Flagpole Magazine /June 27, 2001 Vol.15 No.26
Athens, GA.
Record Reviews  -  The Swimming Pool Q’s:  The Deep End (DB Recs)

by Lee Smith

Now this is a rare album.

Originally released 20 years ago on Atlanta’s DB Records, this collection from one of the Southeast’s premiere New Wave bands is finally getting its debut release on compact disc. And what a reissue it is, too. Now twice as long, the anniversary package features all 11 tracks from the original LP, plus 12 bonus songs, many never before released in any format.

Songs like “Little Misfit” and “Big Fat Tractor” were staples of college radio, and helped define the Atlanta scene for several years. The unique dual-lead vocalist approach of Anne Richmond Boston and guitarist Jeff Calder blended nicely with guitarist Bob Elsey’s sputtering leads and solos. Imagine Captain Beefheart and X drinking from the same still, and you’ll get part of the idea. Calder’s fevered Southern Gothic lyrics and left-of-center approach suggest Flannery O’Connor on crank backed by Hell’s house band.

Challenging stuff for the time and now 20 years later, remastered and released in the middle of all this post grunge grunting and metal rap and stolen samples from the ‘70s, it’s more nearly unique than ever before. Honestly, can you name any current regional act that would warrant a retrospective a staggering two decades from now? Most bands come and go in a couple of years and produce a quickly dated body of work. The Q’s however, had their finger on the timeless pulse of the backwoods weirdness of the South and weren’t afraid to sing about it. Boston’s repressed sexuality is as boiling as ever and Calder’s howling bravado on tracks like “Stingray” for example, suggest a roadside braggart. His barking sideshow voice invites listeners to look in on a world that’s literally not that far down the road from here, yet a million miles away from modern rock’s bland commercialism.

Recently reissued with a impressive 28-page booklet, the package contains a wonderful essay on the band by Calder with extensive production credits and photos. This is one of the most ambitious local re-release projects ever from one of the Atlanta scene’s greatest and too-often-overlooked treasures. The best news is the Q’s are still together, making new music and revisiting their past with a live show that features blistering versions of their best-known songs placed alongside equally strong new material. A rare and wonderful album, indeed.