Biography

In their continuing celebration of ’90s pop-rockers Jellyfish, Omnivore Recordings will release Radio Jellyfish, a 10-track collection of acoustic radio performances, on December 3, 2013. Nine of the tracks have never before been released.

Even though the group lasted for only two albums and four years, their influence on power-pop bands since has been as profound as the bands that Jellyfish were influenced by: Cheap Trick, Big Star, Badfinger, Raspberries, Brian Wilson, and more.

At the end of 1989, a television program called MTV Unplugged premiered. The premise was quite simple — artists performing their hits in minimal arrangements with acoustic instruments. It became a musical and cultural juggernaut. That leads us back to Radio Jellyfish — ten tracks culled from two international radio stops, one in Holland, the other in Australia, in 1993, that showcase Jellyfish unplugged.

The foursome — at this time Andy Sturmer, Roger Manning, Tim Smith and Eric Dover — played tracks from both LPs, and some covers. Even taken out of the studio, and away from the concert stage, the sound is unmistakably Jellyfish. It’s been well documented that the band could replicate the enormous sound of their albums through releases like Live at Bogart’s and a bevy of B-sides. But, apart from one track first released on the out-of-print Fan Club box set (and included here), acoustic Jellyfish — without a net — has not been explored. That’s nine previously unissued performances, tracks unheard since their international broadcast two decades ago.

While the instrumental Stack-a-Tracks showcased the band’s studio prowess, and Live at Bogart’s put listeners in the club, Radio Jellyfish offers the bare essence of why Jellyfish is beloved: the voices, the songs. They’re there in the same way they have been in every other release, and in a way fans never heard them.

Tune in to Radio Jellyfish.