Harvester
Camper Van Landingham
Lather Records, PO Box 42563, Portland OR 97242
Release Date: 1997
You could waste a lot of time playing chicken-or-the-egg before you realize that Harvester's power-pop presentation and indie-rock roar grew up side-by-side, like fraternal twins with different eyes and mouths and noses but the same cosmic bond that comes from sharing the same womb. Harvester isn't a pop group trying to cash in on some underworld trend, nor is it fundamentally a noisy art band trying to soften its sound with some nice pop licks. It is a true child of the 90s, born and raised in an era when such distinctions mean less and less, caught in the gray area between covert cult favorite and major-label megaseller.
Todd Steinberg's bass is the glue that holds the songs on Camper Van Landingham together. It provides a steady anchor that keeps limbs from popping off as the band accelerates from taut, spare guitar passages to supple pop choruses (such as on "Batholithic Intrusion"), and his more intricate designs give texture and interest to more straightforward rockers (like "Give It Up Smooth"). And true to the band's name, there is a certain corn-fed quality to some of the songs, especially the rockabillyish "Whiskeydick" and the messily anthemic "Tumble On."
Too bad for Harvester's bank accounts that Geffen didn't realize that, given a chance, this was a band that could sell some records while elevating the quality of radio beyond least common denominator status. But in the wake of Harvester's 1996 major-label debut, the label cut the band before it could reap any of the potential profits. I guess that leaves Lather Records to bask in all the glory.
-- Chris Schwartz
schwartz@outersound.com
