Friday, December 27, 2019

Caught In The Act - Caught In The Act 12" EP (1984)

There are different kinds of 'new wave'. The most popular was the pop-styled keyboard-driven dance type.
This New York band is new wave but it's more of the "female punk vocals, distorted rock guitar, squeaky no-wave saxophone" variety. No keyboards and nothing to dance about. Not great, but really good.

1 Caught in the Act
2 My Imagination
3 Watch Out for that Dike Ike
4 Rat Race
5 Dance with Me
6 Into the Future

DOWNLOAD

Saturday, December 14, 2019

The Subterraneans - Subterranean Observation (1981)

I recently did a post about The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet and it was mentioned that this band was suspected of being the band we're all looking for.

This band and album can confidently be marked off the list. This is not it.

The Subterraneans were a punk/post punk/ experimental new wave band. This is probably their only recording and even though I really like this sort of thing I think they could have practiced just a little bit more before recording it.
It was recorded "live in the studio" which may have been why they're falling a little short in my opinion. There are some creative moments and I think they would have been great live.

1 Empires Must Fall
2 The Observer
3 Overdose of Time
4 The Kind of Love I can Afford*
5 Sweet Spider Music
6 Having Fun in the City
7 Blame
8 Good Manners and Style
9 In the Wee Small Hours

DOWNLOAD



*Discogs has this as two separate songs but there are only 9 tracks on the tape, not ten.

The Naturals

The Naturals were an Australian post-punk/new wave/pop band who had a hit with the song Devil Smile. I'm not sure that they ever released anything aside from these two singles or what the members did outside of this band.

Imagine music inspired by Nick Cave (from that era) with a vocalist inspired by Bjork (from that era).

They made a video for Devil Smile.

The Naturals - Devil Smile 7" (1985)
A - Devil Smile
B - This is the One

The Naturals - On the Alert 7" (1985)
A - On the Alert
B - Flying Mattress

DOWNLOAD




Streetcar Eyes - Time After Time EP (1983)

Non-threatening new wave on this one. Professional sounding new wave rock with occasional saxophone. I'm all for positivity but this band was a little to cheery for my taste. Is bubblegum-new wave a thing?
The song "I'm in it for the Fun" is my favorite song on the record. It has a bit of a ska influence.

This band does not have much of an internet presence so I'll tell you a bit about them:

They were formed in California in July of 1983 by three members of a band called Third Raile
*Red Jenkins - vocals and guitar
*Lane Vallier - bass and vocals
*Jim Briggs - sax and vocals

The drummer Barry "Snoop" Smith was the new addition to the lineup.  He played previously in bands Scoundrels, Rage, and The Rings.

The band formed with the intention of doing something different than the same old club sounds that were popular in L.A. and San Diego and wanted to focus more on vocal harmonies and stripped-down instrumentation and less on synthesizers.

Their biggest claim to fame is having recorded the song "The Chicago Blitz" that was used in the early 80s as the theme song for the US Football league team The Chicago Blitz.

They didn't focus too much on cover songs and had written and played over 20 original songs. It's not known if any of the songs that are not on this EP were ever recorded in a studio.

Anyone But Me
Cause and Effect
Caveat Emptor
Closer
Get Back Too
Gypsy Border
I'm in it for the Fun
It's Over
Just What Raymond Needed
Our Mirror
Red Head Blues
Reputation
Save One for Me
Springtime
Streetcar Eyes
The Next Door
Time After Time
Time in the Hand
Want You
Whispers in the Night 

The four songs on this record are:
 
1 Time After Time
2 I'm in it for the Fun
3 Whispers in the Night
4 Closer

DOWNLOAD