There’s nothing worse than a Various Artists compilation that starts with its best track. It gets your hopes up, only to deliver nothing but anticlimax the rest of the way. Unfortunately, Sharon Signs to Cherry Red is one of them. The title track, by the Kamikaze Pilots, is absolutely incredible. It lovingly skewers the entire scene in which it was created, it manages to be both wickedly funny and instantly memorable, it may even be the perfect indie pop single. This song alone added an extra point to my score of this release. But after this shimmering, lo-fi parody of a teen tragedy song, what can you do to keep the momentum of the compilation going? RPM Records chose to follow it up with Dorothy’s “I Confess,” a pleasant, albeit unmemorable, pop song, most notable for having been released on Industrial Records. They never do get that momentum back.
It’s not that there aren’t other great songs on here, because there are. There’s just not enough of them to fill out a two disc compilation. There’s Dolly Mixture’s kiss-off to a romantic rival, “How Come You’re Such a Hit with the Boys, Jane?”, and the girl group revival (the singer even sounds strikingly like Mary Weiss!) of the GT’s “Boys Have Feelings Too”. But for the most part, it all rushes past without leaving much impression. That could be a result of fatigue from listening to two and a half hours of similar music without any breaks, but I doubt it.
While there’s not much that will floor you, there’s not much that will send you flying for the skip button, either. That being said, I go back and forth on whether or not the no-fi “A Splash of Red” (the drums on this one are a mattress being hit with a 2x4) is great or interminably dull, and the vocals on Twa Toots’ “Please Don’t Play ‘A Rainy Night in Georgia’” don’t sit well with me. Those are exceptions, though, and for the most part this is average indie pop. I’m glad that the lesser artists on here were unearthed, because I love glimpses into the past like this, but other than as a historical curiosity, this really doesn’t grab me that much. Listen to it if you’re a fanatic for C86 indie pop (like me), but otherwise, you may want to just let this one pass you by.