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Reviews of "The Very Thing That You Treasure"


  • "Beautifully crafted, laid-back pop songs as sunny as a fresh summer's day, and as melancholy as mid-fall, Spike Priggen's The Very Thing That You Treasure is a delicate, yet sophisticated acoustic pop record."

    Alex Steininger

    In Music We Trust


  • "The Very Thing That You Treasure, Priggen will tell you, has been a lifetime in the making. Quite frankly it’s been worth the wait."

    Kurt Hernon

    Bangsheet


  • If there is any justice in this teen-popping world, The Very Thing That You Treasure won't get lost on the streets. It's a sweet little treasure that deserves a home.

    Carrie Havranek

    SonicNet


  • "The Very Thing that You Treasure is, quite simply, an amazing album. From the first track, a gorgeously reverby, jangly pop ballad called "Every Broken Heart," you know you're into something good. Priggen's voice is kind of nasal and a little bit awkward, but there is a gentleness to it that is immediately charming."

    Scout

    Delusions Of Adequacy


  • "Next time I'm getting over a terrorizing, head-over-heels heartbreak, The Very Thing That You Treasure will be in the driver's seat, helping me cry myself into the nearest telephone pole. Until then, this unbelievably depressing CD will be sitting on my shelf, safe from unsuspecting ears that can't deal with its gut-wrenching power. Priggen definitely has issues with chicks, as several tunes (including "Every Broken Heart" and "She Used To Be My Baby") highlight a borderline obsessive-compulsive singer-songwriter bloodletting his emotions onto a recorded medium. Priggen has a way with words, and his exceptional lyrics weave intricate tales of desperation and loss that somehow, by the disc's end, inspire a sense of hope and yearning. Nonetheless, this potent collection of tear jerking, honky-tonk pop tunes is a marvelous expression of calculated emotional outbursts. Medical authorities should be contacted immediately, as this CD should only be allowed into your CD player with a prescription from your local psychiatrist."

    Andrew Magilow

    Splendid E-zine


  • “To be blunt about it, this is a brilliant LP, and as debuts go ranks right up there with those of Marshall Crenshaw, Big Star and The Pretenders. It’s full of indelible hooks and I just want to keep playing it again and again and again…One of the year’s best”

    Toast Magazine


  • “Turns simple phrases around gorgeous melodies and into moving pop poetry”

    Mean Magazine


  • “Gloriously melancholy. Worth every minute of the ride.”

    Power Of Pop


  • “The very definition of bittersweet”

    Joey Sweeney

    Time Out New York


  • "His lyrics seethe with John Lennon's anger (and wit), but most often, and most brilliantly, they hinge on the sort of forlorn melancholy that Chris Bell made so affecting."

    Red Tunic Troll

    Amazon Customer Review


  • "In the finicky music world, Spike Priggen may well be destined to skirt around the perimeters of success for a few more years to come, but his satisfying songs are already worthy of a wider audience. Priggen's debut, The Very Thing That You Treasure, finds the accomplished musician joining the alt.country fray as a less cocky version of Ryan Adams. Two of the better offerings, Every Broken Heart and Outtasight take to the sort of countrified twang that R.E.M. tried for on 1991's Out Of Time. .. It is welcome news that Priggen has already set to work on a follow up."

    Rip It Up Magazine


  • "Priggen's songs are so melodic and throw up so many surprises both lyrically and sonically that it is hard not to love everything on this record.All of the tracks have been a favourite at different times so it is hard to pick out a standout song. It changes from the opening 'Every Broken Heart' to everything in-between that and the last song, 'So Good To See You', a strange psychedelic ballad full of weird effects and mellotron.

    Pennyblack Music Website


  • "In truth it's hard to single out tunes for praise when all 12 tracks are consistently solid. This is a 'song' record, an album that's not about glossy production or sampled drum beats. Spike Priggen writes damn good songs, and that's what you'll find on The Very Thing That You Treasure."

    Barfly.com


  • "Not the most rock 'n' roll of names, and one most likely that most of you have never encountered before, but then 'The Very Thing That You Treasure' isn't the most rock 'n' roll of records. In fact, the debut from New York based multi-instrumentalist Priggen is a wonderfully vibrant melting pot of eclectic pop rock styles that will have power pop fans drooling.

