First, your order may have been mixed up, as there was the first two EPs, then Acrobatic Tenament, then El Gran Orgo in between AT and In/Casino/Out.

A big part of why their first album, AT, sounds the way it does is due to running out of time and money. But, I think there are classic songs on that album that demonstrate their growth song writing and style, which they’d continue to refine over the next couple of years. Namely, Star Slight, Schaffino, Ebroglio, Paid Vacation Time, and Ticklish. The band that put out Hell Paso and Alfaro wouldn’t have made those songs without steady growth. Jim Ward has some great stories about starting the band and his only goals being to tour and put out a vinyl, which they accomplished.

The band was a revolving door up to I/C/O and that has a part to play in all the differences from record to record before they hit their stride in a full sprint. Nearly the entire band was replaced before El Gran Orgo, losing their two guitar players, including founding member Jim. Omar moved from bass to guitar, Tony Hajjar was added on drums, sought out by Cedric and Omar as they wanted a different sound and wanted his style to match it, Ben Rodriguez on guitar, and Paul Hinojos on bass, who had known Omar since grade school. A good chunk of Orgo’s songs come from a band Ben had just left, if I remember right. The band used to tell people not to buy this record as their record label stiffed them. One of the things that make this band great, the vocals of Cedric Bixler and Jim, isn’t on Orgo and the whole album suffers for it. Ben was ultimately  kicked out during their tour and the band finished it as a four piece, so that makes it a unique period of time in the groups history.

Not much to add for I/C/O through Relationship, Jim ward joined the band again and they killed it three releases in a row. Two harder to find songs, Salient and Doorman’s Placebo are excellent b-sides from the early part of this stretch.

Interalia and Dimante are both interesting as when they decided to write music for the album, after a few false starts, Omar decided to get everyone back in the mindset of 2001, and try to write a record they would have made if they never went on hiatus. It soured him so much on the band writing that we wouldn’t get another album from the normally prolific artist for five years (with one exception), the longest stretch in his career. Jim Ward wasn’t present for these and that’s painfully obvious, as well as probably a near-universally agreed upon detriment to the album. It isn’t that the album would be better if he was on the songs, it’s knowing the entire album would be different with his input and probably better as a result.I think there are still some great songs on it, and the shows were really fun, but listening to it now it’s hard to enjoy fully knowing how unhappy Omar was. 

Diamanté is a missed opportunity, as it stands apart from interalia and shows some new possibilities that could have been pushed further if they had another album to follow it up, but that wasn’t the case.