The Biz - A Matter of Time

An unusual score, and one I had no idea what I was getting. I was expecting campy prog, but then again I'm not always right when judging a book by its cover. For all I knew this could have been space disco ... happened to me before. So how did I find this thing? Let me tell you. Several months ago I was farting around looking through the online catalogue of one of the shops I like to visit (Redrum Records), and was just seeing what was "still sealed" and if there were any deals to be had.

Sadly, there are always deals to be had. One of the records I saw was this rather goofy looking album. It was a little pricey for me ... meaning it was over ten bucks, but it was intriguing. So I figured what was the harm? At best I've got a fun album that seems to be a bit of a lost treasure, at worst I'm out a few bucks but I still have a pretty cool time capsule. Besides, it was still sealed and to be the one to crack it open after over forty years was too good to pass up.

So I bought, cracked it open, looked at it, and then put it on the shelf, where it sat for a long time. I would see it, and kept telling myself the time wasn't right yet. I'm trying really hard to not work in a bunch of superfluous time references ... I suspect I'll only be partially successful, and who knows if I take the time to proof read this after I'm done I may edit them out ... or not. Time will tell. Okay, that one doesn't count, it's too obvious.

It may seem like I've just been wasting your time (that one doesn't count either) but while I've been jibber jabbing and trying to collect my thoughts I've actually played the record through twice. There's definitely a lot to appreciate here, and yes it is progressive ... or for those who know more about genres than I do, this falls into the sub genre called pomp apparently. I suppose it's because of the keyboards and the grandiose nature of the music. I'd never heard of that before, which just goes to show you that an old dog can still learn a new trick now and again. It sort of makes sense. People like labels.

It was enjoyable and it was certainly an ambitious effort, and the performances were solid. Really solid. The songs weren't just exercises in technical ability, there seemed to be a real focus on musicality, which I respected. The songs would rock too, as Sandy Lawson showed himself to be an adept guitar player, and the interplay between his fret work and the keyboard textures provided by Tom Hogge, who was also the lead vocalist and primary songwriter, was really cool. Hence the pomp I suppose. The band's rhythm section was Ken Leckie on drums and Richard Loubert on bass.

Trying to find any good information on the album or the band is a bit tricky. The album itself doesn't really have a date on the record, or the jacket, but on the inside of the gate fold there's a credit regarding some of the lyrics that says they're from 1978. Now musically and stylistically that makes a lot of sense. This is a '70s album. However, there are a few sources that state the album was recorded at Mushroom Studios in 1980 and that Sandy Lawson, the guitar player, didn't join the band until after 1978. So the release is likely 1980, or 1981 depending on who you go with. I managed to reach out to Tom Hogge, and his recollection was "I think it was 1978 ish." Again, after all this time it really doesn't matter. With the passage of time, all of this has been more or less reduced to being old and the fact that it's being remembered at all is more the point.

Which is sort of how my brain is processing this as I play it. To me, this is a killer '70s album. Tom Hogge's vocals are okay, but there's an earnestness in his delivery that works with the songs. I'm not dissing him at all, like I said they work. It actually gets better as the songs get deeper. It's not like Geddy Lee was given a lot of props earlier in his career, look how that turned out.

The album seems to be self-financed, and the label Bent Records put out a grand total of one album. These guys reminded me a little of The Karroll Brothers in that regard. This wasn't something made on the cheap. It was recorded at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver, and it was sent off to K-Disk for mastering. The deadwax attributes the mastering to JG (John Golden) who seems to have a good set of ears. Even the album design wasn't done on the cheap ... you don't do a full colour gate fold unless you want to spend a little extra. Why the band didn't add the date is a conundrum, but then again I have a lot of records where there's no date ... it doesn't make the record timeless, just hard to identify.

This is a really nice sounding record. The drums here are fat, full and the kick is nicely placed in the mix. The guitar tone is perfect here. Probably nothing more elaborate than "Tubes on ... tubes off," Sandy Lawson knew what to play and he's not throwing in extra notes to showboat. Like I said, tasty. This is all centred on Tom Hogge, who is an absolute monster on keys. It's so weird that this album is a one and done, and finding anything about the four guys only points back to this lone release.

Yeah, this is a grower ... there are some killer songs here. It's really too bad this wasn't released a few years earlier, who knows what could have been. There are so many good songs here, but for an early '80s release, who was the target audience?

In the long run (hold my beer, I'm onto something) it really was a matter of time. This shit rocks, absolutely rocks, and because so much time has passed no one cares anymore when it came out. Of course if you're more jaded you could dismiss this as being borderline generic with nothing new being offered by the band other than recycling stuff that's already been done, and was done a few years earlier. But why be a dick? I enjoyed it.

Too bad there is really no way of hearing this unless you can find a copy of the record. I suppose you could look on YouTube ... it's there, I checked.

You should go look, you'll find it ... it's only a matter of time. You know you want to.