With the arrival of a new guitarist, the Salems became a quartet for A Ripping Spin, a full-length LP also produced by Minehan. The songs and playing are better, but the vocals are still hit-and-miss. Kaplan takes an indecisive approach to the issue; Grunwald's gurgly warble can also be a trial. The brief "Fragile" shows their potential, but other tunes are less mellifluous.

A guitarist switch brought Stephen Smith into the lineup for Frequency and Urgency, which resulted in noticeably improved music on the Ethan James-produced album. With stronger, more assured playing, the simple pop-rock provides a firm basis for the alternating 50-50 mix of sensitive, occasionally offbeat tunes written and sung individually by Grunwald and Kaplan. The latter's lighter tone and smoother delivery is generally more attractive here, but neither is remotely qualified to be a lead singer.

Taking another instrumental step forward, Natural Disasters, National Treasures finds Kaplan and Grunwald ably supported by a different guitarist and a new drummer. The Salems' productive relationship with James results in the most accomplished and appealing sound of their career; amazingly, Kaplan's vocals are nicely Bangleish and Grunwald's are slowly approaching adequacy as well. (Caveat to Eddy Grant fans: the "Electric Avenue" here is a different song entirely.)

Stylistic tensions surface on Down the Primrose Path. Amid some of their most unpalatably pretentious lyrics in years, surprisingly loud arrangements all but overwhelm Kaplan and drive Grunwald to sing worse than usual. A few songs (the inquisitive "Bell Jar" and "Primrose Path," for instance) are treated gently, but the band's overriding readiness to rock this time out leaves them sounding wan and stranded.
- Ira Robbins (Trouser Press)

Salem 66 - Natural Disasters, National Treasures (1988)

1. Isabella
2. The Marble
3. Lucky Penny
4. You Can't Take It With You
5. Secret Grunwald
6. Electric Avenue
7. George Washington Slept Here
8. Tough As Nails
9. Suffering Bastard
10. Eightball

Salem 66 - Down the Primrose Path (1990)

1. Thaw
2. Bell Jar
3. Beekeeper
4. Ace of Spades
5. Cherry
6. Primrose Path
7. Cinderalla
8. Sacred Prostitute
9. Can't Hold a Candle to You
10. Lost and Found

PERSONAL NOTE: The above article from Trouser Press is pretty damn honest about Salem 66's strengths and weaknesses, blunt even about their musical/singing ability, but I'll always have a soft spot for Salem 66. They were very much part of the Homestead thing (which was pretty important to the developing independent music scene of the 80s) and I loved just plain loved Homestead. To try and spotlight that era and not to remember Salem 66 just because they weren't the very best would be wrong.

Also, I did get to see them live once and it was a great show. Much better than I expected from any of their albums (and I have all of them, but only these on CD). Add to that, I spent the evening in company of Roger Miller (of Mission of Burma), drinking beer and talking poetry while the band rocked us. He'd stopped back in town just to see them, having played the same bar two nights earlier before heading on to Minneapolis.