There was no better live band in the Nineties than Versus. I saw them a bunch of times at the Black Cat and each time they tore the roof off the place. I don't mean in terms of volume, but in terms of absolutely delivering music that felt like some kind of peak of American indie rock had been reached, and we were watching it happen. And that success in a live setting was the natural extension of what was on their records.
The first Versus record The Stars are Insane is one I likely got about the same time I got Dead Leaves, the group's compilation of early 7-inch singles. In my memory, I'm playing each a lot and throwing songs onto mix-tapes -- remember them? -- next to numbers from Superchunk, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, The Grifters, Polvo, Helium, and so on. What Versus did so very well was combine nuance and noise. There's a beauty in the best Versus melodies which resonates even when things rev up and the songs get louder and louder. While that whole quiet-loud-quiet dynamic was all the rage in college rock circles after Surfer Rosa dropped, Versus seemed to better understand how to use that concept to make complex, and affecting indie than most U.S. bands. And with a lift from producer Adam Lasus, The Stars are Insane revealed just how much power was in the tunes being crafted by Fontaine Toups (bass and vocals), Richard Baluyut (guitar and vocals), and Ed Baluyut (drums).
There's crunch in the riffs of "Thera" and real heft in "Circle", the one-two punch that opens The Stars are Insane. And that punch is more of a knockout now on this 2026 remastered reissue. But the standout numbers for me were always the lyrical "Wind Me Up" and "Blade of Grass", a track which stands as perhaps the perfect Versus song. The band, a trio here, had such a knack for mixing elements both heavy and light that the results still sort of stun. The vocals from Fontaine Toups were the secret ingredient for me as a fan, and anyone who heard and loved those first two Containe records Toups made with Connie Lovatt will likely feel the same way. Her vocals when mixed with those of Richard Baluyut made a kind of magic even on these earliest of selections. The cuts on The Stars are Insane stand as tracks which are so good they can only make a listener wonder again just why the music of so many other mid-Nineties American indie acts wasn't as good as what's here on the first Versus album.
This reissue of The Stars are Insane makes "River" sound even brighter than before on this remastered edition, even as "Fallow" retains the intmacy that made the song a classic way back when, 30 years ago. The push-and-pull of these best early Versus songs, which reached a summit on the extraordinary "Be-9" here on this LP, became a kind of template for this band's subsequent efforts. Unadorned with anything superfluous, these are tight numbers, and yet ones which are redolent with nuance and feeling. What Versus laid down was weirdly intimate punk, in a way, and yet not emo, or whatever. Beefy riffs sat next to cooing vocals, and all atop melodies which were, frankly, actually kind of pretty. And yet it still rocked.
The punchy alt-rock of this trio is still as vibrant as ever, and The Stars are Insane has likely never sounded better thanks to this remastering in 2026 by Scott Anthony. Versus were always a band it seemed some needed to be reminded of, for some reason. So let me nudge you in the ribs and whisper: "Yes, this record is as good now as you remember it sounding in 1994!"
The Stars are Insane by Versus is out now via Teen-Beat Records.
[Photo: Michael Galinsky / Teen-Beat]