The Weather Prophets. Temperance Hotel.

Guitarist/vocalist Peter Astor formed The Weather Prophets with drummer Dave Morgan immediately after their previous band, The Loft, called it quits. Astor had gotten fed up with the indie scene and the lack of control he'd had over The Loft, and purposefully picked musicians from outside its world to round out the new band. Unfortunately, much like The Loft, the new band couldn't seem to catch a break. They didn't fit too well with the direction their new label, Creation, was going in, and they were still making great jangle pop when the rest of the country was just starting to turn to dance music and Madchester. They hung around long enough to put out three pretty good albums. Temperance Hotel adds a collection of outtakes, b-sides and live bits to their legacy.

You may notice that Mayflower sounds familiar, since it's yet another reworking of The Loft's Up Hill and Down the Slope that also got incorporated into one of the Caretaker Race's songs. That's OK. The Weather Prophets bring a rather Kinks-ian approach to their indie pop, and if we learned anything from Ray Davies it's that if a song is worth writing once, it's good enough to be written twice. Loft fans will notice that Why Does the Rain makes another appearance here, too. (It occurs to me that I haven't put up anything by The Loft, an oversight I'll try to correct next week).

Hotel

Weather Prophets on myspace

Official website