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Staff pick of the week...
This week...Bill picks it!
June & The
Exit Wounds
"a
little more Haven Hamilton, please"
"a
little more Haven Hamilton, please" + bonus 7-inch
Color
Harmony Jewels
Caroline
Now!
Parasol's
Sweet Sixteen, Volume 4
June & The Exit Wounds are one of Parasol's all-time
best selling bands - and you owe it to yourself to find
out why!
Todd Fletcher played in a number of local bands from the mid-80s to mid-90s including
The Field Triggers, Load, The White Family Singers, Moon Seven Times, and Twiggy (for
whom Parasol released 2 singles). Todd also played with Nikki Sudden, Erik
Voeks, and The Chamber Strings in addition to making guest performances
on several Champaign-Urbana based releases.
However, it was with June & The Exit Wounds that Todd reluctantly stepped into
the spotlight.
Parasol was charmed to release his newest project that locked into the soft-pop
sounds of Todd Rundgren and Brian Wilson with lush instrumentation and production
by Ellis Clark (Kevin Tihista's Red Terror, The Chamber Strings, Epicycle), wistful,
immediate vocals, and heartfelt, untarnished lyrics (there's a song about loving
Cathy Dennis here, after all). Fans of the pure pop sounds of Eric Matthews,
High Llamas, Terry Hall, Aluminum Group, Kevin
Tihista's Red Terror, and Duffy welcomed the disc's arrival, buying copy
after copy for friends and family in an effort to spread the word.
The album was licensed in Germany on the esteemed Marina
Records (Shack, The Pearlfishers, Pale Fountains, Aluminum Group, Roddy
Frame, Free Design, Adventures In Stereo, James Kirk, Malcolm Ross, etc.) label.
After being licensed to Philter
Records in Japan, June & The Exit Wounds were played on in-flight headsets
on Japan Airlines and played a couple of sold-out shows while on a press tour
there. A tour EP titled Color
Hamony Jewels was also released which featured 2 tracks included
as a bonus single to Parasol's vinyl edition of the record, along with Rick Nelson
and NRBQ, and few outtakes including my favorite, "Bubble Bath" a Biz Markie-esque
goof that strips any potential pretense or "band facade" away in favor of pure
fun.
June also appeared on a Marina Records tribute to Brian Wilson, contributing
what the label considered to be one of the disc's finest tracks. Todd's version
of "All I Wanna Do" appears on the compilation Caroline
Now! along with offerings by Saint Etienne, Eric Matthews, Alex Chilton,
Eugene Kelly, The High Llamas, The Pearlfishers, Norman Blake, and The Aluminum
Group.
That a second J&tEW album was scrapped after Todd had trouble finding the right
mood for a follow-up record, remains one of my saddest defeats since joining
Parasol 12 years ago. One track from those sessions ("Where I'm Taken") later
appeared on Sweet
Sixteen, Volume 4. Perhaps someday we'll be able to filter through
June & The Exit Wounds and Twiggy tapes to assemble a posthumous Todd Fletcher
release. Until then, I'll cling to these lovely, cherished songs and enjoy what
I've got!
Todd currently lives in quiet Champaign with his wife Wendy
O'Neal (Corndolly/Liquorette).
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