I needed another dose of comfort music this week – this social isolation/quarantine thing is getting really old and I haven’t been motivated to write about anything, much less new or unexplored records. Sound & Fury recalls crazy, more carefree days – it was on HEAVY rotation at parties and all-ages gatherings that I attended in the mid-80′s, one of those records that I still know every song’s lyrics. Some great songs like the punk anthem “Sink with California” and “Fight to Unite” which both criticize nationalism while giving a  little geography lesson and promoting unity and understanding. “Modest Proposal,” “Sound & Fury” and “The Circle” all describe that awesome energy at punk shows and in mosh pits – as well as the circle of life and death. Man I miss going to see live music! There’s also the punk peacenik track “What Are You Fighting For” and suicide awareness is highlighted on “Did You Wanna Die.”  “What Will the Revolution Change?” is a bit more mellow (for hardcore) and clocks in at a-really-long-and-complex-for-punk 5+ minutes). And “Blown Away” feels particularly poignant at this moment: “It seems more and more the future’s filled with uncertainty we seem to find ourselves living in an age of anxiety I know, we go, on living fearfully the leaders of the world won’t realize their responsibility I say, I say will we get blown away can we go on existing hoping for another day one day, one day, we can get blown away or we can stop the madness before it’s too late and we get blown away you tell me that you’re scared well so am I.” There’s also a couple of stinkers (“Jump Back” and “Duke of Earl” both kinda suck). One of my favorite is the anti-cop “Men In Blue” which combines punk rant/chant with some rap that as teens we’d recite when seeing the local men in blue.

Well I was walking down the street just the other day and the cops picked me up for something I didn’t say. There was no reason, there was no rhyme, they just fucked with me to waste some time. The scariest thing? They could have wasted me, the cops have the power and the guns you see. Simple lines, stay in school. You’re just not cool if you don’t follow their rules. I would understand if I’d committed a crime, They coulda locked me up I woulda done my time. Well I didn’t do nothing to the man had said. So he jacked me up and he cracked my head. We could bitch about it and we could complain, but it ain’t gonna stop until we break our chains. The story and it ended had just begun, they were back real soon for some more of these fun. What are we gonna do about the men in blue?

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I forgot how much I like New Wind! I’ve always listened to their more hardcore 1986 Walk Together, Rock Together a lot more (their cover of “99 Red Balloons” on that album is absolutely killer), but so many tracks on New Wind remind me of those 80′s shows, full of melodic punk and moshing (well, I’d stand at the edge of the pit, hoping not to get stomped while elbowing the more obnoxious slammers back into the melee). Particularly awesome are “New Wind,” “Somebody Help Me Scream,” “The Inside,” “The Calendar” and “Still Believe.” It’s definitely not hardcore (though at times hard-edged) but rather infused with earnest youthful positivity (i.e. “Expect to Change”) and signature “whoa-whoa’s” sprinkled liberally throughout. So I guess I wasn’t that surprised to see in the liner notes the band’s thank-you to U2 “for inspiration” – certainly not musically but absolutely for tone and message.

Lyrics to “Expect to Change”

I keep thinking each and every day
Have I really made a difference, have I made things change?
In all these years of “growing up,” and “standing strong,”
Has it made a single dent with all that is so wrong?

[Chorus:] But if I haven’t done a thing for world affairs
At least I know I try and I’ll show that I care
‘Cause it’s me that has to make an effort
Or what can I expect to change
That’s where it starts, in myself
Not just shifting all the blame

And as I’m growin’ older, I can see the changes
Yet history ain’t history at all it seems
I try to keep my head held high, eyes open wide
And growing keeps me learning, yeah it keeps me free

[Chorus:] What have you got to think that time will stop for you?

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This album was on HEAVY rotation at parties and all-ages gatherings that I attended in the mid-80′s, one of those records that I still know every song’s lyrics. Some great songs (“Sink with California” and “Fight to Unite” that criticize nationalism, give a nice little geography lesson and promote unity and understanding, “Modest Proposal,” “Sound & Fury” and “The Circle” that describe the energy of a punk show and mosh pits – as well as the circle of life and death, the punk peacenik track “What Are You Fighting For,” suicide awareness is highlighted on “Did You Wanna Die” and the rather un-punk “What Will the Revolution Change?” which clocks in at a-really-long-and-complex-for-punk 5+ minutes) and a couple of stinkers (“Jump Back” and “Duke of Earl” both kinda suck). Probably my favorite is the anti-police “Men In Blue” which combines punk rant/chant with some rap that as teens we’d recite when seeing the local men in blue.

***Well I was walking down the street just the other day and the cops picked me up for something I didn’t say. There was no reason, there was no rhyme, they just fucked with me to waste some time. The scariest thing? They could have wasted me, the cops have the power and the guns you see. Simple lines, stay in school. You’re just not cool if you don’t follow their rules. I would understand if I’d committed a crime, They coulda locked me up I woulda done my time. Well I didn’t do nothing to the man had said. So he jacked me up and he cracked my head. We could bitch about it and we could complain, but it ain’t gonna stop until we break our chains. The story and it ended had just begun, they were back real soon for some more of these fun. What are we gonna do about the men in blue?

***lyrics transcribed by me so probably some wrong but I did my best.

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