    Classic Rock (UK)


  • "Starting with a chorus of “Every broken heart is just like the first one”, Priggen shows his perfect hand early. Matching Teenage Fanclub with Matthew Sweet, he can’t help but sound like Big Star – which is even better! Irresistibly ragged production and endlessly bittersweet guitar solos will have you singing every line, and feeling like you wrote them all yourself. Proof beyond question that the one thing you can never grow out of is a teenage crush."

    TNT Magazine (UK)


  • "It's an album of confidant versatility, and the two years it took to record are evident in the sound of the material, the care that has been given. So often these days music can seem meaningless, vocals tossed away with a cheap rhyme, but not here."

    Logged Off Website

The Very Thing That You Treasure

Cover350_6A bunch of Realplayer files and MP3's of some songs from my 1st CD.
Every Broken Heart.rm
Alright.rm
The Right Thing.rm
Look It Up.rm
She Used To Be My Baby.mp3
I'm In Love.mp3

Posted by on Jan 27, 2005 at 11:45 PM in Sounds, The Very Thing That You Treasure |

Hit The Hay Vol. 6 CD

Hay6kHit The Hay Vol. 6
Sound Asleep Records (Sweden)
CD (2003)
"Every Broken Heart"

Posted by on Jan 23, 2005 at 01:30 PM in Discography, The Very Thing That You Treasure |

The Very Thing That You Treasure Amazon Review

Cover350All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 5 out of 5 stars
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars An exemplary volume of power-pop anguish, May 13, 2003

 
Reviewer:   redtunictroll (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
 
Spike Priggen's name pops up often as a contributor to such in-the-know New York and Boston bands as Dumptruck, The Pussywillows, and The Liquor Giants. He's also achieved minor renown for his productions on his own #1 Records label, including projects with Caroline Know and The Mad Scene.

In 2001, Priggen finally ventured out front for this debut solo CD. On it he combines a wealth of pop and rock influences, including Big Star's chiming melodiousness (along with antecedents like The Beatles, Searchers, and Byrds), the quirky styles of Chris Stamey and Mitch Easter, the power-pop energy of Velvet Crush and The Greenberry Woods, and hints of the 70s guitar excess Matthew Sweet brought to bear on his post-Girlfriend albums. At times his lyrics seethe with John Lennon's anger (and wit), but most often, and most brilliantly, they hinge on the sort of forlorn melancholy that Chris Bell made so affecting.

The opener is a note-by-note textbook of the perfect pop song. The vocal is at turns angry and defiant (the song opens "I never thought that I could be this bitter / I never thought that I could hate you the way that I do"), but ultimately the bravado gives way to a sense of haggard defeat in the refrain, "every broken heart is like the first one." Cascading guitars (including a volume pedal effect that beautifully captures the sadness of pedal steel) and unusually flanged cymbals perfectly underscore the lyrical despair. The overall effect is a mesmerizing outburst of emotion - something that everyone who gets dumped should listen to for a few days without interruption.

Priggen's ferment takes a sharper turn with the howling guitars and surreal mellotron of "Alright," and the riff-heavy "Yesterday" finds Priggen stridently whinging, "Yesterday, you couldn't live without me." The album's balance of electric and acoustic, loud and soft, rockers and ballads is impressive, but it's the contemplative, downbeat numbers that really stick to the ribs. "The Right Thing" and "Outtasight" brilliantly capture the end-of-the-night (or early morning) exhaustion of an emotional downpour in both their words and music. Acoustic and resonator guitars, Searchers-like electric 12-string, wavery mellotron, and folk harmonies perfectly match the emotional tenor of the lyrics.

Priggen's work as producer captures the jangly sheen of his songs with a ragged glory that spells out his emotional distress. The odd bits of vocal echo on tracks like "The Right Thing" and "So Good to See You" are at once noticeable and atmospheric, as are the splashes of mandolin, cello, xylophone and Hammond M3. You can't quite always put your finger on why they sound right, but you realize that the songs would never be the same without them. Even the fanciful "I'm in Love" is lavished with bouncing, twanging guitars that build to a petulant climax.

