Tape #2
No Crowd (1997)
includes: C is For Crass, In My Blood, Golf Killed My TV, Greener, Mr. Bartender

A significant improvement on our first tape, we recorded this second tape with Dave Ackerman at Supersonic studios in Central Square in Cambridge, MA.  Mr. Ackerman (as the bank teller calls him) is a very cool guy with bizarre hair (as of this writing).   As for the musicians, by this point John Haydon had joined the band on bass, and the band was formerly a "trio".  Anecdotes about the recording?   Hmmmmmm.......playing the tamborine is not as easy as it sounds.  It's damn near impossible to play it consistently on-beat with just your hands.  I'm sure there are other funny things that happened, but it was a long time ago and I can't remember anything else.  We have a few copies of this tape still hanging around the warehouse so if you'd like to get a copy drop us a note.  You can check out some of the sounds below.   Also, check out the reviews even more below -- we were so psyched and surprised that C is For Crass actually won "Song of The Month" in a local Boston publication......

(psst. this is what you can use to listen to the songs)

SONGS FROM NO CROWD

REVIEWS
(the good and the bad and the funny)

The Noise It's like these former Pennsylvanians have been listening to lots and lots of Rolling Stones albums and the good stuff too, c. 1968-1973. Whatever the reason, their songwriting has improved immeasurably. Maybe they're just working at it. A little harder than before. I dunno. But whatever the reason, the results are surprisingly gratifying. Fact is, the infinitely poignant lament, "C is for Crass," is one of the best local tunes I've heard since God was a pup, and though the other tunes are sketchy betimes, they are all-in-all quite charming, with strange yet exotically appropriate chords you probably won't find in Mel Bay, as well as wierdly apt rhythmic twists and turns, as on "Mr. Bartender." Bueno. "C is for Crass" is my pick for Song of the Month. ****1/2

Demo Universe (05/05/97) There's nothing wrong with this tape but there's nothing overwhelmingly right, either. FDM is a clever, charming, relaxed and scruffy trio with a good record collection. The five songs here variously reminded me of Pearl Jam ("C Is For Crass"), The Band ("Greener") and Television ("Mr. Bartender"), with maybe a little Pixies thrown in, 'cause they're from Boston, after all. So why am I so bored? It's perplexing, but I think songwriting has something to do with it. I'll bet they're good live, though, and have probably got some serious fans, so maybe my opinion doesn't matter. Tell you what, give 'em a listen and tell me why I should get excited about FDM.

Union-News Some call it roots rock, others call it Americana, but the initiated know it as just plain rock 'n' roll. You know - the jangly guitar, three-chord stuff of the Rolling Stones, The Band and Buffalo Springfield.

It's also the stuff played by fIVE dOLLAR mILKSHAKE, a Boston-based band that's building a bridge between modern rock and the really good music we used to hear on the radio. The group features drummer David Zimmerman, bassist John Haydon, and singer Jaime d'Almeida, who claims to be greatly influenced by early Rolling Stones. "Most definitely, I am a roots-music fan, " d'Almeida said in a recent conversation.

The band takes its name from a line in the movie "Pulp Fiction," and its first foray into Western Massachusetts is a date at Northampton's Fire and Water Cafe on Sunday night. Be sure to check out this show.

The band has just released a five-song cassetts with a guitar-based groove and somewhat skewed lyrical insight. One song - "C is for Crass" - is a real gem that will make you long for the songs the Stones used to write. The pass the hat at the Fire and Water, so pass on the $5 tofu burger and indulge in the fIVE dOLLAR mILKSHAKE.

hEARd Hopefully not an indictment of what the band's shows are like because their recordings are spectacular. No Crowd is a big improvement on the last tape I received from them called Ice Cream Headache, the songwriting showing an improvement also. This time around, they've moved into a different sort of sound, at times a little like the sounds of Counting Crows, but impressing me more than they have at times. We open with "C Is For Crass", a song which is a pretty good opener, but much better than this is what follows this one, "In My Blood" & "Golf Killed My TV" pretty cool.

Pick of the bunch is "Greener", a simple guitar riff & vocals '...Do you know who I am?...', setting the scene for a song that would make an incredibly strong single. "Mr. Bartender" is the closer, another exceptionally simplistic sound that works so well without any special effects, just good performance & great songwriting.

Five Dollar Milkshake's latest effort shows a band that must be on the verge of a recording deal. Any label worth their salt ought to be looking seriously at these guys now.