The Posies
Alive Before the Iceberg
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The Posies as a rock band pretty much ceased to exist after their farewell album Success in 1998 and a final performance in San Francisco. But as it turns out, the year 2000 is a pretty good year to be a Posies fan. And those who suffered through the fits and starts and infrequent album releases by the band in the '90s are being treated to an embarrassment of riches this year.

In the last twelve months, the group has issued a live record, a live acoustic record, a greatest hits package and soon, a four-CD box set of outtakes, live tracks, demos and ephemera. That's a bigger output than the band produced when they were together. Add to that, promising solo projects by both Posies mainstays, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer, and 2000 sounds more and more like the year of the Posies.

Now Auer and Stringfellow have regrouped for an acoustic tour that showcases the best of what the band was all about. Armed with just a rack of acoustic guitars (and a few tequila shots), the pair provided a smallish Friday night Black Cat crowd with a couple hours of sheer pop joy.

The pretty melodies and choirboy harmonies of songs like "Apology," "You Avoid Parties" and "Everyone Moves Away" from 1990's excellent Dear 23 displayed all the attributes of their biggest influences: The Hollies, The Beatles and Big Star. Auer and Stringfellow have in recent years moonlighted as Big Star members (Stringfellow also has a recurring gig as an REM sideman). Late in the set, the pair took a stab at "I Am the Cosmos," from late Big Star member Chris Bell's mid-70s solo record.

And sure, songs like "Definite Door" from 1993's harder-edged Frosting on the Beater were shorn of their crunchy guitar sound and pounding drums. But that just allowed the songs to come out and breathe a bit and allowed the crowd to hear the intricacies of the song writing.

Auer and Stringfellow also reached back to their first record, 1989's Failure, for lost gems like "Paint Me" and "Uncombined." The Stringfellow-penned "Precious Moments" from 1996's Amazing Disgrace was also a highlight. And "Fall Apart With Me" and "You're the Beautiful One" from the '98 "swansong" were welcome surprises.

Throughout the set, Auer played straight man to Stringfellow's often lengthy, whacked-out musings on everything from a guy working at a gas station with a Baywatch bolo tie to Bob Barker being Pope Pius III in another lifetime.

Stringfellow said it was actually the most sober he had played in years because he had to take the first shift driving to the next gig after the show. But as the night wore on, another member of the Posies entourage had agreed to take the first shift and Auer and Stringfellow downed a few more tequila shots.

So after about ninety minutes of playing it straight, the pair let loose for a half-hour of mayhem. Remember practice with your first rock band? One guy knew the riff to one song. Another guy knew just a chorus. That was kinda what it was like as the duo ran through a laundry list of good and very bad music from the last thirty-five years or so. Kenny Loggins, Billy Joel, the Beach Boys, the Doobie Brothers and Nicolette Larson all got the Posies treatment.

The parade of song snippets thinned the crowd down to a stalwart few. But there were moments of inspiration, like a medley of "Message in A Bottle," Abba's "SOS," and Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin' For You." And many of the songs sounded like if they had been rehearsed at all, they could have been really good. Okay, maybe not the acoustic versions of "Cat Scratch Fever" or "Iron Man." But Heart's "Crazy On You" actually sounded pretty nice for about twenty seconds. But that wasn't really the point. It was more about a couple of old friends reuniting to have a good time and taking us along for the ride.

With the 2 a.m. closing hour long since past and the club owners threatening to pull the plug, Auer and Stringfellow reigned things in again for a requested "Solar Sister" from Frosting On the Beater. And a nicely harmonized, if slightly ragged, acapella rendition of our National Anthem closed out the evening.

Check out The Posies web site at www.slumberland.seattle.wa.us/dear23.html

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