ASS PONYS -- THE OKRA YEARS

Long before the Ass Ponys were leading contenders for Next Big Local-to-National Thing with their ballyhooed major label contract, they were simply one of the area's most talented and hair-raising bands. Chuck Cleaver and his gang of merry screw-ups wrote twisted songs of modern love and desperation, appointing them with a quietly visceral soundtrack that suggested Crazy Horse fronted by Paul Westerberg at a Punk hootenanny. The first two Ass Ponys albums, 1990's Mr. Superlove and 1992's Grim, were brilliant studio evocations of the band's barely constrained stage chaos and should have been initial steps in their march to Rock immortality, or some such shit. Instead, A&M signed them on the basis of sessions for their third album, which became Electric Rock Music, their 1994 major label debut. The album sold well, got great notices and "Little Bastard" was the darling of stations brave enough to play it. After that, John Erhardt quit, Bill Alletzhauser joined, the band recorded The Known Universe, and A&M got bored and dropped them. Two minor masterpieces for Checkered Past came just before the label tanked in 2001. Most bands would have bagged it, but our little Ponys are made of sterner stuff; they remain a viable unit, now on hiatus as Cleaver makes good with Wussy. This year might see the true redemption/resurrection of the Ass Ponys; the first step is The Okra Years, a hand-picked double disc collection of the best tracks from the first two albums. That old sense of wonder and awe creeps in as "I Love Bob," "Fingers Fall," "Azalea" and "Hey Swifty" fill the air again, but The Okra Years sports a few unreleased or rare extras to fill the gaps (what, no "California Bingo"?), including the Ponys' six-minute take on the Velvets' "All Tomorrow's Parties" and Mr. Superlove's hidden tracks, "Nemo" and "Peanut," originally available only on the disc's second pressing. Shake It will be reissuing the A&M albums in the fall, and the Checkered Past albums (Some Stupid with a Flare Gun, Lohio) are also on deck. Can a new Ass Ponys album be in the offing? Pray for it. (Brian Baker) Grade: A