2 Nice Girls: I Spent My Last $10
[purchase]
2 Nice Girls: Sweet Jane (With Affection)
Why would I begin our Trio theme with a band called 2 Nice Girls? Because I am featuring two songs from their debut album, by which time there were three of them. Before they broke up two albums later, there would be one departure and two new arrivals, bringing the number of members at the end to four. But that, I think, is an important difference between this theme and the Trios theme we did a few years ago. The earlier theme had us posting songs by bands that were trios for the entirety of their existence, and there is room for that here too. But our current theme also allows for songs by more transient lineups. This can include songs recorded by three artists who may even have gotten together for a one-shot project, without intending to become a more lasting act at all. I hope to have an example of this kind of trio later in this theme, maybe even two such examples. But let me get to the matter at hand.
2 Nice Girls was originally the duo of Gretchen Phillips and Kathy Korniloff. With this line-up, they won a Sweet Jane contest in Austin TX that also led to their being signing to the Rough Trade label. By the time they released their debut album, the line-up had expanded with the addition of Laurie Freelove. As you can hear above, their version of Sweet Jane had also expanded to interpolate Joan Armartrading’s song Love and Affection. The best tribute I can pay to 2 Nice Girls is to say that they made the combining of these two songs sound not just natural but obvious. And yet, they were the first to think of it. The group also did originals, in which they were open about their lesbianism, and they displayed a wonderfully sly sense of humor. I Spent My Last $10 is a wonderful example of this. Here they take the homophobic trope of the good girl who goes wrong and becomes a lesbian, and turn it on its ear.
Before the Rough Trade label went under, their releases became increasingly hard to find, so I have never heard 2 Nice Girls’ last two releases. But fortunately, all of this material is now available again. I had wanted to post about this wonderful group before now, but there was no proof they had ever existed the last time I looked. I am glad that situation has been corrected.
