Samiam / Texas Is The Reason - Your Choice Live 037

Photo by Mark Beemer

I've been listening to and thinking about the new Fiona Apple a lot lately, seeing as how it came out a week ago. And I won't say it's the only reason I haven't written anything for the past week, but it's A reason. And an excuse. Which I'll overcome now.

The Your Choice Live series was a very cool concept that ran for seven years from 1989 to 1996. It was designed as three series of live releases, with each series benefiting a different independent charity in the U.K. It was a very appealing idea to this young Ape, even though I came in at the tail end of their release life. There's a whole mess of rad releases in the 30+ record catalog. There are killer Ripcord and Verbal Assault records that came out in the project's first year. In 1990, YCR released a live Neurosis 7" that has this amazing Lawrence Finn woodcut for a cover. And then there's this release: the penultimate one for this great label.

I'm not sure why I thought/think Texas Is The Reason only played a handful of domestic shows. Is it because I never saw a flier for one of their shows outside the Tri-State area? I know they didn't play Baltimore, and I'm quite certain they didn't play D.C. But, apparently, they not only played out of New York City; they went on tour with Samiam the summer of '96, and they toured Europe.

From YouTube

So that's what this is. It's live from Wiesbaden, Germany, circa 1996. The sound mix is pretty sharp (a quality common to the YCR releases I've heard), and both bands are in fine form. Samiam had been playing out behind Clumsy for nearly two years when this was recorded, so you get a nice mix of tracks from their major label debut as well as their New Red Archives catalog across their seven songs. Texas Is The Reason plays two songs off their self-titled 7", and four cuts from Do You Know Who You Are?. I'm a fan, and this is my favorite recording of them. I only learned as I was writing this that this was TitR's final show until their 2006 reunion. I got my copy in the late 90s from Reptilian; I'm sure Chris bagged on me for not buying whatever AmRep record he was playing. But I later sold my copy for $40 on Discogs, so who's laughing now?

This idea of a label subsidizing non-profits would get repeated with Sub City Records a few years later, as well as Shirts For A Cure, just to name two. I've seen a number of bands carry on the practice via Bandcamp releases, which I think is a perfectly cromulent use of the platform. I'd love to see this resurrected, tho, if only to regain access to an awesome catalog.

Get it from Discogs

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