"Three hours of sleep, and four spent being a creep" - Algebra One

It's sometimes funny how the art that ends up touching your life in profound ways comes to you in odd or unexpected ways. I didn't think I'd end up finding The Anthem of the Summer of 1999 on some cheap little comp.

The original Take Action! comp was one of the endless sub-$4 punk comps that I bought in junior high and high school because I was eternally broke and was purchased mostly because it had songs from a lot of bands I was listening to at the time, like Against All Authority, Falling Sickness, Dillinger Four, FYP, Funeral Oration, Scared of Chaka, and Fifteen. In retrospect it was probably the best of the infinite budget punk comps from the 90's (sweet god, it seemed like Hopeless and Epitaph were putting them out like every other week, dinnit?), but at the time it was mostly a way for me to have an hour of music for $3. The centerpiece of the whole CD was an almost-six minute song called "Fireball" by a group I had never heard of called Algebra One that alternated between cathartic howls and romantic defeatism. My profound attachment to this song is almost certainly entwined with the fact that the summer of 1999 was also The Summer I Was Madly in Love With Carleigh Jacobsen. Listen to the song and you can pretty much figure out why the two are bonded together.

For years I didn't know a single thing about the band. I didn't know if they recorded anything beyond "Fireball." All I had was the song. I've since learned that they were from Blacksburg, VA, and recorded about 20-some songs, all released by Delmar Records. Of their releases (which I've since heard, thanks to the wonders of the internet), the only one really worth listening to was the "Keep Tryst" EP (which contained "Fireball"). Earn Your Halo doesn't do it for me, and the Jawbox-influenced "Conscious Pilot" EP has it's moments, but it doesn't really click.

Has hearing these albums for the first time after years of wondering ruined the magic? I'd like to say so 'cause I'm a rat bastard cynic, but "Fireball" still stands as one of the best songs of the 90's, regardless of genre. I love everything about it, from the tempo shifts to the drop-outs to the way they fuck up at about 4:11 to the pained, utterly sincere vocal delivery. It jumps back and forth between puppy-dog romance idealism and cynicism-laced reality checks in the same way my 15-year-old brain did in the endless clash between fact and daydream.

I don't expect you to understand.

Fireball: http://www.mediafire.com/?fd3mjnnjw09