Able Tasmans - A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down

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Able Tasmans – A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down

Flying Nun Records, 1987

Acquired: Love Garden, Used, Alternative Section, 2008

Price: $10

Given that it’s the first record in my collection, it was one of the first records I spotted when I decided to go through the ENTIRE alternative used vinyl section at Love Garden one day. It was a process that took me nearly a month to complete. I saw this and got giddy, because I love New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records (for my money, one of the top 5 record labels in history), I’d heard the song “What Was That Thing” on a Flying Nun compilation and I thought the album title was too perfect because really, nothing sounds better than a cuppa tea and a lie down most of the time. This record isn’t as awesome as I expected it to be (based on “What Was That Thing”), but “Sour Queen” is a late album jam that I never really noticed before. It has the typical “New Zealand Sound,” whatever that means, it sounds like something you’d hear on Flying Nun Records and I guess Chris Knox of Tall Dwarfs is somehow involved (as he is involved in everything) based on his inclusion in the massive group photo on the back of the sleeve. It’s a really nice guitar pop record.