DELICATE TENSION by R. STEVIE MOORE

R. Stevie Moore’s classic 2nd album, originally released by Stevie’s uncle on HP Music in 1978. Check!Delicate Tension is regarded as an absolute highlight of RSM’s massive discography and was featured as one of his six most “essential” albums in The WIRE’s recent cover article. "His first LP made in New York. Along with Swing And A Miss, Delicate Tension shows Moore at the peak of his powers. Every track is a winner and there’s an abundance of his gorgeous songsmithery. Sporting a sonic clarity and balance, and with an emphasis on lean, slightly wonky instrumentation, the cool breeze of new wave is distinctly present. Exquisite." - Matthew Ingram, The WIRE (2012) "R. Stevie Moore’s first album upon moving to New Jersey and immersing himself in the burgeoning New York new wave scene, 1978’s Delicate Tension is quite a leap from 1976’s Phonography, both in style and execution. Where Phonography has a definite progressive rock feel, Delicate Tension is dominated by short, punchy power pop rockers like the breathless, witty opener “Cool Daddio,” the sly McCartney-like bounce of “Schoolgirl” and the sarcastic Ramones blur of “Apropos Joe.” Elsewhere, Moore’s instrumental arsenal (as before, he plays every instrument himself with the exception of about half a dozen drum parts and the flutes on the anguished “You Are Too Far From Me”) expands to include an adorably rinky-dink electric piano on “Funny Child” (which sounds as if the Residents had suddenly decided to write a late-era Monkees song) and more synthesizers, which underpin forward-looking early synth-pop experiments like the frantic voice-modified robo-bop “Horizontal Hideaway.” Delicate Tension is an album of surprising emotional depth. Best of all, the album’s sound is an enormous improvement over the extremely lo-fi Phonography; it stands next to Roy Wood’s Boulders, Todd Rundgren’s Something/Anything?, and McCartney as one of the best one-man-band albums of the ‘70s." - Stewart Mason, All Music Guide