Stuff You Slept On, Alternatively Titled "layzman's filler" -- rob Edition

Predictably, rob sent me a fully-formed layzman's filler submission. Pay attention Dave.

In 1990, a regionally successful band from Tucson, Arizona released its second album. In 1993, that same band toured with Pearl Jam as its opening act. And within two years, it was disbanded, its legacy carried away like desert dust in a heavy wind. But that second album, man, that thing rocked.

I'm talking about Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall by the Sidewinders, a rollicking 50 minutes of grunge-era (but not exactly grunge) alternative rock. This record could've been the soundtrack of any period film about disaffected teenagers set in the desert southwest, guitar-heavy and evocative of its geographic roots.

The album kicks off with its best tune, 'We Don't Do That Anymore', a young grown-up's lament about how it hurts to stay up late these days, a wistful "I've got a job, you pay the rent and what do you know. All that time spent wasting time, has come and gone." 'Sara's Not Sober' follows, turning the opening track on its head, kicking up the guitars a notch and asking a lover to choose booze or her man. 'Get Out of That Town' could fit in on a Godfathers record, another 80/90s alternative throwback. 'If I Can't Have You' changes the calculus on the typical lovelorn tune, 'cause "If I can't have you, I'm gonna find someone new." And 'Came on Like the Sun' is at turns a sweet duet and a drunk's regret story, wrapped in a Tucson sunrise.

I haven't heard this album in nearly 20 years. And I don't own it any more. But I loved it once, it's Western twist on the East Coast alternative guitar bands that were the soundtrack of my 1990s. And now I'm gonna go listen to it again.