what Frank is listening to #227 – INSTRUCTIONS – Instructions – (Radio records) – 1982
I knew nothing about this band at all when I dropped it on the turntable. A quick google revealed nothing. Keywords like "Instructions" and "LP" are not going to narrow the field. A good example of what creates, in part, future obscurity. People naming their bands beware.
A further google with band member names revealed less than a handful of hits and no detailed information.
So, the back story will be limited here, and here it is:
- The band is Canadian.
- The album was originally recorded and released on a small Canadian label in 1980.
- This release on Radio Records in the USA (distributed through Atlantic) is from 1982 and I'm not sure why it was re-released though apparently the single "Don't Say Love" received a little bit of airplay in Canada and the USA.
- Owen Smith (vocals) and Martin Wall (keyboards) co-wrote all the music.
It's pretty clear that this is one of those pub rock,or mainstream rock bands who jumped onto the new wave music bandwagon.
That is not necessarily a bad thing but I always find it a little insincere. I suppose at the time you may not be conscious of your actions but there must be a difference in sound between a band who has been listening to music which influenced new wave and then play their version of that on the one hand and a band who are playing something totally different and then see what is riding high on the charts and decide to copy that sound.
It's all a big grey area though as not all from the former are good and not all the latter are bad as individual talent and smarts have a lot to do with how the band sounds. Also, bands or rather band members are influenced by all sorts of things (wasn't Johnny Rotten into Hawkwind and doesn't Rollins love James Brown?). Bands can "escape"their past, transcend their limitations, create an individual sound and maybe even extend the musical vocabulary of their chosen genre.
But…
more often than not, bands that jump on musical band wagons just sound insincere. I suppose any proficient musician can replicate the "sounds" of the bandwagon you have jumped on but you can't necessarily replicate the "passion" (fuck, that sounds dumb, but you know what I mean). At best, if you decide to jump on a bandwagon you should go back to the original sources of inspirations and get the musical language right.
I do not know anything of Instructions pedigree but they do seem to me to be a bandwagon jumper. Keyboardist Wall had put out an album in 1977 called "Metaphysical Facelift" which has been described as a progressive moog synth type of LP. He also wrote and played on an album released by a band called Vehicle with Owen Smith on vocals in the same year. The youtube clip is pure AM pop rock.(it went to #25 in Canada)
There is a bandwagon and there has been a jump.
Again, I labour the point , that does not make it bad.
Listening to this I have to say that like a lot of bands who jump on a bandwagon the band hedge their bets. They aren't really committed, or are unsure about, the sound they have adopted.
And quite tellingly all the songs are to long, up around the 4 minute mark, too long for the new wave.
Instructions, at best come off like a less new wave XTC or a more new wave Cars, Australian Crawl (for those Australians out there) or Mi-Sex ( again for the Australians). There are also, certainly, elements of Devo, Gary Numan and Ultravox in the mix here as well as some synth pop.
The vocals are solid and occasionally jagged and fractured in the mainstream new wave way not unlike Australians Peter Garrett (Midnight Oil) or James Reyne (Australian Crawl – though he was ripping off Stephen Cummings from the mighty Sports)
Canadian guitarist Domenic Troiano (Guess Who) also guests on a few tracks.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Wicked Heart – catchy.
- So You Learn from Computers – ahh nothing says new wave like a song about "computers" and people being reduced to numbers. Dumb ass.
- Don't Say Love – This was a single? A pop ballad with some new wave styling via the keyboards. The guitar belongs to a different era.
- Suburban Dream – An English-y type of song with some new wave and ska type sounds. Yeach.
- Ha Ha Ha – An English type of new wave quirky pop song. Not bad at all.
- The Factory – slightly reminiscent of Gary Numan and maybe Devo.
- The Extra – lame
- Naked Deer – lame and with Ultravox overtones.
- Cleek – again Gary Numan-esque.
- OK – I was desperate to write "no, its not". But it's not too bad. A quirky little new wave ballad.
And…
I fucking hate albums where the track listing on the back is in a different order to the tracks on the record.
There is are some half good songs here and the album is better than I thought it would be (the musicianship and vocals are of a high quality) but ultimately … it's disposable.
Tape a couple of tracks and sell.
I'm sure the band are fondly remembered in Canada.
Chart Action
US
Singles
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Album
Singles
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Album
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England
Singles
Singles
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Album
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Sounds
Wicked Heart
Don't Say Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_cVlQfdfxg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_cVlQfdfxg
Ha Ha Ha
a mix
Others
Vehicle
Review
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Bio
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Website
fark, at the point of giving up, I found websites for both of the chief protagonists.
Trivia
- a review of co-writer Martin Wall's solo album, Metaphysical Facelift (1977, "Martin Wall is a professional piano player from Hamilton. Metaphysical Facelift is very much an album of two faces. One is some dreary vocal singer-songwriter stuff, where guests on guitars, bass and drums appear. And another are solo synthesizer / piano instrumentals from Wall, from short bridges to longer explorations like the excellent title track which is a lost classic of symphonic EM (with large piano presence)".http://www.pugachov.ru/eem/w.html
- guest guitarist Domenic Troiano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenic_Troiano
Other Comments
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