mp3: Throwing Muses - Bright Yellow Gun

Again! You’d be forgiven this is a bit of a cop-out, all this constant Muses applause, but when the random factor lights its light on one of your favourite songs, you shouldn’t ignore it.

I’ve always been unsure about the album (University) this single’s taken from; Bright Yellow Gun is just majestically great, but this was the first of any of Throwing Muses’ albums where I found I actually - whisper it - didn’t like some of the songs. The song University reminds me of Ozzy Osbourne/Lita Ford ballad Close My Eyes Forever, which I am convinced to this day has the same guitar sound and also a striking similarity between Ozzy’s seemingly fifty-tracked vocals and the cooing babyish echo of the screeching baby Kristin rather indulgently features.

If you can’t love Bright Yellow Gun for it’s great lyrics (You eat one apple a week to survive…), then admire it for it’s ace A-minor to G to A-major to G verses and D-minor to C coda, and the fact it doesn’t actually have a chorus. It’s a classic of simple songwriting, which is why, despite dodgy production here and there which is no better exemplified by the samey University, Kristin Hersh still reigns strongly over my musical life.

Buy.