Jim O'Rourke Halfway To A Threeway

It seems like it was only a few months ago that Jim O'Rourke changed everything with the release of the incredibleEureka. And if you actually think that, then by George, you're the Rip van Winkle of 90s rock! It hasn't even been a few months since Jim's big comeback record The Visitor, his first record in the mold of classic "pop music" O'Rourke albums like Bad Timing, Eureka and Insignificance. The Visitor was Jim's first solo e"ort in that arena in eight freakin' years too! Even if you're not an O'Rourke freak, if you're losing that much time in your life, you'd better have your head examined. Well, never mind-as long as people love it, here's another few sides of long-ago and far-away O'Rourke back on vinyl for the first time since way back in the mid-aughties. It's the "Halfway to a Threeway" 12"ep back to set turntables a-spinnin'! Fans of Eureka and Insignificance (not to mention Jim's tomfoolery as part of the Loose Fur band) will appreciate the analog pressing of these four slices of the pop music party-pooper combination of folk, classic rock, smooth jazz and a bit of the old avant-garde to help communicate the twisted ways of the misanthrope that made Jim such a perennial in the fickle world of record sales. A quick listen to the title track will hip you to our meaning: "Halfway to a Threeway" exposes our sweet soul-crusher as a lustful man-beast on the make. The song is a straight folk number-straight, that is, until you listen through the haze of those 6-string overtones and chirpy harmony vocals to hear the true perversity of O'Rourke's fantasies. The decadence of stardom seems to have turned Jim into not only a sex freak, but also a man who loves women of all persuasionsparticular the crippled and brain-dead kind! Don't listen to this song alone-at least, not with the drapes open. The whole record's a blast, and it hasn't really aged that much in the-what'th! elevenish years since it first spread like the strangely appealing odor that it is was and is. And now that it's back, the whole O'Rourke "There and Back Again" pop saga is available on LP once again, which brings us up to date-but not for long. Later this year, we're going to be bringing new O'Rourke tunes your way-possibly the greatest thing since he first sliced white bread way back on Eureka. You remember that? Ah, nevermind...