Rich here. I've written about my fascination with home-recording artists, HERE and HERE. One particular artist, Richard X. Heyman, totally blew me out of the water when I first heard him on a tape that my erstwhile singing partner Jeb Bolan sent me of Heyman's 1988 album "Living Room."
Heyman had previously played in a popular Washington, DC, band, The Rage, with cult power pop god, Tommy Keene. But when the band broke up, Heyman basically said, "I don't need no stinkin' band; I'll do it myself." And "Living Room" was literally recorded in a living room. The record was self-released by Heyman, and the album featured him writing & singing all the lead vocals & harmonies and playing all the instruments. Turns out he's no slouch as a player or a singer. Most particularly, he's a helluva drummer.
In summary: "Living Room" was ALL KILLER, NO FILLER.
In the early '90s rush to find the next R.E.M. or Nirvana and plunk them from the underground and into the mainstream, Sire Records signed Richard X. Heyman to a major label contract, and in 1991 released his major label debut, "Hey Man!" As with "Living Room," Heyman once again wrote & sang all the songs and played all the instruments (with his wife playing bass on a few songs).
All the songs on "Hey Man!" were fab, and the album's production was pristine. Unfortunately by that point, Grunge had become mainstream, not Guitar-Pop-and-Harmony records that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Byrds and Beatles playlist, and the public didn't notice. A year or two later, you could pick up a copy of the "Hey Man!" CD for just $3-4 in a cut-out bin.
But these days "Hey Man!" is considered a Cult Classic, and it's so hard to find that it costs over $100 if you try to buy a copy from Amazon.
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