First off, let's make one thing clear, you are going to have a very hard time getting this album! It has been out of print for almost a decade now, and wasn't distributed very well by the label (Rough Trade…indeed) to begin with. That being said, this is probably my favorite album made by a former member of the seminal punk band, Hüsker Dü. It is a "Rock Opera" of the first order, teeming with catchy epics that are at once challenging (for rock music) and simple. "Pompeii" is also filled with references to Gravity's Rainbow and the underlying symbolic order. The references are fairly obvious with titles such as "Woton", "Wernher Von Braun" and subject matter ranging from Nazi Germany to the Space Program (Rockets are Rockets after all, aren't they?). The wordplay is also Pynchon-esque, most notably in the song "Space Jazz" which is a spoken word bit over a fiesty bit of psychedelic Rock. Grant Hart also has a singsong quality to his lyrics that reminds me of Pynch's musical interludes. Unfortunately, there are no (overt) dick jokes. Pick it up…if you can find the damned thing.

NOVA MOB
(With Grant Hart, formerly of Hüsker Dü)
The Last Days Of Pompeii (1991)

1. Introduction - 2:50
2. Woton - 5:08
3. Getaway (Gateway) In Time - 3:35
4. Admiral of the Sea [79 A.D. Version] - 2:23
5. Wernher Von Braun - 2:18
6. Space Jazz - 5:14
7. Where You Gonna Land (Next Time You Fall... - 2:47
8. Over My Head - 3:41
9. Admiral of the Sea - 3:54
10. Persuaded - 3:34
11. Lavender and Grey - 4:08
12. The Last Days of Pompeii/Benediction - 4:26

For current Grant Hart info, www.granthart.com is all you need

 

Anderson, Laurie. Famous New York performance artist Laurie Anderson dedicated a song to Pynchon on her Mister Heartbreak album.	Benatar, Pat. Believe it or not, she named a final album Gravity's Rainbow.
Benny Profane. English hard rockers from Liverpool, they took their name from a character in V.	Blowtorch, Eric Reggae influenced artist putting Pynchon's lyrics to music.
Cassiber. An avant garde German group used Gravity's Rainbow to tell a different tale.	Corey, Prof. Irwin. The man who was the infamous stand-in for Thomas Ruggles Pynchon.
Dangtrippers. They recorded Maxwell's Demon Box on their album, Days Between Stations.	Einhorn, Richard. Another rendition of music devoted to the Demon, and much more.
Fariña, Richard. An long-time friend of Pynchon, this folkie named an instrumental work after a Pynchon novel.	Favorite Color, The. A New Jersey band sets a selection from V. to music on their album Color Out of Space (1996).
Fool, The. Surely not Slothrop's band, this was a short lived group which did, in fact, have a harmonica player.	Forked Yew. Independent, highly experimental rockers and Pynchon fans from the American South.
Frith & Kaiser. An instrumental pair with a piece called The Kirghiz Light.	Hall, Ed. An early 90's band influenced by Pynchon, they named a song Roger Mexico.
Insect Trust. This jazzy, psychedelic group mined V. for lyrics to The Eyes of a New York Woman.	Jazz Butcher. AKA Pat Fish, who named a track Looking for Lot 49 on his Fishcoteque album.
Jones, Spike. Pynchon himself wrote the liner notes for Spiked!	Knopfler, Mark. The Sultan of Swing sails to Philadelphia!
Koron, Barry. Weilding the Sjambok never felt so good!	Lot 49 (Ontario). This now retired hardcore outfit hailed from the hometown of Spermatikos Logos' own Laurence Daw.
Lot 49 (NYC). Indie NYC rockers named after Pynchon's second novel.	Lotion. A New York group whose liner notes were penned by the Man himself.
Maas. A visit to San Narciso.	Nirvana. Was the famous tune Smells Like Teen Spirit acutally inspired by a song from Gravity's Rainbow?
Nova Mob. A "Rock Opera" filled with references to Gravity's Rainbow.	Ocker, David. Musical meditations on Eight Facts About Thomas Pynchon.
Okasek, Ric. Ride The Rocket with the former frontman of The Cars.
Pere Ubu. David Thomas' legendary, seminal band shows some Pynchon influences.	PopCanon. These literate Indies hail from Flordia, and have a song about Wanda Tinasky which is highly recomm-ended!
Poster Children. This group from Champaign, Illinois, covers a lot of Pynchon ground!	Radiohead. English art-rockers who incorporate many Pynchon motifs into their work.
Rapoon. An offshoot of Zoviet France, Robin Storey's group named Rapoon released an album called The Kirghiz Light.	Sauter & Dietrich, Moore. More liner notes written by Pynchon !!
Six Finger Satellite. Indie electro-rock futurists Six Finger Satellite make a reference to Gravity's Rainbow.	Soft Machine. Seminal "proggies," they recorded a full-scale work called Esther's Nose Job in 1969.
Spock's Beard. In memory of "the evil Spock," they do homage to V.	Time in Malta. A California metal group with a name taken from V.
Ware, Tim. Pynchon scholar, Web master, and MIDI Musician.	Whole Sick Crew, The. Purveyors of pirate folk-punk, truly a gang like their Pynchon namesakes.
XXX Atomic Toejam. F. Thorendal, from praised thrash-heroes Meshuggah, gets one in for the Vikings.	Yo La Tengo. Making music indebted to The Crying of Lot 49.
Yoyodyne. Related to New York's Lot 49, ths Florida group also takes their name from Pynchon's work.	Zevon, Warren. He recently released an album containing work inspired by Pynchon.

--Sean Lanksbury
1 September 2001