JIM BASNIGHT & THE MOBERLYS
Seattle - New York - Los Angeles (Pop The Balloon)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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After the demise of The Heats (originally The Heaters), The Cowboys and The Allies, it got pretty boring in the Seattle music scene. Lots and lots of cover bands. Then in the late 80s we finally got relief in the form of The Moberleys, who gave us the most memorable, catchy and bouncy songs since The Heats, and we responded. There were lines at the clubs again.

Like The Heats, The Moberleys didn't do as much recording as they should have, at least not in the form of complete albums, but France's ultra-cool record label, Pop The Balloon, has scoured the planet and come up with all the odd EP and 45 tracks the band recorded to go along with the album tracks and put them all on one jam-packed 23-track CD. For someone like me, who thought he knew it all when it came to the Moberleys, this is like finding an unknown Van Gogh in a St. Vincent's. I've been singing the ones I know and learning the ones I don't and it's all too much fun!

If you've never heard The Moberleys, try to imagine -- oh oh, here comes one of these -- The Plimsouls if Peter Case had a fetish for country swagger that he could and would switch to and turn off at will, The Raspberries if someone pissed them off or ordered them to stop being cute, and The Heats if Don Short and Steve Pearson had never heard Rubber Soul. Their harmonies were exquisite, the music always had power and the songwriting was never anything less than very good, and often nearly perfect. For me, hearing them again is more than a treat; it's an emotionally fulfilling desk-drumfest. This label from France, Pop The Balloon, was already intriguing me with the cool pop they've been releasing. Now I'm putting them on a pedestal and asking "how did you know?"

© 2001 - DJ Johnson