On Fyre is the first full-length studio album by American garage rock band Lyres.[5][6][7] It was released in 1984 by the label Ace of Hearts and reissued in 1998 by Matador Records.[8] It features "Help You Ann," arguably the band's signature song and the best-known song of the 1980s garage revival, which a commentator at KQED radio in San Francisco called "one of the greatest singles ever made."[9]
| On Fyre | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Recorded | Normandy Sound | |||
| Genre | Garage rock | |||
| Length | 32:10 | |||
| Label | Ace of Hearts[1] | |||
| Producer | Richard W. Harte[1] | |||
| Lyres chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Robert Christgau | B[3] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |  [4] |
The album contains several quotes from songs from the 1960s: "Don't Give It Up Now" contains an excerpt of the guitar riff from "Lucifer Sam" by Pink Floyd, and "I'm Telling You Girl" contains an excerpt of the guitar riff from "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks.[citation needed]
The album includes covers of the Kinks' 1965 hit "Tired of Waiting for You" (the title is shortened to simply "Tired of Waiting"), the Kinks song "Love Me Till the Sun Shines," and Pete Best Combo song "The Way I Feel About You."
Critical reception edit
AllMusic wrote that "while [Jeff] Conolly's Vox Continental organ keeps his 1960s obsessions up-front throughout, the rest of the band is capable of generating a hard-driving groove, and the performances capture what was exciting and soulful about 1960s punk without drowning in a sea of 'retro.'"[2] PopMatters wrote that "the stop-and-start rhythms of 'Soapy' will prove irresistible to just about anyone with a pulse."[10] Trouser Press called the album "simply the [garage-rock] genre’s apotheosis, an articulate explosion of colorful organ playing, surging guitars and precisely inexact singing."[11] The Washington Post wrote that "it's the passion of Connolly's organ-pumping, tambourine-bashing persona that makes The Lyres' variations on three chords sink deeper and ring truer than most rock acts, past or present."[12] It ranked No. 35 on the Village Voice annual Pazz & Jop poll for 1984.[13]
Track listing edit
- Don't Give It Up Now – 4:13
- Help You Ann – 2:29
- I Confess – 2:50
- I'm Tellin' You Girl – 1:40
- Love Me Till the Sun Shines – 3:56
- Tired of Waiting – 3:05
- Dolly – 4:17
- Soapy – 3:43
- The Way I Feel About You – 2:42
- Not Like The Other One – 3:18
Personnel edit
- Jeff Conolly – vocals, organ and tambourine
- Danny McCormack – guitar
- Paul Murphy – drums
- Rick Coraccio – bass, background vocals
References edit
- ^ a b "The Lyres to set Toast on fyre Aug. 20".
- ^ a b "On Fyre – Lyres | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
- ^ "Robert Christgau: Album: The Lyres: On Fyre". www.robertchristgau.com.
- ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. pp. 701–702.
- ^ "Lyres | Biography & History". AllMusic.
- ^ Call, LEN RIGHI, The Morning (21 November 1985). "THE MUSICAL TRUTH ABOUT BOSTON'S LYRES". mcall.com.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Palmer, Robert (July 18, 1984). "THE POP LIFE; PETER WOLF AND LIFE AFTER J. GEILS (Published 1984)". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Margasak, Peter (14 November 2012). "12 O'Clock Track: Lyres, "Help You Ann"". Chicago Reader.
- ^ "Children of Nuggets". 17 August 2006.
- ^ "Lyres: On Fyre / Lyres Lyres". PopMatters. January 21, 2013.
- ^ "Lyres". Trouser Press. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ^ SASFY, JOE (July 6, 1984). "Garage Rock: Gutsy Revivals" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
- ^ "Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1984: Critics Poll".