Two Nice Girls
(Seasick Sailor)
The 1989 self-titled debut from Two Nice Girls succeeded on both political and aesthetic terms. They promoted matter-of-fact lesbianism in music at a time when same-sex marriage wasn’t even up for discussion, but reducing TNG to that glosses over the hypereclectic sensibilities that made the late Austin trio inspirational. Gretchen Phillips, Laurie Freelove, and Kathy Korniloff boasted a stylistic palette that roamed from folk to punk to country to classic rock. They could sing, too. From the flanged, lazy-day harmonies of “The Sweet Postcard” to the esoteric lyricism of Freelove’s “Money,” this album is a showcase for emotive vocal arrangements. Amid a predominant focus on TNG’s softer side, “Kick” swerves toward San Francisco, hinting at the free-flow guitar sprawl of Jefferson Airplane circa 1971. Phillips’ classic honky-tonk heartbreaker “I Spent My Last $10 (On Birth Control and Beer),” and the Girls’ interpolation of Joan Armatrading’s “Love and Affection” into the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” fare even better today than they did in 1989. After 16 years in the out-of-print file, it’s good to have Two Nice Girls back in circulation.
This article appears in June 22 • 2007.
