Mecca Normal Jarred Up

Besides their albums, Mecca Normal released a variety of singles in its first few years, not to mention contributing to a wide variety of contributions. Jarred Up brings together twenty-two otherwise unavailable songs recorded between 1987 and 1993, making for a great collection and a handy starting point for any newcomer to the band. Many of Mecca Normal's highlights didn't appear on the album, so in lieu of a ‘greatest hits' compilation, this readily does the business. What's especially neat is hearing the occasional experiments and different approaches that also crop up. One of the first songs is "Man Thinks Woman," which besides being one of Smith's sharper analyses regarding gender relations and roles (the midsong spoken word break is both funny and pointed) is notable for featuring Lester on acoustic guitars rather than his standard electric. After that initial surprise, further examples appear: the folk/country hybrid "He Didn't Say" (with Smith on slightly ghostly, reverb-heavy vocals), backwards cymbals and other quasi-psychedelic turns at various points.