After another blistering Independence Day here in America, leave it to the good ol' Silver Joos to shout out to our not-quite-as-free-as-we neighbors up north. You remember "Canada?" So do we, and so do David Berman, "Honkin' on" Bob Nastanovich, and little Stevie Malkmus, circa 1991. Remembering their salad days like the middle-aged mensa they claim to be, Early Times is a testament to the longevity of their unstudio sound, a carefully realized primitivity that required careful positioning of the trio in proximity to a single tiny microphone. The loudest noise would be the one that took up the most space, so this haphazard method demanded many takes, the approved versions of which had the right combination of acceptable balance and performance magic. The end result, heard twenty-odd years later, is perfection - a place and time that still challenges, still snags the ear, still creeps out so called audiophiles when it pours forth from like the tinny little speakers of the communication device that holds their music collections. Regardless of the negative nattering of these mixed-up nuts, this is music for the ages, and we're behind it all the way. It still makes us laugh and sigh as we did when we first heard it, and frankly, the LP pressing digs out even more ambiance from these field-recordings than the original two Silver Jews EPs it collects! Early Times is here to stay, unlike its out-of-print components. On all four formats, too! Yes, each one will be placed within the Drag City time capsule, so that future generations who may not have cassette technology etc may possibly access one of the other paths.

But what does it look like, you ask? Well, the record looks great, with lots of extra innards and all that, but the guys now, they look a lot like a wrinkly version of their pre-dawn selves, the ones on view in the video below! Yeah, are those some beer'd out but pre-bearded hunks or what? Little baby Jews, acting like babies do. Joo babies that smoke and joke around with tennis rackets, is what it is. Not surprisingly, this little ditty of a commercial is comprised of footage from the early times of Silver Jews- so as to celebrate the release of Early Times, their new-old record, tape, CD and digital release. All makes sense now, doesn't it? Happy Independence Day from all minds who would have you think other than what your heart tells you to sing. All together now: Canadahhhahhhhahhhahhh!