Jellyfish

All I want is everything about this hyper-pop brilliance.

There are bands and artists who hit the music scene and don’t make a popular or critical splash, but they wow the music industry. If they hang around long enough — Brandi Carlile — they might be able to break through. Most don’t. Welcome to the world of Jellyfish.

In the early ‘90s, before grunge devoured nearly all of rock music radio (yes, that was actually a thing), there was a loose conglomeration of different styles vying to be the next big thing as hair metal mercifully died a slow and painful death.

Bands like Guns and Roses (admittedly something of a holdover from the ‘80s) and The Black Crowes were trying to find a space in between all the huge pop and country crossover records (hey, Garth!). So were artists who fell somewhere between pop and rock like Jellyfish.

Bellybutton-ed

Many of those of us who became aware of Jellyfish did so through the song “That is Why” from the album Bellybutton. For youngsters like me who didn’t fully remember the silky pop of bands like 10CC from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, we were gobsmacked. It was like Queen, The Beatles, the Bee Gees and a bunch of ‘70s light rock bands got together in a lab and created this baby made of pure pop joy and overt sarcasm.

There were other bands in the same ballpark (XTC among them), but Jellyfish were unique in sound and look. They dressed like someone barfed a thrift store onto them and they sounded like their songs had 500 musicians orchestrated by Nelson Riddle and George Martin.

Sometime, pull up “The Things We Do for Love” by 10CC and compare the sound, melody and guitar solo to “That is Why.” A good artist borrows, a great one steals.

Bellybutton was so sophisticated and odd. The lyrical themes were complex and even disturbing. It likely didn’t hurt that the co-producers were Albhy Galuten, who was responsible for the remarkable beauty of the late ‘70s Bee Gees records, and Jack Joseph Puig whose career is so diverse, he produced hit records for Barbara Streisand AND Hole. Read his production credits on his Wiki page sometime. It’s nuts.

Whether it was the shimmering rock of “The King is Half-Undressed,” the full-on Latin treatment of “Bedspring Kiss” or the perfect ‘70s dreamsicle “Now She Knows She’s Wrong,” this was a damn near perfect album to my ears. But, then…

The milk done spilled

Three years later, they released Spilt Milk with the same production team and even more lavish and complex orchestration, but with slightly more edge, probably due to the fact that they had toured with bands like The Black Crowes, who were fans — they have a lot of those in famous circles like Ben Folds.

If Bellybutton was Harry Nilsson and the Bee Gees, Spilt Milk felt like ELO and Cheap Trick. “Joining a Fan Club” split the difference between A Night At the Opera and Dream Police while track three, “Sabrina, Paste & Plato” was closer to Pet Sounds. Were those timpani drums? Yeah, they were.,

I loved the closing tracks “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” and the carnival-themed “Brighter Day.” And who could resist “He’s My Best Friend,” yet another in a long line of homages to one’s penis.

But, the song that has kept me wrapt all these years is “All Is Forgiven,” an angry blistering noise fest that crescendos furiously into complete silence with just the faint hint of children’s bells before exploding again. The lyric “Though he shelters himself in the shade of a stool pigeon/All is forgiven” gives you a pretty good picture of what we’re dealing with and that rage is palpable in every part of the song despite yet another one of dozens of incredible melodies scattered throughout every song on both records.

Jellies kick out the jams

After Spilt Milk was released, I saw Jellyfish at a rather large club in Houston opening for Tears for Fears. Yeah. For years I had a t-shirt that said Love, Jellyfish Style on the front in the style of the early ‘70s American TV Show “Love American Style.” On the back along with tour dates, it said, “Jellies kick out the jams.”

I miss that shirt - the above replica is not nearly as cool as the original.

The performance was…unbalanced. They sounded incredible at times, but the rhythm was off-kilter due to drummer/singer Andy Sturmer standing while playing. Still, they were everything I hoped vocally and it was a thrill to see them attempting to perform such complex and layered arrangements as a four-piece rock ensemble.

I missed out on them a second time. They were supposed to play a much smaller club with Maggie’s Dream opening (more on them to come). It was kind of a dream lineup, but, as legend holds, the club owner refused to honor the contract to pay the touring opener and instead booked some local bands. Jellyfish declined and passed up Houston. The club owner told no one and didn’t refund any money…supposedly. Drama!

It’s remarkable that with all that talent, we didn’t hear more from the individual members later, but it doesn’t mean they weren’t working - they still are. Sturmer has been pretty much out of the public spotlight for decades, but he continues to write songs and has done a bunch of things for Disney and the Cartoon Network.

Keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. became a touring member of Beck’s band, helped to found Imperial Drag and worked as a sideman for Jay-Z and Blink 182, if that combo isn’t weird enough for you.

Original guitarist Jason Faulkner wound up doing a bunch of solo work that never achieved much popularity while and performing with Air, Travis and Beck among others.

We only got two albums from this incredible collection of musicians but, for me, it’s been enough to last a lifetime. Sure, I’d take more, but it would have to live up to the incredibly high standards of Bellybutton and Spilt Milk, and, good luck with that.

Bellybutton (1990)

Track Listing:

1. The Man I Used to Be

2. That is Why

3. The King is Half-Undressed

4. I Wanna Stay Home

5. She Still Loves Him

6. All I Want is Everything

7. Now She Knows She’s Wrong

8. Bedspring Kiss

9. Baby’s Coming Back

10. Calling Sarah

Spilt Milk (1993)

Track Listing:

1. Hush

2. Joining a Fan Club

3. Sabrina, Paste and Plato

4. New Mistake

5. Glutton of Sympathy

6. The Ghost at Number One

7. Bye Bye Bye

8. All is Forgiven

9. Russian Hill

10. He’s My Best Friend

11. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late

12. Brighter Day