When it comes to post-punk, one of the more underappreciated bands in my eyes was The Sound. Their excellent debut album, Jeopardy was released about a year and a half after Unknown Pleasures - and their equally great follow-up From the Lion's Mouth was released a year later. I love these two records. Both of them are close to my heart. They're both downright excellent exercises in dark, somewhat depressing, but yet ultimately triumphant post punk music. Politically charged ("Missiles") at times - while at other times just grasping for hope ("Sense of Purpose") - it's always a musical exorcism of something evil from within us. The Sound were the real deal, even if they weren't as experimental as some of their contemporaries (The Pop Group, Swell Maps, Public Image Ltd., etc.) - the quality of their music speaks for itself. For those that don't know, their lead singer commited suicide in a particularly disturbing way (threw himself under a train as onlookers watched in horror) - his music and his lyrics were genuine expressions of his feelings and his inner turmoil.
Their records never became poor or tiresome, but after their second record, they admittedly never released anything quite as excellent. Which isn't to say that they no longer made excellent songs - and to that end, one of their later tracks is what I'm listening to today - "Total Recall" from their fourth record Heads and Hearts.
Beginning with a deliberate thumping bassline that soon sprouts into an excellently melodic guitar riff - Borland sings about love lost and the inevitable passing of time - tried and true lyrical subject matter - but boy do they make it work:
It's all such a blur when time goes so quickly
Trying to hang on to the way that you'd like things to stay
You trace back the seconds recall the details
From someone will, to someone does
To someone did, you know I did
Oh there must be a hole in your memory
But I can see
I can see, a distant victory
A time when you will be with me
And when that soaring chorus hits, that's when the song wins you over. At least, it won me over. Despite not hailing from their best album, "Total Recall" is most certainly one of their greatest songs. Sometimes what pushes a song over the top is the delivery and the pacing, and that's the case here. A melodic and poppy post punk triumph:
RIP Adrian
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