From The Big Takeover #79: The Queen Annes – Released! (Green Monkey)
The Queen Annes were an utterly unheralded pop/rock talent in their native Seattle circa the ‘80s and ‘90s, who not only failed to sound like they were representative of their pigeonholed locale, but of their era altogether. Perhaps they weren’t as deliberate as I perceive, but the Annes were plugged into a retro-fitted, paisley-smacked, Brit Invasion motif that placed them more in league with the Lilys and Grip Weeds then say, Mudhoney. Released!, cut in 1997-98, is now available to the public at large for the first time. Wielding a multi-dimensional aplomb, the quartet traipses through varying gradations of psych and Mersey pop with truly winsome results on a rendition of the early Bee Gees “The Earnest Of Being George,” and further in the considerably sparer original “Lady of the Waves,” with oodles of meandering in between. A cover of the Beach Boys “This Whole World,” and yet another ancient Bee Gees tune, “Harry Braff” will further clue you into where the Annes’ collective headspace was situated at the nadir of the grunge epoch. (greenmonkeyrecords.com)
