Consumer Guide Album

The Coachmen: Failure to Thrive [New Alliance EP, 1988]
Shit-rock iconographer J.D. King's NYC art band included a guitarist named Thurston Moore, and the halting melodicism of their circa-'79 demos will surprise pioneering Sonic Youth fans, though Thurston was only the guitarist, after all. It also surprises me, because I never heard or heard of them at a time when I was clubbing three-four times weekly. They sure deserved some word-of-mouth. On the other hand, they weren't deeply special, not on this evidence. This is why critics get a little jaded. B