I downloaded Big Dipper's Heaven off SLSK today. This is definitely an album that reminds me of the good ol'days of 2002.

I really enjoy the Boston power pop/alternative groups of the mid 80's--The Neighborhoods and Big Dipper bring pleasure to my life. I know they are not from Boston, but Dramarama is a solid group, as well. Everyone knows the song Anything, Anything off the Cinema Verite album. I know a few--probably around ten--people who like the song. I remember I was watching Vh1 with some friends a couple years back and a promo for Bands Reunited was shown during a commercial break--and the band that was on the verge of reuniting was...Dramarama. In seeing the possibility of of a Dramarama reunion, everyone who had heard of the band was like: "I love that song they recorded in the 80's. Is it called Promises, Promises?" Someone who was cognizant towards pop hits from the 1980's interjected: "No, you are thinking of Anything, Anything; Mister, Mister recorded Promises, Promises." The people who knew the facts kept quiet; it seems as though alliteration was quite popular in the 80's.

When I tell people I like the Boston scene of the mid 80's, I am always asked whether or not I enjoy the Pixies. I always answer: I like a few of their songs--Here Comes Your Man--but I probably don't like them as much as you do. To be honest, I think some of the lyrics Black Francis/Frank Black wrote for the band are interesting, but the sound is redundant--and very myopic. Pixies infatuation is very perplexing. Was Soul Asylum better than the Replacements? Was Ricky Nelson better than Eddie Cochran? My education has taught me that it is better to search out the primary source than it is to search out the secondary source.

If the primary source mattered to most, Mission of Burma's Vs. would receive the same accolades that the first three Pixes albums receive--heck, the Obliterati is light years ahead of anything the Pixies ever recorded.