Then Jerico - First (The Sound of Music)

Another one of those, "I wonder what this sounds like" albums I found in a bin. It was still shrink wrapped which is always fun. The cover didn't yield a release date, but this looked mid '80s and the guys looked like they were going to sound like ABC or Depeche Mode ... or worst case Duran Duran, or worster case, they'd be a boy band. 

You know what they say about judging a book by it's cover.

Well, in this case I got more or less what I was hoping for. From the opening notes of "Let Her Fall" this was that dreamy blend of rock and synth-pop. It had a lot of guitars, and there were times I got hints of INXS and Simple Minds ... of course I could have easily said it sounded like a-ha and Pseudo Echo and I'd still be right. First (The Sound of Music) was the band's debut, and it came out in '87 and by this time the '80s had developed a sound and Then Jerico knew what they were doing.

Now, as much as I'd like to write a love letter to the band about how I missed out and all that, I have to be honest and say that while I enjoyed this ... I mean, seriously I really enjoyed this, it was just yet another album full of solid songs that came and went without making a lasting impact.

This is generally what happens when I'm a few decades late to the party and although this was a genuinely pleasant surprise I just won't have the luxury of being able to spend enough time to have this sink in, truly sink in. So I'm left sitting here listening to an album that I like, that I'll know I'll forget, but if I think about the band I'll think good things but won't remember any of the tunes. I'll likely pull it out and put it on and it'll feel like a new experience, and most likely I'll think to myself, "Man this is really good, I wonder why they never took off over here." I'll play it a couple of times and then put it away.

Now, after all that you'd think this was a generic turd ... but it's not. This period of the '80s was chock full of good bands all vying for a little slice of the pie. The problem with good is that it isn't great. There were moments throughout First (The Sound of Music) that flirted with being great, but for me just couldn't quite get there, but man they got close more often than not.

Still, to be fair in England where the band was from this album would yield three singles that crack the top 100, and one, "The Motive" that broke into the top 20 (is a really good song). So while it may not have done much here in Canada the band made some inroads at home.

It would be there follow up, The Big Area that did even better, but like their debut didn't made a blip on the radar over here ... that said, it is on mine. I may have been damning the band throughout this entry with faint praise, but like I said I got what I was hoping for, and I really do like this era of pop.