The Great Leap Forward

20 years ago today #26 - 19 Mar 1986

The Rat, Boston - Requiem In White, Primitive Romance, Laser Jesus

Locals only. This was a weeknight show - not sure what brought me out. I might have read something in the Phoenix about Primitive Romance. Probably out with Mark.

Requiem In White was a goth band, apparently. They are still fondly remembered. They went on to become Mors Syphilitica, which was signed to Projekt earlier this decade.

One of the members of PR is now in The Glass Set (unless there was another band called Primitive Romance). They released a CD and have a web site. I thought I had a copy of one of their EPs, but I must have ditched it, because there was nothing between Prefab Sprout and Prince. I think it was released on Modern Method.

Bongo's is willing to trade a cassette of a PR radio performance for whatever you may have.

A list of RIW tour dates, but this show is not listed.

So far:

Number of shows/bands seen, January 1986: 7/17
Number of shows/bands seen, February 1986: 3/8
Number of shows/bands seen, March 1986: 3/10
Number of shows/bands seen, 1985: 13/32
Number of shows/bands seen, 1986: 13/35
Total number of shows: 26
Total number of bands seen: 67

20 years ago today #25 - 15 Mar 1986

The Rat, Boston - Anti-Zeros, Black Cat Bone, Uzi, Throwing Muses

I must have been really into the Muses since this was my third time seeing them in a two-month period. As a treat, I was going to refer you to noted Muses MP3 resource Beestung, but I just found out that the site was shut down.

Uzi featured Thalia Zedek (later of Live Skull and Come). They released the Sleep asylum EP on Homestead after breaking up. Thalia's music has always been a little too heavy for me.

An article about Thalia Zedek from the Boston Phoenix circa 1998.

Sleep asylum is available through Rhapsody, as is most of the Throwing Muses material.

Black Cat Bone tracks are available at Hyped2Death.

So far:

Number of shows/bands seen, January 1986: 7/17
Number of shows/bands seen, February 1986: 3/8
Number of shows/bands seen, March 1986: 2/7
Number of shows/bands seen, 1985: 13/32
Number of shows/bands seen, 1986: 12/32
Total number of shows: 25
Total number of bands seen: 64

20 years ago today #24 - 1 Mar 1986

TT The Bears Place, Cambridge, MA - Vasco de Gama, Miracle Legion, Throwing Muses

Vasco de Gama were a synthpop band if I remember correctly. There were certainly a lot of them around then. Even I wanted to start one - never happened. They were named after the famous explorer. Any information about the band has been lost to the mists of time.

Throwing Muses were discussed to some extent in this post. This might have been the show that Kristin Hersh played while extremely pregnant. I was right down front for that one. The Muses hardly ever got it wrong back then. (They kinda lost me around Hunkpapa and again with Red Heaven.)

New Haven's Miracle Legion - now there was a band. They made a splash with The Backyard EP (released on Incas Records), especially the title track. The entire EP is terrific. They were always knocked as being an REM ripoff, but it really doesn't do 'em justice. They were probably playing songs from Surprise surprise surprise when I saw 'em.

One big downside of being a modern ML fan is that only Drenched made it to CD on a large scale. Me and Mr. Ray is going for $129 on Amazon. Their final CD, Portrait of a damaged family is $65.

Mark Mulcahy is still recording and runs the Mezzotint label.

The Trouser Press Miracle Legion summary.

Miracle Legion available on GEMM. Or catch up with some MP3s.

So far:

Number of shows/bands seen, January 1986: 7/17
Number of shows/bands seen, February 1986: 3/8
Number of shows/bands seen, March 1986: 1/3
Number of shows/bands seen, 1985: 13/32
Number of shows/bands seen, 1986: 11/28
Total number of shows: 24
Total number of bands seen: 60

20 years ago today #23 - 28 Feb 1986

The Rat, Boston - The Bosstones, Pajama Slave Dancers, The Turbines

Just another night of garage rock at the Rat. This was the second time I'd seen each of these bands.

Earlier reminisences:

The Turbines
PSD
The Bosstones

So far:

Number of shows/bands seen, January 1986: 7/17
Number of shows/bands seen, February 1986: 3/8
Number of shows/bands seen, 1985: 13/32
Number of shows/bands seen, 1986: 10/25
Total number of shows: 23
Total number of bands seen: 57

20 years ago today #22 - 7 Feb 1986

TT The Bears Place, Cambridge - One Fish Two Fish, Ped Xing, Ball and Pivot

Local pop night. One Fish Two Fish were pretty lightweight. Chick singer. Ped Xing were pretty energetic. The bass player was wearing an XTC Drums and wires t-shirt. I was wondering where he got it from. Pretty cool.

