I regard R/C as a cornucopia of everything Pond had meddled with before, good and otherwise. Creatively, they redeemed themselves on their third and final go around, Rock Collection, which ironically was delivered courtesy of Sony Records, well after Pond's meager industry buzz had quelled. In about two years time, they pitched a curve ball with the insular, idiosyncratic, and often alienating The Practice of Joy Before Death, a record that hardly played to any of their former strengths. However, since the Portland, OR trio wasn't quite sludgy enough for the grunge set, they only managed to cast their net so far. IMO, their most crucial asset was Charlie Campbell, whose distinctive fretwork was about as fluid and agile as it came. That little summation hardly does Pond justice, but it's a start. Tight, kinetic guitar rock with a barbed wire exterior cloaking a sickeningly sweet harmonic core. Pond's first album ( self titled on Sub Pop) was a slow grower for me, but after witnessing a killer live performance in 1993, I was nothing short of enamored with them and eventually their record, which at this stage in the game I regard as nothing less than astonishing, and one of the single best debuts of the '90s.
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