Released in 1999, Pet Sound Volume: A Benefit for ALTER is a compilation featuring rare songs by artists on the Vital Cogs label as well as other indie artists. ALTER is an acronym for the Animal Liberation Through Education and Reform, “…a grassroots, community-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the wellbeing of all animals through education and community action.”
Lisa Germano contributed her previously-unreleased song, “Starfish,” to the compilation.
Released: 1999
Label: Vital Cog Records
Catalogue No: COG008-2
Format: CD
Country: US
Availability: Moderate
| No. | Artist | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lisa Germano | Starfish | 2:36 |
| 2 | Tim (119) | New Trier | 3:55 |
| 3 | Sorry About Dresden | My Universe | 2:40 |
| 4 | Magnapop | Cherry Bomb | 2:15 |
| 5 | The Diane Linkletter Experience | Yesterday I Felt Just Fine | 4:35 |
| 6 | The Rockets Red Glare | Heavy Shoes | 3:01 |
| 7 | Photon Band | You Can Never Really Have Too Much Wine | 3:07 |
| 8 | Heatmiser | Junior Mint | 2:34 |
| 9 | Sonny Sixkiller | From the Aeroplane | 3:08 |
| 10 | Duochrome | Negotiating the Driveway | 3:10 |
| 11 | Cinerama | Dance, Girl, Dance | 3:28 |
| 12 | The Bigger Lovers | Forever is Not So Long | 1:43 |
| 13 | Silkworm | Dead Animals | 4:53 |
| 14 | My Dad is Dead | Just Pretending | 2:58 |
| 15 | Aviso’Hara | Better Living Through Chemistry | 3:15 |
Packaging & Design
The compilation was released in a standard jewel case featuring 2-page jacket. The back cover features images of each artists’ pets. Lisa Germano’s cats Miamo-Tutti and Lou can be seen in the second image from the top.
Personnel
“Starfish”
Performed by Lisa Germano
Drums: Jerry Marotta
Guitar: Joe Gore
Horns: Melissa Ferrick
Produced by Tchad Blake. Published by Emotional Wench/Polygram Songs (BMI). Lisa Germano appears courtesy of 4AD Records.
“New Trier”
Performed by Tim
Guitar/Vocals: Rob Young
Guitar: Will Burchard
Bass: Jay Voskuhl
Drums: Jeff Mozer
Recorded at Kingsize Sound Labs, Chicago, IL by Mike Hagler
“My Universe”
Performed by Sorry About Dresden
Guitar: Eric
Guitar: Matty O
Bass: Tomich
Hits things: James
Everybody sings sometimes. Recorded at Yellow Recording Studios, Chapel Hill, NC
“Cherry Bomb”
Performed by Magnapop
Produced and engineered by Geza X. Written by Hopper/Morris. Published by Drag Star Music (BMI).
“Yesterday It Felt Just Fine”
Performed by The Diana Linkletter Experience
Guitar/Vocals: Jesse Flavin
Gutar: Scott Jefferson
Bass: Ramone Sender
Drums: Bret Tobias
Recorded by Phil Healy in Mrs. Healy’s Basement, Wilmington, DE
“Heavy Shoes”
Performed by The Rockets Red Glare
Written, performed, and recorded by the Rockets Red Glare above and beneath the plane of the apes, Hoboken, NY. Published by Idealistic Music (ASCAP).
“You Can Never Really Have Too Much Wine”
Performed by Photon Band
Guitar/Vocals: Art
Drums: Simon
Bass: Jeff
Trombone: Bouchon
Part 1 recorded in 1998 by Jeff Tanner and Art DiFuria in Tanner’s Awesomeness Stdio. Part 2 recorded on Bouchon’s 4-track in the spring of 1993 in Algers, France
“Junior Mint”
Performed by Heatmiser
Vocals/Guitar: Neil Gust
Drums: Tony Lash
Bass: Brandt Peterson
Guitar/Vocals: Elliott Smith
Written by Heatmiser. Published by Get It Off Me! Music (BMI).
“From the Aeroplane”
Performed by Sonny Sixkiller
Guitar/Vocals: Kara Lafty
Bass: Billy Warburton
Drums: Lance Crow
Recorded by Mike Kennedy at Inoculator, Philadelphia, PA. Published by Molly Topper Music (ASCAP)
Critical Reception
Pet Sounds, Vol. 1 is a benefit album for the animal rights/protection group Animal Liberation Through Education and Reform (ALTER) featuring rare and unreleased tracks from Vital Cog artists like the Diane Linkletter Experience and Duochrome, as well as other indie-rock bands, including Heatmiser, Cinerama, and Magnapop. Lisa Germano’s quietly luminous, stream-of-consciousness ramble “Starfish,” which sounds like a slowed-down, undersea calypso, and Sorry About Dresden’s bittersweet, jittery “My Universe” are among the album’s highlights, along with the sprawling, psychedelic “You Can Never Really Have Too Much Wine” from the Photon Band and My Dad Is Dead’s oddly bouncy, keyboard-driven “Just Pretending.” However, Silkworm’s shambling, countrified “Dead Animals” may be Pet Sounds Volume One’s finest track, as well as its most appropriate, telling the humorous but pointed tale of becoming a vegetarian after hearing how animals are treated before they become meat. Duochrome’s “Negotiating the Driveway” and the sweeping British pop of Cinerama’s “Dance, Girl, Dance” are also among the collection’s finest moments. Though Pet Sounds Volume One is a little long, it unites many diverse musicians for a very worthy cause, and a “family album” of the musicians’ pets on the back cover emphasizes the collection’s personal nature.
AllMusic Review
by Heather Phares
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