My Top 1000 Songs #614: Back Again

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Longtime San Francisco musical fixture Barbara Manning released some excellent solo records in the late 80s/early 90s (and deserves more credit for laying the groundwork for a lot of today's indie women musicians). At the same time, she was gigging with her band the SF Seals, culminating in 1994's terrific LP Nowhere (or is it Now Here?). The album opens with the rousing call-to-arms "Back Again," which starts off as jangly pop (with kick-ass attitude) before the band pivots into noise-pop mode and slathers on the distortion (with some other weird studio tricks tossed in later on). It's got a cool Pixies-like dynamic, part pop and part thrash. In a respectable universe it would've been a huge alt.rock radio hit and captivated Manning to well-deserved fame; instead, it's a captivating, unpredictable tune that still feels like a well-kept secret.