Last Days Of Loma is the first properly produced album by Long Beach California trio Wormstew, who for much of the bands 20 year plus history was mainly just Mike Schnee, who distributed his Cd-r's street drop style. Mike was eventually joined by Teresa Cowles and finally by Michael Simmons, who have fully produced the trio's versions of songs from Wormstew's early private press albums.
The album opens with the bright and breezy main single Spinning they are whirling out of control, to that Jimmy Smith style organ and the love they feel for you, you have really set them off into the stratosphere, worried that the comedown in the morning will be brutal, but for now, wow are they in heaven.
Sherriff Brody is not a name I'm familiar with, so take it that they are describing his actions accurately, then they claim Quincy will be his valentine, so are they still watching classic 70's TV in which case this is the second-best song about Quincy that I know of.
They need a bigger boat apparently and hopefully it will all end well with them all fishing and smoking ciggies together once more.
Bucket Of Blues they are in that kind of dark violent blues bar, tempers are frayed and he is angry, even if the music almost has a Bossa nova beat, for the combatants to square up to each other too.
Letters On The Wall has a bucolic folk edge to this tale of loves disappointments, messages left on a wall are rarely a good thing, so often full of all the crimes one half has committed against the other half, this seems not too terrible a parting, but he still has questions, while he tries to worm his way back in.
Movin' Along has a jaunty country rock feel, like he's writing it to the pace of a jitney, he is surprised she hasn't made him her lion yet, worried that they are Movin' Along far more quickly than they would have liked.
J.P. McCartney apparently took a good look at Mike when he knocked on the door of his house in Cavendish Avenue, that he bought back when he was is a reasonably well known band in the 60's, he is in no way the first or last fan to doorstep him, I prefer to exchange nods with him, when he is sitting in the window at cafe Richoux in Mayfair, one of his regular hang outs, still they want to smoke some weed with him and talk about all his arrests.
Tippy Tippy Tea has an early 70's kitchen-sink folk pop feel, both musically and with the askew lyrics, making me pause the album to go make a pot of Tippy Tippy Tea or in my case Seven flower tea.
Having sat back down and flipped to the B-side that opens with Assholes, take your pick as to who this is about, this could have come out of the folk cellars, with that skiffle beat and some bluegrass picking folk storytelling.
Irony At It's Finest should be played before just about every news bulletin of the last year or two, this is wistful and hopeful that he can lend a helping hand to get to the other side of all the madness and sadness.
When Cats Are Sad you spend all your time doing whatever you can to make them happy. When Our Worlds Collide they come up with fine folksy pop songs like this, blow a brass band style trumpet and they feel cool inside.
Forgotten like those Nick Garrie albums, you will be quickly Forgotten at the end of this affair, strings accompany you into the mists of wiped memories. Another Stupid Song on another stupid album, so it goes on, Wormstew are just begging for you to give their songs a listen and to just enjoy listening to Another Stupid song or 14 with them.
The album closes with the title song The Last Days Of Loma sung like it rolls over the end credits of a sparse modern western, he has been hanging on a thread trying to survive, everything that has already happened in the film, plangent guitars taking his pain away, looking back at all the good and bad adventures that have befallen him, he leaves Loma for the final time.
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