Boys Brigade - Boys Brigade

When I found Boys Brigade, it seemed familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It didn’t matter. The immediate drawing card was seeing Geddy Lee’s name on the back as producer. The band was on Anthem Records, and honestly, even before hearing anything, I was assuming it was going to be good.

Good it was. So good, and it was also a memory jogger too. “Melody” got modest play back in ’83, and it was a delightfully quirky song that was everything cool about the early ’80s. Oddly, whenever I hear the song, it feels a bit like Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ “Here Comes My Girl” - they really sound nothing alike, there’s just something about the atmosphere and delivery that makes me think of Petty - and I’m being sort of petty even comparing them. Heck, if I’m going to go all in, I may as well say that Boys Don’t Cry’s “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” sounds like they heard “Melody.” Whatever, none of this jibber jabber takes away from the song - it’s one of the highlights on the record (there are many).

The inner sleeve is kind of interesting. The lyrics start with the second side on the left and side one on the right. I wonder if there was some back and forth as to how to sequence the album? I really like the one-two combination of “The Passion of Love” and “Melody." Then again, the other side opens with “Into the Flow,” a song that should have been huge. I suppose it doesn’t really matter at this point. I sort of like it the way it is.

There are no wasted moments on this album, and while it fit right in with what was cool, it also seemed to be carving fresh tracks in the snow. This isn’t to say you couldn’t pick out influences. I wonder if the guys in the band floated in the same circles as The Tenants? “Into the Flow,” with its new wave reggae overtones, seemed to be in the same vein as The Tenants’ “Sheriff” - I don’t know who was first, as they both came out in ’83. Then again, the echoes of the late ’70s Police were still reverberating throughout the early ’80s.

As I mentioned at the top, Geddy Lee produced the album, and people expecting to hear overtones of Rush were likely a little perplexed. Oddly, as Rush moved into the ’80s, they’d borrow more from what Boys Brigade were doing than Boys Brigade borrowed from Rush. The album was engineered by the legendary Nick Blagona. This really is a great-sounding record.

It’s always kind of cool to hear, through older ears, stuff that is new to me. Or in this case, new-ish, as I did remember one of the songs. By ’83, a lot of what became synonymous with the ’80s sound was fairly established. Boys Brigade were right there on the forefront, and the whole band seemed to be in sync. There is no filler, and each song sounds so good.

The band had a big sound, and I suspect the infectious rhythms are the result of not one, or two, but three percussionists. Anchored by drummer Billie (Bucko) Brock, and ably supported on the left and right (I picture them set up like a wall of percussive instruments) by Jeff Packer and David Porter, the rhythm section had serious weight. Bassist Wayne Lorenz rounded it out.

Up front were vocalist and keyboard player Malcolm Burn and vocalist and guitarist Tony (Tones) Lester. Much of the music on the record was attributed to Malcolm Burn, but all of the songs were written by band members.

The album should have been the start of something … except it wasn’t, and sadly Boys Brigade would be a one-and-done before imploding. After that, the various members more or less stepped away from the music industry. The exception was Malcolm Burn, who transitioned from out front to behind the board as a producer/engineer and has worked with the likes of Blue Rodeo, Junkhouse, John Mellencamp, Iggy Pop, and Emmylou Harris - his resume is pretty impressive.

To borrow from Yeats:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

For a moment in ’83, the world was full of promise for Boys Brigade ... until it wasn’t.