Spilt Milk go by that hadn’t been thought all the way through, tried every which way, and then expanded to its fullest sonic proportions.”

"Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning created a striking prototype of their musical world-view on Jellyfish's debut album, 1990's Bellybutton, but while that disc's cross-pollination of power pop touchstones and big rock attack sounded truly ambitious, the band upped the ante considerably on 1993's Spilt Milk, which could be roughly described as Jellyfish's SMiLE (or perhaps their Heaven Tonight). After the departure of Jason Falkner and Chris Manning following the long tour in support of Bellybutton, Sturmer and Manning were essentially left alone in the studio to conjure the sounds in their heads, with the generous help of producers Albhy Galuten and Jack Joseph Puig and a few studio musicians (including Jon Brion on guitar). From the striking Beach Boys-influenced vocal arrangements on the opener "Hush" and the pastoral tone poem "Russian Hill" to the fuzz-powered chaos of "All Is Forgiven" and the Queen-meets-Pixies guitar theatrics of "Fan Club," everything on Spilt Milk is conceived and executed on a grand scale, and there's no question that Sturmer and Manning sound like joyous kids left in a toy shop and making splendid use of every plaything at their disposal. If Spilt Milk has a flaw (beyond its drab afterthought of a cover), it's that the album sometimes seems too big for its own good, with every nook and cranny filled with some overdubbed bit of business, occasionally making it hard to hear the songs for the baroque layers of production. But Spilt Milk is a massive balancing act that Jellyfish miraculously pull off; it might seem like a power pop Spruce Goose, but in this case it not only takes off, it flies high as a remarkable experiment in pop-minded rock on the grandest scale." (Mark Deming, AMG)

Andy Sturmer, vocals, drums, guitar, keyboards, producer
Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., keyboards, piano, vocals, producer
Tim Smith, bass, vocals
Additional musicians:
Lyle Workman, guitar
Jon Brion, guitar
Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, bass

Digitally remastered

Jellyfish
seemingly had all the right ingredients for success -- catchy, melodic pop songs squarely in the Beatles/Squeeze mold, plus strong kitsch appeal in its retro sound and wildly colorful, clashing wardrobe. Founding members Andy Sturmer (drums, vocals) and Roger Manning (keyboards) previously played in the pop/rock quartet Beatnik Beatch; after that group called it quits, the Jellyfish lineup was rounded out with guitarist Jason Falkner and bassist Chris Manning, brother of Roger. Bellybutton, the group's well-received 1990 debut, produced a minor chart single in "Baby's Coming Back," but nothing made a major impact. The follow-up, Spilt Milk, followed the same style, adding more intricate arrangements and harmonies. Despite it being another stellar collection of tasty power pop, the album failed to live up to lofty expectations, and the band split up after an ensuing supporting tour wrapped up.

In the wake of their breakup, the former bandmembers turned up on different projects -- including former bassist Tim Smith's outfit the Umajets, a pair of bands that include Roger Manning, Imperial Drag, and the Moog Cookbook, while Jason Falkner has issued a pair of critically acclaimed solo releases, very much in the style of his former band (Sturmer has appeared to have turned his back on performing and has produced such acts as the Merrymakers and Puffy). Although their career was short, a slew of Jellyfish-influenced bands began to crop up in their wake -- including the aforementioned Merrymakers, Ben Folds Five, the Hutchinsons, and the Excentrics, among others. A 14-track collection of Jellyfish's best-known material (as well as a smattering of rare live tracks) (Greatest) was issued in 1999. (Steve Huey & Greg Prato, AMG)

This album contains no booklet.