I came here bang out 2500 words on one of the best birthday presents I’ve ever received: the 30th Anniversary release of Frente‘s Marvin the Album on vinyl. I was going to talk about how it was the first album I ever bought myself, on cassette, from the long defunct Music World in Coquitlam Centre.
But then I realized I would never finish it because I would have so much to say about how important it was to me, how well I know the songs, and how they would be the band I want to see the most, out of every band in my 1200+ CD collection. I would probably bawl if I’m ever in the same room as Angie Hart as she sings the first line of Girl.
I would also have to talk about how they’ve more or less disappeared from my life, as their second and last album was released in 1996. Even though I was scouring the early internet for singles and EPs long after that for b-sides and covers, I don’t think I’ve actively thought about them much over the last 20 odd years.
Of course, Angie’s band Splendid appearing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a huge deal for me. I also liked that record, plus all of Angie’s solo work that I’ve listened to. But Frente as a thing was in the past for me, and not actively on my mind as a band that I missed. It’s just been so long since they were an active band.
When I heard about their reunion shows in Australian when Marvin turned 20 (?), it had already happened. At that point, I thought I had missed my chance to see them. I was disappointed, but as I said, having not been actively thinking about them an ongoing concern, it garnered little more than a shrug and “too bad” from me.
So earlier this year, when I mentioned to Danica about how I would like Marvin on vinyl, being on my nostalgia binge brought on by the 30th anniversary tour that Sarah McLachlan did for Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (which is the other album that hold this level of importance to me), I didn’t even bother looking to see if it existed. 14 year-old me would’ve been disgusted. 34 year-old me would’ve understood.
I soon found out it existed though: on my birthday this year, when I opened up Danica’s present to me. There it was. And IT WAS SIGNED! Splendid. Newly 44 year-old me was absolutely delighted.
But even then, I didn’t listen to it right away. I had birthday drinks to go to that night after work, and seeing a small group of my friends in person, something that is fleetingly rare these days, was still how I was going to spend that evening. Between that, the resulting hangover (well-made cocktails still slap), a pub quiz (more friends!), and some leftover work stuff I was itching to get done, I didn’t really have a chance until last night to take a trip down memory lane.
When I finished up my part of Eliot’s bed time routine, I went into my office and ripped opened the plastic. The cover and linear notes were familiar, but not exactly the same as the what I was used to on the cassette and CD. And I was really familiar with the linear notes on those formats for this record. Really familiar. I didn’t have much recorded music of my own when I was in high school, so the albums I had, I knew every part of them.
I dropped the needle on the record, switched the input on my amp, and put on the connected headphones. The crackle comes through. Just in time. And then Angie: A girl is the word / that she hasn’t heard. Oh I was so back.
It’s not that I haven’t listened to that song and album on and off over the last decades — I just haven’t listened to it with such deliberateness in a long time. That’s what this whole vinyl thing is for me, to listen to music intentionally as the only thing I’m doing, to literally put the needle on wax and wait as the right groove is hit and sound is produced. Latency is a gift.
The first time though was jarring. Girl sounded exactly as I remembered, with a bit more crispness on the vocals due to the listening format/environment. But when I was expecting the end of that to go into Labour of Love, it went to Accidently Kelly Street instead.
You see, this version was effectively the original Australian release, with the original running order, and the Bizarre Love Triangle cover tagged on the end. The US/Canadian version I was used to had a different running order, as well as a couple of songs that were swapped out. I was familiar with 1-9-0 and Out of Sight because I had heard them from other releases, but they weren’t part of the Marvin experience for me, so they felt out of context when they came on.
But a different set of songs and running order didn’t materially alter my experience. I was still listening to Marvin the Album with intentionality for the first time in years and years. And everything I loved about it and them came flooding back.
It was magical. Transcending. The nostalgia sweet spot was worked with precision.
So of course I googled them afterwards to see if they did a tour when this was release a couple years ago. And of course they did. Last year. Australia. I had missed the chance again. But this time, I was bummed. Really bummed.
The google tunnel led to their socials, and then a glimmer of hope: they were working on new music! So maybe, in 2025, a reunited Frente (probably just Angie and Simon Austin?) might need to do some promo for a new record, perhaps some small shows in their native land?
The dream is not dead yet.
…
Anyway, where I was? Yeah. I don’t have time to write that post. Instead, I’ll just say thing:
I love music and Marvin the Album fucking slaps.
Leave a Reply