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  • Ursa Major

    ALP13

    Artist: Eleventh Dream Day

    Label: Atavistic

    Eleventh Dream Day was founded in 1983 by Rick Rizzo (guitar, vocals), Janet Beveridge Bean (drums, vocals) and Shu Shubat (bass). Shortly thereafter, Baird Figi chased Shubat from the band with tense guitar lines and feedback and Douglas McCombs joined the fray on bass.
    1987 saw the release of their debut self- titled ep on Amoeba and the band hit the road to spread the word. Amoeba released both "Prarie School Freakout" and the "Wayne" ep in 1988. New Rose in France released "Prairie School Freakout" in Europe beginning a long and beautiful "menage" with the folks overseas. Atlantic records took a chance on "alternative music" and signed the band, releasing "Beet" in 1989.

    Thus far the band's recordings had served mostly to document the band in a live setting. "Borcht", recorded at Chicago's Lounge Ax and released in early 1990, captured the band's carthartic energy in front of a full house. Rizzo's taut narrative tales were often buried in the scorching guitar lines. On 1991's "Lived To Tell", the band recorded in a Kentucky tabacco barn, attempting to marry that live legacy to a more adventuresome assortment of instrumentation (legal in Kentucky) and enhanced clarity. The grind of endless touring took it's toll on Figi and he left the band in 1992. Replacing him was Matthew "wink" O'bannon who, despite a looser, more bluesy style, introduced his own particular brand of psychosis to the mix. 1992 saw other changes as well- corperate restructuring at Atlantic made fo...