the fine Domino label is engaged in the process of reissuing the catalog of The Triffids and yesterday i bought 1987's Calenture album. and while i had friends who loved them back then, my own relationship with the band was fraught with ambivalence as at the time i enjoyed some specific songs and David McComb's dramatic voice but never latched onto the whole package, and frankly thought of them as pretenders to the Go-Betweens throne of Australian pop genius perfection, to which i was loyal. in their more aggressive and gothic moments (which seemed forced to me) i thought of them as clearly lesser cousins to Nick Cave or The Died Pretty. over the years however i was forcibly brought into The Triffids camp as my bandmate Jim Wilbur (who prefers to drive the van, and therefore by band rules has control of the stereo) played endless Triffids albums and mixes on cassette throughout the 90's as we traversed the nation. listening to this reissue of Calenture (produced by Gil Norton) i wish i had this record in 1987; it's fucking great. some of the production is slick and for some likely marred by questionable late-80's drum sounds, but the record is deliberately lush (compared to the albums preceding) and in the same way that the over-produced-to-some-tin-eared-fans 16 Lovers Lane is my favorite Go-Betweens album (tough to pick one, but if i had to...) i bet this is my favorite Triffids record and i can't even tell you what The Black Swan sounds like."Bury Me Deep In Love" and "Save What You Can" are gorgeous hits, i haven't gotten around to the bonus disc yet.
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