The Bats were really, really good at Maxwell's last night.   2

douglaswolk 4 Jun 2013

I first heard Christchurch, New Zealand's jangle giants the Bats when I checked out a copy of their debut full-length, 1987's Daddy's Highway, from a library in Champaign, Illinois, some twenty-odd years ago. I always liked the album but didn't own a copy until Flying Nun reissued it on vinyl in 2011. Copies of that reissue came with a download card that included non-LP bonus tracks, including the 1986 EP Made Up in Blue. Here's the title track from that release.(Shortly after Flying Nun began reissuing titles in the US, the label entered into a licensing agreement with stateside indie Captured Tracks. That company has issued many New Zealand titles, including another version of Daddy's Highway in 2014. I can't vouch for whether the Captured Tracks version includes the bonus tracks like my 2011 copy, but the label has handled the reissue campaign erratically and I'd have been happier if Flying Nun had just continued to do it themselves.)   2

noyoucmon 29 May 2015