University
Throwing Muses
1995: Sire 9 45796-2
The first time I heard this CD was a night I was working late at Wizards of the Coast in Renton sometime in 1995. I don’t know which month exactly, but I do remember the fact that I was drawn by its sound that night—“No Way In Hell” was the track—and had to go ask the people in the Production department (layout & graphic design) what that excellent music was…. Sometime after that a coworker introduced me to Red Heaven and The Real Ramona, but at that time I was simply agog with the sound of University…especially “No Way In Hell” and “Teller.” And even now the last 40 seconds of “No Way In Hell” are both a delight and an emotive trigger to those heady days of all-night work sessions….
If Shaw hadn’t given me Red Heaven and The Real Ramona as a pair, I probably would never have had Red Heaven in my collection; it’s just not as good as anything else I have heard from Throwing Muses, though it has its moments. I do listen to it again and again to honor Shaw and to try to hear what he heard in it, but for the most part I find it too contrived for my ear.
Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.