It seems like it was only a few months ago that Jim O’Rourke changed everything with the release of the incredible Eureka. And if you actually think that, then by George, you’re the Rip van Winkle of 90s rock! It hasn’t even been a few months since Jim’s twin comebacks The Visitor and Simple Songs, his most recent albums in the mold of his classic “pop music” trilogy of Bad Timing, Eureka, and Insignificance. Those two are thirteen and seven years behind us already! O’Rourke freak or not, if you’re losing that much time in your life, you’d better have your head examined.
Well, never mind—as long as people love it, here’s another few sides of long-ago and far-away O’Rourke back on vinyl for the first time in the post-pan era. It’s the “Halfway to a Threeway” 12”EP back to set turntables a-spinnin’! Fans of Eureka and Insignificance (not to mention Jim’s tomfoolery as part of the Loose Fur band) will appreciate the analog pressing of these four slices of the pop music party-pooper combination of folk, classic rock, smooth jazz and a bit of the old avant-garde to help communicate the twisted ways of the misanthrope that made Jim such a perennial in the fickle world of record sales.
A quick listen to the title track will hip you to our meaning: “Halfway to a Threeway” exposes our sweet soul-crusher as a lustful man-beast on the make. The song is a straight folk number—straight, that is, until you listen through the haze of those 6-string overtones and chirpy harmony vocals to hear the true perversity of O’Rourke’s fantasies. The decadence of stardom seems to have turned Jim into not only a sex freak, but also a man who loves women of all persuasions—particular the crippled and brain-dead kind! Don’t listen to this song alone—at least, not with the drapes open. The whole EP’s a frankly-crazed snapshot of Jim's pop style in transition from Eureka to Insignificance, and its aged as well as those classic full-lengths in the—what’th! twenty three ding dang years since it first spread like the strangely appealing odor that it is was and is.
