Collected Recordings 1983​-​1985 (2004) – LITTLE LOST CLASSICS

Perhaps if it hadn't emerged in Washington, Crippled Pilgrims would have been duly recognized as one of the great Yankee jangle pop bands of the 80s, despite their short life and discography.

At the time, the US capital was the birthplace and hotbed of hardcore (have you read “Dance of Days”?), and even though some members of the band had played in punk groups like Government Issue and other lesser-known groups, its core – Jay Moglia and Scott Wingo – was never part of the tour with Bad Brains, Minor Threat and co.

They only released one EP (Heads down hand outin 1984), a full album (Under waterin 85) and shortly afterwards they disappeared, absolutely unknown, until in 2004 Reaction Records combined the two albums in the sensational compilation Down here: Collected recordings 1983​-​1985 and brought to the new century and its new music addicts everything that Crippled Pilgrims accomplished while they were active. And I'm going to tell you that what you hear here is no small feat.

From the opening with “Black and white” onwards, one experiences a delight of guitar rock that would blossom from then on into what was called indie/alternative, the same field as contemporaries better known as R.E.M., Mission Of Burma and Let's Active or the people of Paisley Underground, for example. In fact, I always think that Pilgrims are something like the melancholic and disenchanted version of REM (laughs) and maybe that's also why – in addition to the geographical issue – they didn't go as far as they deserved. But it's never too late to (re)discover them.

Listen to the stalk!