The only band of note was Ball and Pivot. They put out one EP and had a video that was shown on the local video channel V66. The song was "Down". Judging from what I remember about the lyrics, it was about oral sex, but couched in a vague, cutesy way ("I always get up when I'm going down"). Good song, as I recall. B&P was derived from The Atlantics, who managed to put out one LP on the ABC label.

B&P's Tom Hauck went on to become an artist.

The Atlantics got featured on Little Hits not too long ago.

A quick Trouser Press summary.

A place to buy the Ball and Pivot EP.

So far:
Number of shows/bands seen, January 1986: 7/17
Number of shows/bands seen, February 1986: 2/5
Number of shows/bands seen, 1985: 13/32
Number of shows/bands seen, 1986: 9/22
Total number of shows: 22
Total number of bands seen: 54

20 years ago today #21 - 4 Feb 1986

Paradise, Boston - Soul Asylum, Husker Du (sorry, no umlauts)

A Minneapolis night. Back then it was still possible for a band to make the jump from indie to major. Husker Du was about to, Soul Asylum was still a couple of years away. You really don't see much of that anymore, huh?

Soul Asylum opened. the only thing I remember is the idiot standing next to me, requesting "Religiavision" at the top of his lungs about every five minutes. (That one was from their debut Say what you will Clarence...Karl sold the truck.) Did they play it? I don't recall. SA were touring on the just released Made to be broken. This was the only time I ever saw them. They had some success with Grave Dancers Union (Just 421 copies available for sale on Amazon!) in the alternative era, but when was the last time you gave a shit about Soul Asylum? They're releasing a new album this summer. Coming to a county fair near you, I would imagine.

My experience with the Du was limited to New day rising, especially the single "Celebrated summer". (Flip your wig came out right after I graduated.) I just had to see the band that helped define the summer of '85 for me. (Never been much for Zen arcade, oddly enough.) Candy apple grey, the major label debut, was still a couple of months away. This was another "I don't remember" show, but I know it was a much more powerful one than I saw on the Warehouse tour, which was extremely flat.

All the Soul Asylum releases on Twin/Tone detailed here.

Soul Asylum fan club. The band is still kicking despite the death of Karl Mueller.

Husker Du fan site, including an exhaustive discography.

Bob Mould's blog, which everyone seems to know about.

Web sites for Grant Hart, Bob Mould and Greg Norton.

So far:
Number of shows/bands seen, January 1986: 7/17
Number of shows/bands seen, February 1986: 1/2
Number of shows/bands seen, 1985: 13/32
Number of shows/bands seen, 1986: 8/19
Total number of shows: 21
Total number of bands seen: 51

20 years ago today #20 - 31 Jan 1986

Symphony Hall, Boston - James Lee Stanley, Steven Wright

Yep, that Steven Wright. He was riding high with what turned out to be his only album, I have a pony. His offbeat humor was hot at the time. Didn't like the show, though - it was mostly a rehash of the album. I'd heard all of the jokes before. Additionally, there was no intimacy due to the size of the hall. You really need that for comedy.

The opener was James Lee Stanley, who I'd never heard of before or since. Turns out he's released 20 albums over the years. Sample them here. Folky guy who didn't make much of an impression. These days, we call it adult alternative. You should never have a musician open up for a comedian.

20 years ago today #19 - 29 Jan 1986

The Paradise, Boston - Semper Fi, Blancmange

Another in a series of shows featuring mid-level new wave bands that never quite made it. I was a big Blancmange (the band, not the dessert) fan going back to "Living on the ceiling" in 1983. They made three albums: Happy families, Mange tout, and Believe you me. They were touring on BYM. Don't remember much - since they were a duo, I'm pretty sure I remember some other players and backup singers. Catch one of their DVD releases if you doubt my poor memory. A number of compilations have been released over the years. Neil Arthur released a solo album, Suitcase, in 1994, long after Blancmange split up. Stephen Luscombe went on to form West India Company. He has also composed new music for a TV show called Globe Trekker.

The opening band was Semper Fi, who were previously known as Vinny or The Vinny Band. David Robinson of The Cars had some involvement in the band's fortunes, producing much of their output. No connection to the Marines that I could tell - as you may know, "semper fi" is short for "semper fidelis" - always faithful.

Blancmange is available on GEMM. So is Neil Arthur.

A Blancmange fan site.

The Ideal Copy has two Region 0 European DVDs and two compilations available.

Semper Fi gets a mention in The Fools' bio.

You can still get a copy of Vinny's LP, Olas de sexo.

O Positive - Only breathing/Cloud factory - track 11: "Up, up, up"

O Positive - Up, Up, Up

And that concludes Only breathing/Cloud factory.

O Positive - Only breathing/Cloud factory - track 10: "Pictures"

O Positive - Pictures