Strange Boutique - Charm

Purple Vinyl with printed inner sleeve

After Ingram left the group, drummer Rand Blackwell joined the band and was quickly nicknamed the "human drum machine". With Fred "Freak" Smith and Steve Willett at the helm, Strange Boutique began to expand their sonic horizons with a harder melodic edge. In November 1992, Strange Boutique began recording their 2nd album, Charm. Released in February 1993 on their own Bedazzled Records, this album finds the band in their most classic style - with songs like "Unsettling", "Happy Birthday, Wanda June" and "Hills Like White Elephants" as fan favorites.

The group toured up and down the East Coast regularly. In March of '93, the group went West for a double-bill tour of California with the immortal This Ascension, and a tour finale at San Francisco's House of Usher with Switchblade Symphony. Though quite unknown on the West Coast, Strange Boutique charmed their audiences, and returned home with a growing national fanbase.

"The Charm album comes closest to capturing Strange Boutique's live sound. Lots of layered, textural guitar and lovely vocals over the melodic bass lines and driving percussion. Nothing less than mesmerizing." - AS IF, 1993