I Own That CD! - Jellyfish

Emerging from San Francisco in the late 1980s, the band Jellyfish channeled great bands of the past, ELO, The Beatles, The Raspberries and 10cc (just to name a few). Their bubble gum pop meets Brian May’s guitars from Queen was fresh and exciting for 1990. Produced by Jack Joseph Puig and Albhy Galuten (who produced the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever), the album was full of rich, beautiful harmonies, witty lyrics and music that touched on the best of what people loved about music from the late 1960s and 1970s. The CD is Bellybutton and it’s today's feature on I Own That CD!

Before the formation of Jellyfish, drummer and lead vocalist Andy Sturmer and keyboardist Roger Manning were in the group Beatnik Beatch. Jason Falkner during this time was the lead guitarist for the Three O’Clock, a Los Angeles-based Paisley Underground band. Closing out the quartet was Roger’s brother Chris (listed in the liner notes as “Band Witchdoctor and Mime”) on bass.

The songs were catchy and orchestral and had all the key ingredients of classic power pop down cold—the sweet but biting melodies, the addictive hooks, the gorgeous stacks of harmonies, and the '60s-styled musical accents.

After the gorgeous and painful opener “The Man I Used to Be”, the band kicks into Beatles and Badfinger mode with the melodic rocker “That Is Why”. The full-on rocker “The King Is Half Undressed” with power chords and bubble-gum style vocals continues the fantastic debut.

One of my top songs comes next, “I Wanna Stay Home” - a beautiful mid-tempo ballad with a gorgeous trumpet from session player Chuck Findley. Just listen to the beautiful layer upon layer of sound, perfectly produced and performed.

The song that made the most noise on the airwaves and charts was the poppy/head bopping “Baby’s Coming Back” complete with fantastic hand claps. There’s also a bit of The Partridge Family near the end (listen closely to the keyboards). They fit so much into a song that’s only 2:57 long.

Alas, the band was not long for the music world. After some line-up changes, they released the also excellent Spilt Milk and quickly disbanded.

But Bellybutton was a fun, solid and beautiful debut and I own it on CD if you’d like to borrow it.