{"id":928,"date":"2007-10-15T19:00:36","date_gmt":"2007-10-15T23:00:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2007-10-15T21:28:32","modified_gmt":"2007-10-15T21:28:32","slug":"blind-date-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/blind-date-revealed\/","title":{"rendered":"Blind Date Revealed: Brian Stevens from The Cavedogs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hR24tzLoOnU?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\n(Pretty sure that&#8217;s Brian Stevens on bass.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/users\/sammymaudlin\/brian.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"243\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_legend\">Brian Stevens loves you.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>After Gerry&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=all_star_jam_115&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1\" title=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php?title=all_star_jam_115&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1\">Cavedogs All-Star Jam<\/a> the other day I got to remembering how much I liked that <em>Joyrides for Shut-ins<\/em> album.<\/p>\n<p>I knew they had gone big label after that (Enigma) and supposedly that album, <em>Soul Martini<\/em>, was big-labeled to death.  Produced by Michael Beinhorn it is reportedly overly-slick.  (According to a certain AMG guy named Stewart Mason.)  Can anyone refute Mr. Mason on this account?  <\/p>\n<p>This was all I knew the last time I looked into the <strong>Cavedogs<\/strong>.  Turns out that all three <strong>&#8216;Dogs<\/strong> did stuff afterwards.  Guitarist Todd Spahr went on to form <strong>the Gravy<\/strong>.  Looks like they had two albums released, both available on eMusic. <\/p>\n<p><ins><strong>MORE INFO AND GOODIES UNDER THE FOLD<\/strong>.<\/ins><br \/>\n<!--more--> <\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a track from the first album, <em>Deadman&#8217;s Pop<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/memory.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/memory.mp3\">Memory<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The drummer, Mark Rivers, went on to form <strong>Poundcake<\/strong> and looks like they only released one disc, <em>Aloha Via Satellite<\/em> (eMusic too).  Here&#8217;s the title track.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/aloha.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/aloha.mp3\">Aloha Via Satellite<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bass player, Brain Stevens, released a solo album called <em>Prettier Than You<\/em> (yes, eMusic too).   In sampling, this is the one that caught my ear and this is who did the Blind Date\u2122 track.  I downloaded and was surprised at how great it was.  Granted my expectations were low but it just sounded way better than I could&#8217;ve hoped for so I started digging.<\/p>\n<p>Easier to cut and paste from AMG here: (Again from this gent, Stewart Mason)<\/p>\n<p>Following <strong>The Cavedogs<\/strong> split<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Stevens immediately started working with a fellow Bostonian, Aimee Mann, playing on her first solo album, 1993&#8217;s <em>Whatever<\/em>, and joining her backing band for its tour. When the tour was over, Stevens signed with the fledgling Boston indie Q Division Records &#8230; and began work on his first solo album. <em>Prettier Than You<\/em> was released in early 1996, featuring guest appearances by fellow Mann alums Dave Gregory (who had not yet quit XTC) and Jon Brion, as well as local singer\/songwriter Merrie Amsterburg.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Wow, Dave Gregory, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion&#8230;  This was starting to make sense.  (Though I can&#8217;t confirm that he actually played on any Aimee Mann album as, according to AMG, he isn&#8217;t credited.)<\/p>\n<p>Some more <em>Prettier Than You<\/em> album credits:<\/p>\n<p>Peter Linton &#8211; Guitar (from early Aimee Mann)<br \/>\nMit Sutton &#8211; Drums (ditto)<br \/>\nJonathan Wyner &#8211; Mastering (what is &#8220;mastering&#8221;?  Looks like he mastered a whole mess of Bowie stuff or Bowie digital releases or something.  More importantly he &#8220;Mastered&#8221; Snakefinger! and that in and of itself makes him cool.)<\/p>\n<p>AND it was engineered by Andy Partridge and the album art features photography by &#8220;Friend of The Hall&#8221; Martin Newell.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/users\/sammymaudlin\/prettierthanyou.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/div>\n<p>So Mr. Mod&#8217;s notions were pretty spot on.  But they are even closer yet.  The guitar that Gregory used on the song I posted, <a href=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/blinddate1.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/blind.mp3\">Disillusioned Days<\/a> is the EXACT guitar that he played on <strong>The Dukes of Stratosphear<\/strong> tracks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/users\/sammymaudlin\/guitar.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"749\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_legend\">Featured on: All XTC\/Dukes Of Stratosphear albums from 1984 to 1992; Brian Stevens: Disillusioned Days (1994); Martin Newell: The World Of Dandy Leigh (1994); etc., etc.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guitargonauts.com\/pick-12.html\" title=\"http:\/\/www.guitargonauts.com\/pick-12.html\">here<\/a> to read Dave&#8217;s tale of how he came to own this guitar.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s another one I like featuring Dave Gregory.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/far.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/rocktownhall.com\/far.mp3\">Far From Happy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for joining me on a trip down <strong>Cavedogs<\/strong> lane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Pretty sure that&#8217;s Brian Stevens on bass.) Brian Stevens loves you. After Gerry&#8217;s Cavedogs All-Star Jam the other day I got to remembering how much I liked that Joyrides for Shut-ins album. I knew they had gone big label after that (Enigma) and supposedly that album, Soul Martini, was big-labeled to death. Produced by Michael <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/blind-date-revealed\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}