R. Stevie Moore - Nevertheless Optimistic

One of R. Stevie Moore's occasional releases on an outside label (in this case, the Minnesota-based avant-garde imprint Innova, better known for releases by the likes of Harry Partch and Anthony Braxton), the 2003 compilation Nevertheless Optimistic is closest in style and intent to 1993's excellent Contact Risk. These 23 songs include many of Moore's poppiest and most accessible tunes, but by including tracks like "The Holocaust Parade" (the first half of which is a bewildering sound collage built around an isolated vocal track from 1977's "Dance Man") and a duet with the outsider music hero Shooby "the Human Horn" Taylor on the old chestnut "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover," the collection hints at the oddities waiting for those who wish to explore further into Moore's voluminous back catalog. Read More