With lead vocalist-rhythm guitarist Thalia Zedek and lead guitarist-backing vocalist Chris Brokaw as the constant members, Boston’s Come released four highly regarded full-length albums in the 1990s. The third has just been reissued by Fire Records on vinyl with three bonus tracks. After two records from the original lineup, Near Life Experience was the handiwork of Zedek and Brokaw with numerous noteworthy guests, and the results easily avoid the tired, going-through-the-motions feel familiar to records made after significant changes of personnel. Instead, the set ranks right up there with Come’s best stuff, and that gets pretty high indeed.
Before Come, Thalia Zedek was in White Women, Dangerous Birds, Uzi, and then with a considerable jump in profile, Live Skull. It’s not overstating matters to say that Zedek was the main point of interest for many when Come’s debut single “Car” b/w “Last Mistake” came out as part of the Sub Pop Singles Club in August of 1991, even as Chris Brokaw was simultaneously playing in the early slowcore outfit Codeine (he’d previously been part of the obscure 7 or 8 Wormhearts with Phil Milstein of Uzi and guitarist Glenn Jones, and he also survived backing up GG Allin).
The other members of Come circa their very strong 1992 debut album 11:11 (or Eleven:Eleven) were drummer Arthur Johnson and bassist Sean O’Brien, both with prior roots in the Athens, GA scene, Johnson playing in wildcards Bar-B-Q Killers and O’Brien in Kilkenny Cats. They helped 11:11 make sizeable critical waves in the ’90s Alt-Indie free-for-all, and stuck around for the equally sharp 1994 follow-up Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but then left the band prior to the recording of the album under review here (I do believe they have returned to the band for live shows).
For Near Life Experience, half the tracks were recorded with Mac McNeilly of Jesus Lizard on drums and Bundy K. Brown of Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol on bass, and the other half with Kevin Coultas and Tara Jane O’Neil of Rodan and The Sonora Pine on drums and bass, respectively. In the attempt to prolong inspiration and energy, this is a solid batch of recruits, and it’s worth noting that numerous additional contributors to the album (something of a new development in the Come discography) broaden the sound as the attack stays focused.
Heavy yet supple, Come is often described as bluesy in thrust, but it’s a non-hackneyed, punk-derived strain of the blues descended from The Gun Club, The Birthday Party, and The Laughing Hyenas. In terms of contemporaries, there was a handful of equally heavy and decidedly non-bluesy (and more importantly, non-Grungy) indie bands (a few of them also signed to Matador), but circa Near Life Experience, the comparison that really jumps out is to The Geraldine Fibbers.
This is largely because of the vocal distinctiveness (if not necessarily the similarity) of Fibber Carla Bozulich and Zedek. To be clear, the raspy huskiness of Zedek’s singing has been an appealing characteristic of her work pre and post-Come (via many solo recordings and the band E), but it especially shines amid Come’s dual guitar punch and the expressive heft of the rhythm section. On Near Life Experience the Zedek-Brokaw tandem has never sounded better, and while Come was heavy from the jump, the third record is a touch more hard rocking, and that’s a sweet wrinkle.
Occasionally, branching out with added instrumentation, if an understandable gesture in the pursuit of progress, can ultimately dilute a band’s essence, but that’s not the case here, mainly because of restraint. Yes, the trumpet by Jeff Goddard (of Karate) in “Bitten” and the marimba by John McEntire (of Tortoise) in “Walk On’s” will likely surprise listeners only familiar with their first two records, but the additions enhance rather than weaken Come’s baseline worthiness. The same is true for the bonus tracks. Near Life Experience still packs a wallop.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
