Half Bad, by The Pleasures Pale

Half Bad

by The Pleasures Pale

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$2 USD or more
Full Digital Discography

17

releases

Get all 17 The Pleasures Pale releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of No, Joy (Not the Same Story), Twitch, Happy Love Ghosts (It Haunts Me Now), Lovely Lovely, How I Dreamt of You, Daily Living Is a Herculean Art, Champion My Cause, Happy Love Ghosts (2019 mix), and 9 more. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

$35.20 USD or more (20% OFF)

1.	Half Bad 04:08	lyrics	buy track
Half bad Half bad Search the shelves For the books to save your life Search the dusty books For the words of sound advice Half bad Half bad You said my plan was half-baked To give up what I had was a fatal mistake Well, I have not died, I guess I'm only half bad I think I did what I should, oh I'm half good (You said my plan was half-baked To give up what I had was a fatal mistake Well, I have not died, I'm only half bad I think I did what I should, oh I'm half good) I'm half bad I'm half bad It's only half good to smile And it's only half bad to frown It's all I can do to smile In this half-baked little town And I'm half bad Half bad, half good, half bad Oh I'm half good
2.	What Will Never Be Sung 03:04	lyrics	buy track
Morning glory The flower in the pulpit of the wise mouth sprouts The scorning boy is the blossom on the vine My eyes have seen where I've never been And I want to sing what will never be sung My eyes have seen where I've never been And I want to sing what will never be sung I want to go, yes, I want to go But there's a pain in my arm, do I have that charm That enables the mad to be famous? My eyes have seen where I've never been And I want to sing what will never be sung My eyes have seen where I've never been And I want to sing what will never be sung I want to be in charge of that senseless art Singing something that might never be said Singing something that might actually be read I want to help, yes, I want to help It takes a half cup of nerve and half cup of verve To make the meal that some of us justly deserve My eyes have seen where I've never been And I want to sing what will never be sung My eyes have seen where I've never been And I want to sing what will never be sung La la la-la

about

The summer of 1987 saw The Pleasures Pale riding a wave of creativity. Original drummer Tim Payton Earick had returned to the band after Jeff Keating's departure in May. Propelled by their updated sound and growing number of compositions, singer Jeffrey Bright, guitarist Mitchell Swann, bassist Luis Lerma and now drummer Earick set out to add full time players on keys and second guitar. Lerma's brother Terry Lerma and his friend Eric Olt were lined up respectively to fill the new positions.

To document their current material and provide the two new players with homework, the band, now renting a rehearsal space at a warehouse on Dayton's East Third Street, captured a set of instrumental recordings on cassette tape. Though these quick-and-dirty demos were never fully completed with keyboard and second guitar, Bright did overdub vocals and one organ part did make it to tape. The band split only two months later and the masters have languished for nearly 30 years — until now.

Far from sonically pristine, but highlighted by rousing performances, the Third Street Sessions offer a wide, clear window into The Pleasures Pale at their peak, confident and working toward an exciting, more expansive sound with evermore complex and challenging lyrical themes.

The first of these warehouse recordings to be dusted off, tidied up and set free on Bandcamp is the collection's title song, "Half Bad." Built on Swann's monstrous 12-string guitar hook and Lerma's infectious bass figure — in total, reminiscent of "No, Joy" from their vinyl LP — the song finds Bright in defiant reflection, contemplating existential duality, life's offered paths, and returning to a familiar theme: rueful musing on the limited options at hand in recession-plagued, post-industrial Dayton.

The flip side represents the Pale at their style-hopping and eccentric best. "What Will Never Be Sung" is unabashedly un-rock, a lilting Celtic drone in waltz time with a strange notional brew on the traditions of contrarian poetry and the role of the modern songwriter/singer. Why would a 1980s indie band, in the glam-ish halcyon era of MTV, compose and perform a folk reel more at home on the Scottish Highlands than the underground clubs of Dayton and Cincinnati? Considering that the Gem City did have a lively Irish music (and drinking) scene at the time, and that the musical influences of Appalachia were never far away, the existence of such a song in the band's repertoire is not beyond explanation. But a more concise answer for The Pleasures Pale would likely have been: Why not?

As you search the dusty shelves for the words of sound advice, keep an ear tuned for more newly-revived material from The Pleasures Pale's 1987 Third Street Sessions.

credits

released December 21, 2018

voice – jeffrey bright
12-string guitar – mitchell swann
bass guitar – luis lerma
drums – tim payton earick
additional sounds – jeffrey bright

initial recording:
third street rehearsal studios
and riverview apartments
dayton, ohio
1987

tape transfer, additional recording and mixing:
san francisco, california
2018

cover photo – unknown
cover design - jeffrey bright

c) 1987 The Pleasures Pale
p) 2018 JABMA
Fugitive Music Publishing / BMI

license

about

The Pleasures Pale Dayton, Ohio

The Pleasures Pale was an influential indie quartet based in Dayton Ohio active from 1985 to 1987. Oft-compared to anglo groups such as The Smiths, TPP's influences can now be read as more diverse — taking cues from postpunk, rockabilly, swing, Motown and Dayton funk. A band for misfits, their extensive, lyric-driven output sought to light a way through the rust belt's post-industrial bleakness. ... more

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact The Pleasures Pale

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

The Pleasures Pale recommends:

CURSED TO ROCK THE LIVING
by TEAM VOID

Team Void is Pleasures Pale bassist extraordinaire Luis Lerma's current focus. In TV, Louie is an underworld Lucha hero wielding a zombie robot-killing surf guitar. How cool is that?! The Pleasures Pale
go to album
Do Big Men Really Run the World?
by Myself a Living Torch

After the break up of The Pleasures Pale, singer Jeffrey Bright relocated from Dayton to San Francisco where he fronted Myself a Living Torch from 1991 to 1993. The Pleasures Pale
go to album
Walk Like a Poem
by B Pictures

Pleasures Pale vocalist Jeffrey Bright's singing career began in Dayton, Ohio with B Pictures, spanning roughly a year between late 1984 and late1985. The Pleasures Pale
go to album

If you like The Pleasures Pale, you may also like:

Dream Logic
by Rachel Kiel

Throwback pop with gleaming synths, chiming guitars, solid melodic hooks, and a cinematic sense of scale from North Carolina's Rachel Kiel. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 22, 2020
go to album
Inner Smile
by Market

Market, from Melbourne, fuse soul and chillwave on a wonderfully woozy song with rubbery guitars & breathy harmonies. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 19, 2020
go to album
2
by Mac DeMarco

featured on Bandcamp Radio Aug 13, 2013
go to album