Example - For Squirrels (1995)

A week of one-album wonders

I might sound flippant about some of these one album wonders. It’s true that there are circumstances that keep a band from a second album that you might call “foibles”: bandmembers disagreeing, tensions with labels, discomfort with fame, not living up to hype, etc.

This one is a one album wonder because of genuine tragedy: between the recording and release of For Squirrels’ first record, vocalist Jack Vigliatura, bassist Bill White, and the band’s tour manager died in a crash of their tour van.

That’s a definite wet blanket, but not a reason to skip this record. It’s impossible to say if they would have gone on to great success in an alt rock marketplace that was almost laughably overcrowded by 1995. But the band managed to capture something that really is worth listening to. The walls of guitar aren’t just muscle, but set up other tracks with heartfelt lyrics and much more pop-oriented passages. They were quite adept at both the melodic and hard-driving sides of 90s pop rock.

Mighty KC was a successful single, which admittedly sounds like an REM tune from a few years earlier. But it’s a very good REM impression, and shows the band’s range against much louder tracks like Long Live The King.

I was surprised, listening again after many years, how strong a record this is.