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On Fyre

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1984 studio album by Lyres
On Fyre
Studio album by Lyres
Released1984
RecordedNormandy Sound
GenreGarage rock
Length32:10
LabelAce of Hearts
ProducerRichard W. Harte
Lyres chronology
On Fyre
(1984) 		Lyres Lyres
(1985)

On Fyre is the first full-length studio album by American garage rock band Lyres. It was released in 1984 by the label Ace of Hearts and reissued in 1998 by Matador Records. 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."

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 the Pete Best Combo song "The Way I Feel About You." It also 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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
All Music Guide to Rock
Robert ChristgauB
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide
PopMatters8/10
Martin C. Strong7/10

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." The album ranked No. 35 in the Village Voice annual Pazz & Jop poll for 1984.

AllMusic wrote that "while 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.'" PopMatters wrote that "the stop-and-start rhythms of 'Soapy' will prove irresistible to just about anyone with a pulse." Trouser Press called the album "simply the genre’s apotheosis, an articulate explosion of colorful organ playing, surging guitars and precisely inexact singing." On Fyre was included in the 2014 book Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981–1996. Its author wrote: "The album is a seminal work of garage-rock/punk shot through with an artless sensibility and stuffed with rock-and-roll gold. Check out 'Help You Ann' for a sampling."

"Help You Ann"

"Help You Ann" had been released as a single in 1983 and ranked number 24 on the Village Voice annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll of that year's best singles. The song was recorded by the Chesterfield Kings on a 1998 single and covered by Courtney Love on her live shows in the early 2000s. In 2005, Blender placed it at number 360 on their list of the 500 best songs from 1980 to 2005. In 2006, Boston magazine named "Help You Ann" number 13 on their list of the greatest Boston songs of all time.

AllMusic highlighted "the shimmer of a heavily tremolo-effected guitar line, driving the song with its quick pulse" and remarked that "'Help You Ann' is one of those perfect little moments in rock, one that went largely unnoticed outside the underground rock scene of the early '80s."

Track listing

Side one

  1. Don't Give It Up Now – 4:13
  2. Help You Ann – 2:29
  3. I Confess – 2:50
  4. I'm Tellin' You Girl – 1:40
  5. Love Me Till the Sun Shines – 3:56

Side two

  1. Tired of Waiting – 3:05
  2. Dolly – 4:17
  3. Soapy – 3:43
  4. The Way I Feel About You – 2:42
  5. Not Like the Other One – 3:18

Personnel

  • Jeff Conolly – vocals, organ and tambourine
  • Danny McCormack – guitar
  • Paul Murphy – drums
  • Rick Coraccio – bass, background vocals

References

  1. ^ Foster, Nancy L. (18 August 2014). "The Lyres to set Toast on fyre Aug. 20". The Somerville Times.
  2. Deming, Mark. "Lyres | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  3. Righi, Len (21 November 1985). "The Musical Truth About Boston's Lyres". The Morning Call. Archived from the original on 29 September 2024.
  4. Palmer, Robert (18 July 1984). "The Pop Life; Peter Wolf and Life After J. Geils". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  5. Margasak, Peter (14 November 2012). "12 O'Clock Track: Lyres, "Help You Ann"". Chicago Reader.
  6. "Children of Nuggets". KQED. 17 August 2006.
  7. ^ Deming, Mark. "On Fyre: Lyres". AllMusic.
  8. Dougan, John (1995). "The Lyres". All Music Guide to Rock: The Best CDs, Albums & Tapes. Miller Freeman Books. pp. 492–493. ISBN 0-87930-376-X.
  9. "Robert Christgau: Album: The Lyres: On Fyre". www.robertchristgau.com.
  10. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. pp. 701–702.
  11. ^ Maine, David (21 January 2013). "Lyres: On Fyre / Lyres Lyres". PopMatters.
  12. Strong, M.C. (2003). The Great Indie Discography (2nd ed.). Canongate. p. 405.
  13. Sasfy, Joe (6 July 1984). "Garage Rock: Gutsy Revivals". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 29 September 2024.
  14. Christgau, Robert (18 February 1985). "The 1984 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice.
  15. Schinder, Scott; Lamey, Charles P.; Robbins, Ira. "Lyres". Trouser Press. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  16. Earles, Andrew (2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981–1996. Voyageur Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-7603-4648-8.
  17. Christgau, Robert (28 February 1984). "The 1983 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  18. "It Must Be Love!". New Musical Express. 27 October 2001. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  19. "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". Blender. October 2005.
  20. Rimas, Andrew (15 July 2006). "Rock This Way". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  21. Maginnis, Tom. "I Want to Help You Ann – Lyres – Review". AllMusic.
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