Tag: 80s

Announcement: An Album of the Month Event You Should Check Out

by KevinLeave a Comment on Announcement: An Album of the Month Event You Should Check Out

We’ve got a great host and a killer record, all set to go. All we need now is you! Here’s how to join the fun.

Cover art courtesy of IRS Records

Good Morning!

Today we’re talking about The English Beat’s Special beat Service, and well, how you can talk about the band with other like minded people.

Note: As some of you know, I’m one of the editors for an online music publication called The Riff. Each month, we host an album discussion (via Zoom), which is coming up on Sunday.

To be clear, all credit goes to Terry Barr and Scott Fountain, who facilitate the meetings, and Jessica Lee McMillan, this month’s host. These three are doing the heavy lifting.

As you’ll see below, these are low-key affairs; all are welcome! If you want to share some thoughts, that’s awesome. Wanna just sit back & listen? That’s cool, too.

Either way, it’d be better with you there.

KA—

It’s that time again; it’s time for our monthly album discussion!

One of our core tenets is sharing music. That obviously involves writing about it, but also talking about it together. We do that monthly here.

This Sunday, August 24th, is that day.

Below is my boilerplate explanation of these discussions and the value you’ll get from joining us. Under that are both the record being discussed and the meeting login details.

  • Don’t know the record? Doesn’t matter.
  • Not comfortable speaking in public? Me either. And you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Heck, you don’t even have to turn your camera on. It’s a safe space, but you control what you share.
  • Ultimately, you’re part of the community; we want you to be a part of this, too.

So check out the “rules” below, and then plan to dial in.

What is this?

For new readers (hi everyone!), we host an online discussion every month.

Here’s how it works:

  • A writer (more on that in a second) picks a record to discuss and writes a brief piece about their choice and the meeting details.
  • At the meeting, they discuss why they picked it, offer a bit of a backstory/context, and whatever else they’d like to share.
  • Everyone else on the call can share their own “hot take,” related story, or anything else you think is relevant.
  • At the end of the meeting, the next month’s writer volunteers (or is chosen), and the process repeats itself.

NOTE FOR INTROVERTS: If you’d prefer to sit in and listen, that is 110% okay. Keep your video off…stay muted…it’s up to you. It’s a safe place; you can participate as much/as little as you’d like.

This month’s host:

This month’s host is Jessica Lee McMillan, a poet, writer, and teacher based in Vancouver, B.C. Her work has been featured in dozens of publications. You can see more of her writing here or on her website.

Cool! So, what are we talking about?

Jessica has chosen ‘Special Beat Service’ by The English Beat..

From her article explaining her pick:

I am still grateful for the third wave, which brought The Specials back into rotation at clubs. I was only a few years old when the Beat emerged, and I had records and cassettes of General Public and Fine Young Cannibals. But I have to thank that third wave for making its way into the goth community here in Vancouver, where — of all places — I first learned to skank to Madness in my late teens.

Musical influences can travel anywhere — like language — and while we want to respect its origins, genre — like language — is a living thing that evolves and migrates.

Special Beat Service is the album you intentionally pull out several times a year. It is a rock. It is a place to return.

That’s why I have chosen it for the album of the month.

Musical adventure, exploring new sounds, and sharing great music with great people make these discussions a joy.

Join us and see for yourself.

Listen:

The Beat | Special Beat Service (1982)

(Click the record to listen on your platform of choice)

Album art courtesy of IRS Records

I’m in! How can I join?

Here ya go:

When: Sunday, August 24th: 4 PM Eastern/ 8 PM GMT

Where: Join Zoom Meeting

Thanks for being here (and there!),

Kevin—

The Best Record of 1989: Day 7

by KevinLeave a Comment on The Best Record of 1989: Day 7

Faith No More’s The Real Thing vs. Voivod’s Nothingface

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Voivod’s Nothingface (#112) and Faith No More’s The Real Thing (#17)

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 1989 challenge and noted that I’d be occasionally writing some of these up.

I’ve started doing some quick hits of each match up and posting them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos.

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

One of the things that can make a record above its weight are the memories one might associate with it. Experiences are enhanced with a soundtrack. For those of us who are analog natives, there is also the bonus of having (likely) discovered a band via a friend or listening to them together.

In my case, Faith No More checks both boxes. I first found this band when a friend pressed the tape into my hand during passing time at school. Listening on the bus on the way home, it was hard to stay still in my seat. It grabbed a hold of me from the start. There are a lot of opening tracks in this challenge. Few go from 0-100 as fast as “From Out of Nowhere” does.

It’s 6:17 in the morning as I write this, and just playing on these janky-ass work speakers is getting my feet moving. People pay good money to feel that sort of high.

This is their 3rd record, but it might as well be their debut. Apologies to fans of We Care A Lot and Introduce Yourself (and Chuck Mosley, for that matter), but for all intents and purposes, this is ground zero for the band. Alternately threatening and cloying, Mike Patton was completely unhinged, a whirling dervish with a several-octave vocal range.

