― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 28 February 2004 02:04 (twenty years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 28 February 2004 02:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Andy K (Andy K), Saturday, 28 February 2004 02:16 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 28 February 2004 02:28 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 28 February 2004 02:32 (twenty years ago) link
"Contact The Fact" ROXOR!
(help I've turned into Geeta) ! ! ! !
― Paul (scifisoul), Saturday, 28 February 2004 03:26 (twenty years ago) link
(Ordered mine a while ago, but it hasn't shown up yet.. waaah, I want it now!)
― Muppet Boy, Saturday, 28 February 2004 05:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Saturday, 28 February 2004 07:08 (twenty years ago) link
― jazz odysseus, Saturday, 28 February 2004 07:45 (twenty years ago) link
haha i've come to like the production. there's much to like about Hugh Jones' work, definitely.
― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 28 February 2004 08:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Saturday, 28 February 2004 10:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 28 February 2004 19:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Andy K (Andy K), Sunday, 29 February 2004 03:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Clarke B., Sunday, 29 February 2004 18:28 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 18 August 2004 23:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 18 August 2004 23:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 August 2004 23:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Michael Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Thursday, 9 September 2004 21:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 9 September 2004 21:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 10 September 2004 07:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 10 April 2005 23:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Monday, 11 April 2005 07:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 24 December 2005 21:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 24 December 2005 21:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 24 December 2005 21:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 23 February 2006 08:16 (eighteen years ago) link
The SoundHouse of LoveChameleonsEcho and the Bunnymen
― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 23 February 2006 14:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 23 February 2006 14:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 23 February 2006 14:42 (eighteen years ago) link
Sounds like a plan to me!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 23 February 2006 15:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 24 February 2006 08:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 24 February 2006 08:25 (eighteen years ago) link
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.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 16:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― San Carlos, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:57 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.myspace.com/magicbullets
― San Carlos, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 21:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 21:08 (eighteen years ago) link
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.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:31 (eighteen years ago) link
That for me is spot on, and nicely put to boot.
― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link
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.
― Michael A Neuman (Ferg), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Michael A Neuman (Ferg), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:53 (eighteen years ago) link
You'd have hoped that he'd weathered the storm, but by all accounts he got more ill as time went on.
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 3 March 2006 10:51 (eighteen years ago) link
"It's 1976 and Tim and his pal Adrian Borland (who at the time was in a punk band called 'The Outsiders' and later on fronted a band called 'The Sound') and an amazing rock drummer called Bruce Bizland (no one knows what happened to him) make a band and do about two gigs then stop...they sounded a bit like the rocky instrumental bits on that David Bowie album 'The Man Who Sold The World' didn't they. They never gave their band a name either."
I've often meant to investigate The Sound but never got round to it. Maybe sometime I will.
― Philip Alderman (Phil A), Friday, 3 March 2006 14:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Friday, 3 March 2006 14:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 3 March 2006 15:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Gonna get the new sets as soon as my tax refund comes in, should fill in the gaps in my Renascent discs / general knowledge of The Sound nicely. Til then, I second Ned's honorable mention, 12 years ago, of Borland's solo stuff, I particularly like "Long Dark Train" from the same 1996 album. And I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that no one's mentioned the song "AD RE: IAN," the 2013 tribute to Borland and another guy whose name I'm sure you can guess, from Slumberland gloomies Wax Idols. I felt a nice jolt when I heard of that song, as The Sound seem to be still so unrecognized 30 years after "Heads and Hearts" produced no hits. I'm not well-versed in this band's history, but I wonder if they purposefully avoided choosing "Total Recall" and "Love is Not a Ghost" as singles to escape the certain mega-fame that would have entailed.
― geoffreyess, Friday, 20 March 2015 22:01 (nine years ago) link
Got the box in the mail yesterday and have made my way through a good chunk of it.
Thunder Up is the most dramatically improved, as it never received a remaster job.
Really nice to have all these b-sides as well.
Another winner of a set.
― austinato (Austin), Wednesday, 1 April 2015 03:15 (nine years ago) link
Aw man, that's a great rendition. Just seen what the original poster wrote about it here:
― Ferg (Ferg), Tuesday, March 18, 2003 8:08 PM (9 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
and I totally agree. Knowing that Borland would commit suicide in the most horrific way turns the way I feel about this song completely on its head. On its surface, it's a song about getting on top of a battle with depression and bad circumstances, but after knowing that Adrian killed himself and HOW he killed himself, the song feels so much more desperate. Like he wants to be "winning", rather than he is "winning". The song doesn't console me and make me feel like I can overcome obstacles in life; on the contrary, it makes me feel incredibly sad. The guy who wanted to win, more than anything in the fucking universe, sadly didn't. It's upsetting.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Sunday, 20 January 2013 02:14 (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
That's one perspective, agreed. And every April I shed a tear for the poor bastard whose music will live with me forever.
BUT... For a time, he WAS winning his personal battles, and in some places he was winning the hearts and minds of fans.
The fact that his end was so dark doesn't diminish the power of the song, and it still inspires me.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 20 January 2013 02:30 (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Keep on thinking about "Winning" and "New Dark Age" right now. Want to believe in the first song more.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 10 November 2016 01:03 (seven years ago) link
Oh, it's a "New Dark Age" alright, and we'll "All Fall Down" and the "Heartland" will suffer during these "Iron Years". We'll see some "Brute Force" in the "Hothouse" while we're "Counting The Days". But there will be "Resistance" searching for that "Fatal Flaw" followed by "Dreams Then Plans". Once we find our "Sense Of Purpose", we'll reach out with the "Hand Of Love" and start "Winning".
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 10 November 2016 14:24 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH97tb4-6Uw
Been thinking a lot about this version of 'Silent Air' since the news of Anthony Bourdain hit yesterday.
― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Saturday, 9 June 2018 17:31 (five years ago) link
wow that's an amazing song + performance!
― com rad erry red flag (f. hazel), Saturday, 9 June 2018 17:42 (five years ago) link
Thanks for the revive - that 5CD set is so great.
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 10 June 2018 00:06 (five years ago) link
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.
― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Sunday, 22 July 2018 05:06 (five years ago) link
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).
― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 03:57 (five years ago) link
https://austintayeshus.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-are-spectral-projections.html
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 14 December 2018 20:56 (five years ago) link
https://www.discogs.com/master/2523988-The-Sound-Will-And-Testament-Starlight
Uhm?
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Sunday, 24 April 2022 21:17 (one year ago) link
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
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Sunday, 24 April 2022 21:32 (one year ago) link
Yep, on Spotify too.
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Sunday, 24 April 2022 22:53 (one year ago) link
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
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 19 January 2023 18:22 (one year ago) link
'or' not 'of' obv
yeah I first heard second layer through that song on a Messthetics comp. So cool!!
― not too strange just bad audio (brimstead), Thursday, 19 January 2023 21:40 (one year ago) link
“that song” - courts or wars
― not too strange just bad audio (brimstead), Thursday, 19 January 2023 21:41 (one year ago) link
(wide eyes emoji)
i'll be back in later with thoughts.
― kiss me while the world decays (Austin), Thursday, 19 January 2023 21:47 (one year ago) link
Second Layer is arguably more Joy Division THAN Joy Division. Fantastic, singular work - wonderfully dark and deep.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 19 January 2023 22:03 (one year ago) link