Patti Smith, Television, a proper investment in The Velvet Underground. Big Star. Wire. Pylon. The Replacements.Jason & The Scorchers. The Rain Parade. The Dream Syndicate, Jason & The Scorchers. True West. Green On Red. The Long Ryders.The Minutemen. Husker Du. The Meat Puppets. And the dBs.
All of these came from the initial investment of mine in Murmur, the debut album frim R.E.M. which I bought towards the end of 1983, soon after it came out. That record was my great year zero. The moment when I really starting subconciously plotting my musical and in some ways my personal journey. I couldn't overstate the importance of this purchase for me. Everything came from there.
dBs I struggled with slightly for many years.They were eagerly recommended by the band . I bought their thurd album Like This, on import from Tower Records, just after coming back from Switserland where I'd spent six minths during my gap year, It confused me. It didn't sound like R.E.M. except that both were melodic and enigmatic.
Now I'm listening to the band's debut album Repercussion over and over again almost forty years later and much has fallen into place suddenly. I can see the strands that connect the bands. Repercussion and Murmur. Big Star most readily. The Beatles too. There's a lot of Beatles in R.E.M.
Twelve songs on both albums. A certain interest in the unconventional and narratives though dBs storyline approach seems more linear. A reward repayed to repeated listening. A withdrawal from the conventional. It's good to start getting there eventually. Whuch I think I am. This is a horse of a dufferent colour.. A remarkable album.
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