The Go Team - pre Beat Happening 1989

I discovered pre Beat Happening stuff when the first of Go! Team single came out. i wrote Go! Team not Go team. Hard Times!

The Go Team got compared to Beat Happening a lot, largely due to the obvious similarities: Calvin plays in both bands, both recorded for the K label, both hailed from Olympia, and they both cranked out their songs with an infectious, hey-kids-let's-play-band enthusiasm. But there the similarity ends, for as good as Beat Happening are (indeed, one of my very favorite bands), they have never come anywhere near the depth and diversity of the Go Team. Part of it might be due to the revolving-door lineup changes, and myriad guest stars, on each release. Each song sounded completely different. One moment they were crashing through three-chord slices of pure pop, the next moment it was several guitars interlocking and creating a quiet tension, followed by crushing, near-industrial textures.

The first Go Team project, Recorded Live at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, was literally a tape of construction sounds as recorded by Calvin, who lived across the street from the theater as it was being built. Your Pretty Guitar, with Calvin and Steve Peters, and Donna Parker Pop, with Calvin and Tobi Vail, were more song-oriented. But it was Archer Come Sparrow, released early in 1989, that really turned my head around toward the Go Team--pure, direct and utterly addictive, all for less than half the price of a CD.

Complete article here: http://www.appelstein.com/cif/goteam.html