The Records - Crashes

It's been a few days of albums from 1980. Well, since I'm here I may as well enjoy myself. The Records followed up their 1979 debut, the one that had "Teenarama" and the stellar "Starry Eyes" with Crashes. This is the one where a young Jude Cole, who had just left Moon Martin, joined up with The Records to replace lead guitarist and vocalist Huw Gower.

This was really the golden age of that first wave of power pop that ran in parallel to the chaos of punk. It siphoned off the energy and rebelliousness but wrapped everything in starry pop goodness that payed homage to it's rock roots but was carving out it's own sound.(don't roll your eyes, I worked hard to work "starry" in, and it's not even on this album). 

The Records had managed to get a foot in the door in North America in '79, and a year later when Crashes was released the band came over to support the release playing smaller rooms, like the legendary Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. I only know this because the record I found had a small poster advertising their upcoming appearance as part of Perryscope Concert Productions "Cheap Thrills #22" where for $4.99 plus any fees you could see the band. Heck, even Dire Straits played the Commodore back in the day.

From what I've read their label more or less pulled their support from the band while they were on tour which more or less added the words "... and Burns" to the album title.

Getting back to this one, though. If you're a fan of power pop this will definitely put a grin on your face. I'm not overly encumbered with baggage either. I've not listened to The Records (or Shades in Bed if you want the original title, but I grew up with The Records, so that's what it is) in a while (it is on the shelf, so it's coming down soon) so other than fond remembrances I'm listening to Crashes with relatively fresh ears.

This is really solid, and the addition of guitarist Jude Cole on lead and harmony vocals (I'm assuming he sang lead as a couple of the songs sound like him) really compliments John Wicks vocals. It's the vocals here that are particularly endearing as there is a sweetness to the delivery that fits the music. There are also moments here and there when John is a little pitchy and at the edge of his range, and it totally works. Drummer and lyricist Will Birch and bassist Phil Brown anchor the band and keep things bobbing along.

When I sit to take in an album I still find myself waiting for those "holy shit" moments. The ones where I hear a song, or if things were really going well, where I find songs I can pull out for a mix tape (weird how I still think of mix tapes), or nowadays a playlist. This is probably the worst way to listen to an album, and over the years I've dismissed a lot of really good stuff just by virtue of an album being consistently good. I'm not saying I'm content with meh and filler. It's just that some albums are a solid listen, and trying to isolate what essentially works out to an am radio friendly (it was a thing once upon a time ... a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away) song that isn't too long or too short.

Probably the closest to fitting that narrow definition is "Hearts Will Be Broken" a song with the band's rich layered harmonies, and the jangly guitar that gives off "Starry Eyes" vibes. It's really very nice, and honestly isn't the best song on the album. I keep waffling on what stands out, which is kind of cool. Everything here is really tight. At the moment the song that strikes my fancy is the very Beatlesque "I Don't Remember Your Name" that really payed homage to the 70's - in the best possible way. The song that was pulled for a single however was "Hearts in Her Eyes" a song that is okay for all that but not the best representation of what the band was pulling off on Crashes.

I've played the album most of the afternoon, and I just came back to the computer to re-read whatever meanderambling nonsense I'd jotted down, and I have to say that those paragraphs about looking for the infamous single thing, is unmitigated gibberish. Although I will say that "Hearts in Her Eyes" is the weakest song on the album which is a shame. I'm not going to list my favourites ... as seriously, the whole album is pretty fantastic, and every time I think I've narrowed it down, something else pops up. I love albums that keep on giving.

Take my word for it, this is wonderful stuff. Sadly like so many great albums and for that matter artists from 1980 that had both feet in the '70s - audiences were fickle and the new thing didn't stay new for long. Which it too bad as for a couple of years pop felt revitalized and different from everything else that was out there at the time - and then just as quickly something else was in fashion. 

Funny how this would all come back around in the '90s when Britpop resurrected the genre with louder guitars and more swagger. "The Worriers" could have been an Oasis song, right down to the whiny slightly off pitch vocal delivery.

They were the best of times, they were the shortest of times.

Crashes indeed.

There is a pretty decent anthology you can listen to called Smashes, Crashes and Near Misses, that features more than half of Crashes but in terms of back catalogue, it's all hidden away somewhere. Which is too bad. The Records deserve to be more than a forgotten footnote.

I'm going to dust off their debut. If I'm going to sit in the basement and play records, I may as well play The Records.

I'll see myself out. 

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