The Evening Visits... And Stays For Years (Expanded Edition) (2015)

Before Ivy's "Apartment Life" & Before 'The Rentals'...

music albums

The Evening Visits... And Stays For Years (Expanded Edition)

There was something quintessntial about the notion of renting rather than owning in the 1980's. Of course I am not referring to the criminal tranference of power form people to corporations in that decade but the notion that there were so many young musicians, acts, bands, etc. out there trying to get a record contract and almost all found themselves renting flats (and often sharing them) while playing gigs where and whenever they could. This album is not always great but I feel that "Mr. Somewhere" remains one of the best songs of the 1980's. It is deeply soul-searching and hauntingly powerful. So much so that it was later covered by This Mortal Coil. Something about the name they chose, "The Apartments," evoked something so perfect about the year they made this album (1985) that later, in the 1990's, bands like Ivy would seek to wrap themselves in the nuanced meaning of it and of course Weezer's side-project, 'The Rentals' sought to outright refer to it.