THE SILLY PILLOWS
Silly Image Pillowhead (Ultraberry)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

---

The Silly Pillows were born when Jonathan Caws-Elwitt installed a four track recorder in his bedroom in 1986. Since he shared the room with his wife Hilary, he shared the recorder, too, and they began to create cassettes for mail order release. Hillary's still with Jonathan, but she's not with the band anymore, and more players have joined, and real studios have been used, and actual recordings for actual labels have been made since, but the course of "pillow-pop" was set on these early home recordings.

Silly Image Pillowhead gathers up 24 of the Silly Pillows home recordings made between 1986 and 1993 for their first appearance on CD. There are some real gems here, and there's some stuff that they did just because they could, but every bit of it offers something of interest. Some of it's about as low-fi as you'll be able to stand, and some is amazingly well produced for what it is. It's a mixed bag altogether, but it's a must have for Pillowheads, and it's worth a look by anybody interested in the indie-pop scene.

If you can't find it, you can get ahold of Ultraberry Records at RR1, Box 1942, Friendsville, PA 18818. And, hey, wouldn't you like to know someone in Friendsville?

Track List:

Puppies In The Park * All Figured Out * Now Now Now Now Now * Frozen Vegetables * Lazy Silences * Unfashionably Late * Ma Grande * Every Summer Ocean Road * New Ears * Waterslide * Long Weekend * Long For The Ocean * Spices * Moon Afternoon * Sexy Dream * Mid-Samba Night's Dream * I'll Buy A Castle * I Liked It...What Was It? * Come In, Chris Baby * I Can't Give It Up * All You (Still) Do For Me * When She Gets Home * Pickin' Out The Good Bits * Yesteryear

© 1999 - Shaun Dale