‘Epic’ was a smash hit and the track most people think of when asked about the band. A lot of bands would kill to have something like that on their resume. Here’s the thing, though: for as good as it is, Epic isn’t the best song on the record. It’s not even the 2nd best; I might be 3rd after ‘From Out of Nowhere’ and ‘Falling to Pieces’. ‘Underwater Love’ might give it a run for its money as well.

Epic also became a weight around the band’s neck, sentencing them to one hot wonder purgatory and pigeonholing the band. A lot of people stopped at ‘Epic’ and missed out on a whole lot of great stuff that came afterward.

For its part, ‘Falling to Pieces’ is a little something for pop fans. It’s catchy. It’s bouncy. It gets in your head and makes itself comfy. ‘Underwater Love’ is a bit more funky, but no slower.

There’s even a cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ here, which, while admittedly a pretty faithful rendition, is, for me, the one song that I could do without. But it’s one mistake in an otherwise solid record.

That’s down more to my tastes than anything else, but why include a cover in the middle of something so original?

If FNM pivoted with The Real Thing, Voivod did almost a 180 with Nothingface. Their previous records were much faster and more reckless. Not quite thrash metal, but close. This is…prog? It’s got all the usual hallmarks: multiple time signatures squished into a song, discordant riffs, etc. There’s even a song about planets here (“Astronomy Domine”), which also happens to be a Pink Floyd cover.

(sigh) okay, I guess.

Look, I try and listen with an objective ear, but this record was a test. If I’m honest, it became unlistenable at about the halfway point. The record doesn’t get worse; I was just at capacity.

Nothingface feels like the band had a brainstorming session, and “Rush, but make it more metal” won out. The end result is a (relatively) slower, much more complex record than earlier ones, but I’m not sure it’s an improvement. Growing up, we often ended nights at a local 24-hour restaurant. There was a regular who would sit in a booth and spend the small hours making his own chain mail. I can’t help but think this record was tailor-made for him.

I know this record is regarded as a significant influence in a small corner of the music world, but man, I’m just not seein’ it. I want to, I really do.

Bottom Line: The streak of voting against my own bracket is over (for now). Sorry Quebecois; my vote is going for the boys from The bay, and it’s not even close.

Vote & bracket pick: The Real Thing

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments

Check out the full brackethere.

Info on the tourney, voting, and more is here.

As always, thanks for being here.

KA—

New Order’s Technique at 35: A Quick Look at the Band’s Seminal 1989 Record

by KevinLeave a Comment on New Order’s Technique at 35: A Quick Look at the Band’s Seminal 1989 Record

On their fifth release the dance rock pioneers hit their peak

Good Morning!

Today we’re taking a quick look at ‘Technique’ by New Order as it turns 35.

There’s not much point in burying the lede here; this lookback won’t come close to being objective. If you’ve been with us for more than a few weeks, you know my love for this band and are keenly aware that On Repeat could devolve into a New Order fan page at any moment.

That said, this record is a massive achievement for the band at a time when not much else was going right for them-certainly not internally, anyway. To put something out amidst so much strife and financial pressure alone would be worth noting. That it is some of the best work they’ve ever produced makes it all the more remarkable.

Most people will remember March 24th, 1989, as the date the Exxon Valdez ran aground. I remember walking to the closest shopping mall to get tickets to see New Order.

That was the closest Ticketmaster outlet, and I was probably halfway down the street before my mom had even finished giving me permission. With the benefit of hindsight — and now being a parent myself — I now know what a huge leap of faith this must’ve been for her. We lived in the suburbs, and she was giving the green light to an (almost) 14 yr. old to ride the bus across the metro area to see a band she heard nonstop but didn’t know.

I suppose on some level you just know when to let your kids leap

The band was on the road supporting their 5th studio album, Technique, and it came out when I was in junior high. The record was one of the bright spots in an otherwise blah era for me.

If Low Life is a show at an intimate venue, Technique is a sweaty rave filled with strobe lights and ecstasy. Indeed, the record was partly recorded in Ibiza with the band off their rockers. Technique is firmly rooted in the sounds surrounding them in their new environs. They choose the sunny locale at Hook’s insistence after a run of recordings made in “dark and horrible” London studios. The band decamped for Ibiza, hoping the change in scenery (and menu of drugs) would have the same positive effect that New York had had for them years earlier.

It worked…sort of…

After four months, the band only had ‘Fine Time’ and a couple of other tracks recorded to show for their time on the island. Declaring their holiday over, their label called them back to the UK, where they finished the record at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios.

We had expected to hear a lot of acid house music when we got to Ibiza because that had taken off in Manchester two to three months before we left, but we didn’t – we were hearing something called Balearic Beat,” Bernard said.We were actually disappointed at first because we were really into acid house, and what we heard, this Balearic Beat, was this crazy mash-up of styles and really commercial-sounding but there was also some really good stuff. By the end of our time there we were really influenced by it.

