This new Sheer Mag LP is a compilation of all three of their 7” releases (I, II, and III). Twelve songs in total all recorded in Philadelphia. Two thirds of the songs have been remastered (I and II). All epic riffs, a lo-fi and compact production, hooks galore and that soulful and gritty voice you already love… just a lot more convient to have all three 7”s on one long playing LP! Our take: After not listening to them for a few months, I recently revisited Sheer Mag's 3 7" EPs one night on a long road trip, and since then they've fully re-entered my playlist. I'm not sure if the hype machine is grinding as hard for this band as it once did, but I still place them firmly in the "fully backed" category. With a little bit of distance from that all hype, these songs sound even better to my ears than they did when Sheer Mag's name was on the tip of everyone's tongue. These are just great pop songs, and while the raw production that the band has favored thus far remains a love it or hate it proposition, I find it baffling that anyone can see this band as anything other than a pop songwriting machine. Listening to all of these songs on one LP you definitely hear changes across the 3 EPs... the 2nd EP has this real soulful, Jacksons 5 kind of vibe (even though the songs are more political and not love songs in the straightforward sense), while the third one has what sounds to me like a heavy, heavy Fleetwood Mac influence that suits the band really well. I really feel like these 3 EPs are some of the best records to come out of this era of punk, and unless you just hate pop music (and I know a lot of people do!) I think that you should give them a listen. This LP-sized compilation of the 3 7"s is as good a place as any to start. I'm not sure why it exists, really, as the 7"s have never really endured more than a few months at a time of being unavailable, but maybe they'll go out of print and this will replace them. The only real differences I can discern are that a few of the tracks are a little bit longer (matching the digital / bandcamp versions of the tracks rather than the slightly edited versions that appeared on the 7"s) and the mastering job on the 2nd EP tracks is much, much improved. If you already have the 3 EPs I'm not sure you really need this, but if you're just finding out about Sheer Mag or if one of the EPs slipped by you this serves its purpose exceedingly well.
