The Sound - Classic/Dud/Search/Destroy

"Contact The Fact" ROXOR!

(help I've turned into Geeta) ! ! ! !

(Ordered mine a while ago, but it hasn't shown up yet.. waaah, I want it now!)

haha i've come to like the production. there's much to like about Hugh Jones' work, definitely.

I got the dual disc BBC Recordingsdisc and, well, holy fucking shit. Multiply all previous "they shoulda been huge" comments by a factor of 100.

The Sound
House of Love
Chameleons
Echo and the Bunnymen

Sounds like a plan to me!

Am listening to All Fall Down this very second and "Monument" just finished. Dr. C said it a couple of years ago so I don't have to.

http://www.myspace.com/magicbullets

I suspect I'd probably think Winning was a lot nicer if the 'I'm gonna make it after all!' sentiment wasn't offet by the 'Hang on a minute, this guy jumped in front of a train three years ago!' realisation

In my case, I now realize that I have the exact opposite feeling about the Sound and Adrian B. -- when it comes to figures like, say, Jim Morrison or Ian Curtis, their sound and the post-death cults (for lack of a better word) combine to create a resultant expectation that is often hard to properly escape, especially if like me you encounter them well after the fact.

Admittedly I did the same with the Sound as well, hearing them first well after their breakup but before Adrian died, but like, say, Billy Mackenzie and the Associates, when I hear the Sound I hear life, I hear exultance for lack of a better word. For all the most intense moments that Adrian can create with his words and singing, there is a grace and soaring resonance that causes me to rise, not sink. The comparisons with U2 and Bono don't work for me because there is something here that is strong but not overbearing, a true warmth -- and the more I think about so many of the band's contemporaries, the more that seems to be near unique, that the lighter singing voice (if only by degrees in some cases) compared to others is what gives the Sound its unique feel still for me.

I hear the Sound and I hear an embrace, not hectoring or rabble-rousing. That to me is a true gift.

That for me is spot on, and nicely put to boot.

Also, that sort of warmth you talk about is really evident on "Fatal Flaw" - that sort of falling-into-place moment when it reaches the motif that repeats to the end is one of my favourite drawn-out repetitive outros of ooh, ever.

Thanks for the revive - that 5CD set is so great.

Finally getting around to the Outsiders with Cherry Red's predictably excellent CD reissue of Calling On Youth.

First impression, for one of the supposedly "important early independent punk" albums, it's not actually very punk, is it? I mean, the guitar playing is way too good to actually be punk, and side two of the album is just kind of slow and quiet for the most part. Adrian's obviously really young and overly ambitious here, but he's obviously pretty charismatic, even at this very early point. Overall though, pleasantly surprised.

Taking in Close Up this evening and, I have to say, it's pretty much an all around improvement over Calling On Youth. Production, songs, technicality. . . just better on all fronts. Definitely segues nicely into the Propaganda era (which subsequently segues perfectly into Jeopardy).

https://austintayeshus.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-are-spectral-projections.html

https://www.discogs.com/master/2523988-The-Sound-Will-And-Testament-Starlight

Uhm?

oh wow! a live album of their later material i guess

look like it's all up on yt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mbq2cGjX8M

Yep, on Spotify too.

this incoming second layer comp popped up on bandcamp today:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/second-layer-courts-or-wars-review

hadn't actually heard 'courts of wars' before... fuuck, amazing song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_01T9uFgew

'or' not 'of' obv

yeah I first heard second layer through that song on a Messthetics comp. So cool!!

“that song” - courts or wars

(wide eyes emoji)

i'll be back in later with thoughts.

Second Layer is arguably more Joy Division THAN Joy Division. Fantastic, singular work - wonderfully dark and deep.

Hey Austin, in case didn't hear about this book:

Destiny Stopped Screaming: The Life and Times of Adrian Borland https://www.amazon.com/dp/9090379355/

I am a notoriously slow reader and likely won't get to this for yonks.

ahhh thanks for thinking of me ― definitely of interest! reviews look pretty positive. in my wishlist.

unrelated but the trash theory youtube channel recently did 7 Influential Post-Punk Bands You Should've Heard and the feature on the sound begins around 41mins. it's a good overview and i was thrilled to see them featured.

Yeah, I saw that. Adrian's gone 25 years and I'm always chuffed to see he's not forgotten.

I only discovered this band recently with From the Lion's Mouth, which is great! I think I'd heard about them numerous times here and other places over the years but maybe their generic name had me confusing them with other bands. Anyway, that's remedied now, look forward to listening to the rest!

I just realised I only know this band because of Jeopardy, which is obviously fucking great, and their first single, and I don't actually know any of their other stuff. I had no idea they had so many albums

I have the reissues of both Outsiders albums and love both of those, love Second Layer and the Witch Trials, funny/sad I know so little of Borland's music after that

First I heard of them was seeing a clip on one of those Whistle Test compilation shows that used to be on BBC Four, well over 20 years ago now. It was them playing “Sense of Purpose” and I was mesmerised; Borland was like a British Bob Mould to me! I got the Revenant CD of From the Lions Mouth soon after and I’ve loved it ever since (just got the vinyl reissue too).

It was only later, after learning more of their back story, that my realised late uncle might have known them; he toured with Echo and the Bunnymen back in the day doing their lights.

*realised my

it's officially unavailable digitally, but it needs to be heard: the band's john peel session from november 81. setlist is: fatal flaw, hothouse, new dark age, skeletons. the 'hothouse' they play here is the definitive: one round of the chorus will suffice, otherwise enjoy the tension.

Yeah the way that version of Hothouse transforms the song is incredible, that Peel session always worth a listen

I listened to a live version of Sense of Purpose on Spotify after that and that thumping final stretch gets me hyped every time, would love to have seen them do that live

Borland was like a British Bob Mould to me!

hadn't ever occurred to me before, but yeah i totally get that - that raw urgency to communicate truths that feel like they're burning a hole right through them, that other place they both seem to go to when they're channeling that through a guitar. lots of my own teenage angst bound up in both back catalogues, both sometimes kind of painful for me to listen to now for that reason tbh