This is a truly masterful work, with derivations that lead to subtle, highly-rewarding originality.

Posted by on Jan 22, 2005 at 11:27 PM in Reviews, The Very Thing That You Treasure |

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Reviews Of "Stars After Stars After Stars"


  • "New York-based Spike Priggen of Liquor Giants, Pussywillows, and Dumptruck enthralled fans with his 2001 solo debut's synthesis of Big Star's chime, the dBs' quirkiness, and Dwight Twilley's pure pop power. This follow-up of lovingly selected covers (in the tradition of Bowie's Pin-Ups and the Band's Moondog Matinee) melds the hearts and minds of the originals with his overarching melancholy, mating a collector's ear for material with a producer's imagination for re-creation. Highlights include Priggen's versions of the Pontiac Brothers' yearning "Be Married Song" and the Zombies' delicate morning-after B-side "How We Were Before." The Ramones, Tracey Thorn, and Scritti Politti's songs all find a common wistfulness in Priggen's soul- and country-inflected arrangements. Closing the disc is a mesmerizing found-sound "J&H Productions" tape, in which a would-be Cincinnati concert promoter attempts to "get with" the "label industry." Whether the "label industry" "gets with" Spike Priggen, lovers of Lennon, Chilton, Stamey, and Sweet certainly should."

    Eli Messinger

    East Bay Express


  • "Although it is a highly eclectic collection of mostly obscure songs by other artists, Priggen's second album, "Stars After Stars After Stars," underscores the considerable depths of his talent. Priggen makes each song his own, giving the album a remarkable coherent sound. Some of that is due to his song selection, songs which, except for a straightforward reading of Alice Cooper's "Eighteen," render themselves to his vaguely rootsy power pop interpretations. Priggen reclaims "Questioningly," the Ramones' well-written but improbable stab at country-rock and rescues from obscurity early British pop gems such as Tracy Thorn's "Plainsailing" and Scritti Politti's "A Slow Soul.""

    Mark Wilson

    Evansville Courier & Press


  • "This second album finds Spike Priggen and a bunch of friends (Ivan Julian, Bun E Carlos, etc.) covering some great underknown songs by folks like the Pontiac Brothers, the Zombies, Nikki Sudden/Dave Kusworth the Jacobites, Tracy Thorn, the Ramones, etc. If Spike is doing all of the vocals as the press kit seems to indicate; he's the best singing vocal mimic I've ever heard. His Tracy Thorn, and Joey Ramone are uncanny."

    George Parsons

    Dream Magazine #5


  • "Priggen is a frequent performer on the NYC scene and at various times has been a member of Dumptruck, Hello Strangers, Liquor Giants, Schramms, and Pussywillows. His 2001 debut revealed a tremendous talent for perfect pop songs often filtered through a country sound. Therefore, the first track on his new disc comes as quite a shock with its blast of synthesizer. Thereafter, he returns to his normal style, for which a useful comparison is Freedy Johnston, whom Priggen resembles in vocal timbre, melodically (especially), and to a lesser extent in overall style. It's a sound that doesn't work well unless lavished on high-quality songs, and Priggen supplies plenty."

    Steve

    The Big Takeover


  • "Most of the album is a nostalgic look back at the artist's past, including the bands he's played in as well as those he's idolized, including the Hot Bodies, the Jacobites, and the Zombies. He works through these songs competently and respectfully, and in the end what he's created is a tribute to his own musical development. But in doing so he's also given us a window back into some forgotten moments in music from the 70's and 80's various indie, new-wave, and punk scenes."

    George Ford

    Delusions Of Adequacy


  • "On Spike's new "Stars After Stars After Stars" he pulls off the neat trick of recording a classy set of covers (The Pontiac Bros. "Be Married Song"; Zombies, Jenifer Jackson, Sudden & Kusworth) with a star-studded cast (Bun E Carlos, Ivan Julian). He's kicked around in some bands that almost crossed over (Dumptruck, The Liquor Giants, The Caroline Know)--can he finally get a break?". -

    Josh Goldfein

    The Village Voice

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