Their time in the sun may seem unproductive on the surface, but it had left an indelible mark on the group’s sound.

Fine Time is an acid-house Balearic Beat classic. Round and Round1 is pop perfection and saw decent airtime on MTV.

Run is credited to not only New Order, but also (*checks notes) John Denver?!

Yes, really. Denver sued the band, alleging that the guitar riffs were lifted from his Leaving On a Jet Plane.The case was settled out of court, with his name subsequently added to the credits.

A mediocre picture of the fantastic ‘Fine Time’ 12”

We could do a track-by-track breakdown, but the short version is this: Technique feels like the band’s most honest record. Whether that’s down to the drugs or the Balearic sun, I don’t know. In the end, I suppose it doesn’t matter.

Perhaps more importantly, it is economical. Listening to it, every note has its place, and there is nothing extraneous. It’s both a dance record and a pop record—in other words, a New Order record—but listening to it, there is a discipline that sets it apart from the band’s previous work.

The songs themselves are compact; the sequencers nailed down— there is no 9-minute version of anything on this LP. By this point, the band had also mastered the art of shifting between pop and dance tracks.

On Brotherhood, a distinct boundary exists between the two (literally- the styles each have their own side on the album). There are no guardrails here; the band makes segueing between styles look easy.

All of that is well and good, but why is it my number 1?

Technique was really the first record by the band that I found on my own. Yes, I knew them. Yes, I’d heard almost everything they had recorded up to that point. But this was different; I’d learned of its release on my own and gone and bought it with my own money.

No hand-me-downs from friends’ older siblings or songs clipped from mix tapes. You always remember your first…

Good records always take you somewhere special. Thirty-five years later, Technique still does that for me.

Listen:

New Order | Technique, 1989

Click the record to listen on the platform of your choice.

What are your thoughts on this record? Do you have any favorite tracks or memories associated with it? At 35, does it still hold up? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—

1

The video features several supermodels, including Elaine Irwin, who would marry John Mellencamp a couple of years later, and Cynthia Bailey, who would rise to fame when cast on Bravo’s ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’ reality series.

Let’s Active- “Every Word Means No”

by KevinLeave a Comment on Let’s Active- “Every Word Means No”

Good Morning!

Today we’re listening to “Every Word Means No” by Let’s Active

The line of producers that also perform in bands is long; Butch Vig & Garbage, Steve Albini & Big Black, and Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, to name just a few. On that same list is Mitch Easter. Easter has spent decades helping other artists get their sounds out into the world as a producer. He was behind the boards for The Connells’ Boylan Heights, Suzanne Vega’s Solitude Standing, Marshall Crenshaw’s Downtown, and many more.

From his Drive-In studio (so named because it literally was his parent’s two-car garage) also came such classics as REM’s Murmur, Chronic Town, and Reckoning. Arguably the band’s best run.

[The studio] was tiny. The entire space was probably about 225 square feet. It was a two-car garage that had been divided up before my parents got the place. The previous owners split it up and turned it into a one-car garage, and then the other half they made into a children’s bedroom and this sort of utility room. The car area was where the band stood together, the children’s bedroom was the control room, and I think the bass and guitar amps were isolated in the little utility area next to the control room.

~Mitch Easter

As R.E.M.’s stature increased, so too did Easter’s. It only makes sense, right? His track record of exporting sounds from the Southeast US to college radio stations nationwide was indisputable. Why not do the same thing on the other side of the recording booth?

Let’s Active was originally formed with Easter and Faye Hunter on bass. Drummer Sara Romweber—just 17 at the time— joined soon after. The Afoot EP was released in 1983 (and again in 1989 after being combined with the Cypress LP). Along with Afoot, the band released 3 LPs before splitting up in 1990.

“We didn’t have hits in the conventional kind of way at all, but that song got to be well known. It was played on college radio and stuff like that.”

“Every Word Means No” became the band’s biggest song, and while it didn’t exactly scream up the charts, it became fairly well-known and was even covered by Smash Mouth in the late 90s. That may have been the final step on the band’s path from indie darlings to cult heroes to the subject of a tribute album.

More:

North Carolina’s Let’s Active was probably the most misunderstood of the South’s ’80s new-pop bands. Though dogged by a rosy-cheeked nicest-guys-of-wimp-pop image, they could be downright moody. Producer/multi-instrumentalist Mitch Easter assembled the trio in 1981, but it only emerged nationally in the wake of R.E.M., whose first two discs Easter co-produced at his Drive-In garage studio outside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Joining that band’s label, Let’s Active released a six-song EP, Afoot, bringing new meaning to such overused pop adjectives as crisp, bright and ringing. All the songs, even those with melancholy lyrics, are hook-filled, boppy and ultra-hummable.

Click here to read the rest of the overview.

Listen:

“Every Word Means No” by Let’s Active | Afoot (EP), 1983