The Amps: Pacer

Doomed to live its life in the bargain-bins of record stores (or not living there at all!), Pacer, the first and last album by Kim Deal's brief '95 jaunt, The Amps, is an oft-overlooked and downplayed section of her prolific music career.

After the Breeders' huge success with Last Splash, featuring the summer radio hit 'Cannonball,' things began to calm down and stray away for the band. Kelley got busted for heroin, Josephine pursued her Experience project. As an outlet (oh ho! Get it?! Like the cover... oh ho!) for her creativity, Kim formed The Amps and made one tight grungy pop record under the name.

Pacer follows Last Splash's example in style, however a bit more messy and rougher, which is something to appreciate. It opens with the two singles, 'Pacer' and 'Tipp City' consecutively, the former being a nice breezy pop song and the latter a raucous partier. Kim's singing ranges from melodic and mellifluous as well as snarly and screaming on these songs, or any combination of the two. Past (and future) Breeders tunes make cameos too, such as a version of the b-side 'Hoverin'' and an earlier version of 'Full on Idle' (which appears on Title TK seven years later).
In the end, 'Dedicated' closes the record with a kick-ass but still sentimental pop-rocksong, and indeed marks the end of the short-lived Amps. Although not the end of Kim Deal, it does mark the end of Kim Deal music in the '90s, where it made its deepest mark.

In the end: 5 out of 5 outlet plugs for Pacer.