I am not a music reviewer. Never done that before as I never saw that as something I could do with respect to being faithful to the artist and their music. Pretty much a whole different thing than reviewing audio gear. Of which, that is hard enough.
But, out of nowhere I get an album in the mail. I have knowledge of the PR guy as we have shared a few emails as to releases and who on the masthead would be a good option for a review—but the packaging gives me no idea as to what is inside—other than it is a LP.
The package sits for a few weeks as we are in the midst of having our floors redone and the house/system is in boxes. Eventually I open the shipping box and see that it is from the band Afterimage. Not piquing my interest, it sits longer as I have zero knowledge of them and their music, and life continues to get in the way of listening to whatever—especially an LP of unknown music from an unknown band. Am thinking, "Why was this sent to me?"
When the opportunity presented itself, I Googled the artist and saw that the short-lived band is from the early 80s and that the LA Times was quoted as saying that they are the "Joy Division" of Los Angeles. Uh, what?! Never heard of them and we were active in the music scene back then, going to concerts and buying music of that genre.
Okay. Interesting. The packaging is quite extensive with a large full-size booklet detailing the band's history, not only though text but with many pictures taken at the time. The physical media is two 180G LPs that contain every studio and live recording of the band, along with a flexi-disc single. A lot of time and effort, and expense, was put into this, so who are these guys to warrant such an endeavor?
Well, turns out this is a special project from Independent Project Records. Wait a minute… we had a press release about this a few months ago. Damn.
From the release…
"Independent Project Records and the surviving members of underground 80s post-punk band Afterimage announced today that they will release a 22-track retrospective compilation of the original band lineup's full output on September 20th entitled Faces to Hide. The first single from the collection, "Afterimage (Demo)" is out today on all DSPs.
"The original line-up of Los Angeles' Afterimage only existed for a couple of years, and released merely one single and one EP. But their take on post-punk—at once raw and explorative, with an eye to the sound that was emanating from across the ocean and one to a past-acknowledging future—left a mark in the sonic psyche of the City of Angels. Collected on Faces to Hide are all of the early era Afterimage's studio recordings, plus demos and live tracks from performances at now legendary spots such as Whisky a Go Go and Al's Bar."
Okay, now this has our interest. Post-punk is right up our alley in terms of what we listen to. But, uh… "Once Named "L.A.'s Joy Division" by the Los Angeles Times," sets up all sorts of expectations. We are serious Joy Division fans having everything they ever released in every format and every version.
In playing the LP that features the studio recordings we are immediately impressed with the quality and sound of the recording. Dead quiet vinyl of music that has the warmth of that analog sound of the 80s. For a band that clearly flew under the radar, the sound is excellent. Well recorded and produced, this would be considered audiophile quality.
Okay, but L.A.'s Joy Division? So, we listen with that in mind and find that while the band is very good in terms of the sound and music of the Post Punk era, not so sure that they sound like Joy Division. But then that is simply our perception based on the comparison. If it was meant to be. Which I am thinking it was not.
Afterimage simply stands on their own as being a band of that era. Clearly one hears shades of Magazine, Gang of Four, The Fall, PiL, and to some extent Joy Division, but Afterimage is simply a band of their own. No doubt influences falling on everyone in various amounts.
On several tracks Alec Tension's vocal phrasing comes across as that of Johnny Lydon with an energy more reflective of the Sex Pistols than say PiL. Though it should be noted that Rich Evac (bass) and Holland de Nuzzio (drums) are quoted as to saying that they wanted to create the "space" that Jah Wobble and Jim Walker have on various PiL songs. One can hear this to some extent while on other tracks Rich Evac's bass is reminiscent of Peter Hook's from Joy Division.
And without a doubt on many tracks the sound and style of guitarist A Produce (Barry Craig) calls out to that of Andy Gill (Gang of Four) and Martin Bramah (The Fall). Jangly, abrasive, minimal… nice.
What sets Afterimage apart from their peers is use of keyboards and saxophone to augment and fill in the sound. While that sounds odd in a Post Punk band, it clearly fits here with their music much like the use of horns in Pere Ubu. As does the occasional nod to surf to punk to what is today Goth rock.
The thing about Afterimage is that their music tends to shift around from one sound to another. Hard to place them in any one hole as the music is rather diverse in terms of sound and style.
Wanting the proverbial time machine, this is a band that we would have been nuts over in the early 80s. Live they must have been stellar. This 22-track retrospective is as close as we will come. It is an amazing tribute and gets the listener as close as we can come.
Highly recommended.
A Google search turns up a number of places to purchase the release. Typically in the $45-$50 range.
