MTC’s A to Z Throwback Review: Looking Back at Abandoned Pools! Plus Cover Vs. Original: Check Out Their Cover of “Army Of Me” by Bjork!

Tommy Walter broke apart Eels and decided to form Abandoned Pools.  Abandoned Pools achieved moderate success, selling over 100,000 copies, and achieved moderate success with “The Remedy”.  Tommy Walter saw more mainstream success with his previous band Eels.  Since 2003’s “Humanistic” album, Abandoned Pools would create “The Reverb” EP in 2005 and “Armed To The Teeth” in 2005.  Abandoned Pools attempted a comeback in 2012 with their record “Sublime Currency”, but didn’t see the success that “Humanistic” did.

Here are a few career highlights for Abandoned Pools:

1.  “The Remedy” is Abandoned Pools biggest hit, has over 140,000 hits on YouTube.
2.  Abandoned Pools toured with the likes of Remy Zero, Garbage, Lenny Kravitz, Pink, and A Perfect Circle.
3. Abandoned Pool’s other hit was their cover of “Army Of Me”, originally done by Bjork.
4. For “Armed To The Teeth” in 2005, Abandoned Pools tapped Tommy and Gareth Jones(who has worked with Erasure and Depeche Mode) for production of the album.
5.  Abandoned Pools also created the theme song for the MTV show “Clone High”.

Where is Tommy Walter and Abandoned Pools now:

1.  Abandoned Pools never took off or saw the success that Eels did.  Signed with Tooth & Nail Records in 2011 in an effort to have backing for “Sublime Currency”
2.  Tommy Walter won the Advertising Federation Gold Award for Original Television Music for the “Art Unfolds” advertisement for Target.
3.  Tommy Walter composes commercial songs and jingles now.  His work has appeared for Target, Macy’s, Sprint, and the children’s show Sesame Street, along with the NBA professional basketball team the Portland Trailblazers.
4.  Created the album “Somnambulist” recently!
5. Also obtained a certificate in Film Scoring.

MTC’s take on Abandoned Pools:  It was kind of surprising to me that Abandoned Pools never achieved the success that they should have.  I honestly thought that their music should have translated well from fans of Eels, especially that “Novocaine For The Soul” song by Eels.  Abandoned Pools showcased what indie-rock was all about as they kept it sublime, yet rocking and judging by who they shared the stage with, they had a pretty widespread audience.  One never really knows why mainstream success doesn’t translate over, but Abandoned Pools is definitely a band worth listening to if you like groups like Franz Ferdinand or Weezer.  I’ve always like artsy/alternative rock and Abandoned Pools gets a solid 7.5 out of 10 stars from Madness To Creation for their songwriting and unique approach to crafting a song.

Here is their song “The Remedy”

“Army Of Me” by Abandoned Pools, originally done by Bjork

Here is Bjork’s original

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeAZ9DQZFz8

Let us know what you think of Abandoned Pools’ cover of “Army Of Me” by Bjork

Find Abandoned Pools at the following locations:

www.facebook.com/AbandonedPools

http://abandonedpools.tumblr.com/