20 February 2015 - Throwing Muses - Counting Backwards

It was only a matter of time, people.  I was going to break this seal eventually.   I just needed to find the right way and the right time.

On March 12, 1991, Throwing Muses released The Real Ramona, two weeks ahead of schedule.  I walked into that record store with the full intention of purchasing R.E.M.'s Out of Time, which was also released that day.  But, as Throwing Muses was my favorite band (still is), I had to go see if, maybe, just maybe, there was a schedule change.



There was a schedule change.  I walked out of there not with R.E.M. but Throwing Muses.  Happy birthday to me.

No.  Really.  It was my birthday.

The other kind of neat coincidence is that the first concert I ever went to - with my friend Mark Whittier - was R.E.M.  Opening act?  Throwing Muses.  We were still a couple of years away from "Your Ghost", so......

Track 1, and the first single from the album, which would be the biggest selling of their lifespan (Kristin's first solo album did outsell it), was "Counting Backwards". Although The Real Ramona is not my favorite Muses's album (House Tornado is the best album anyone has ever recorded, ever), it is amazing, beginning to end, and this song is the best of the best on there.

Throwing Muses was - is - Kristin Hersh's band.  No doubt.  However, increasingly so, there were two singing and songwriting forces in the band (after this album, Tanya Donelly left to form Belly).   And this song showcased their harmonies, like never before.