Friday, August 5, 2022

The 1981 Listening Post - Nightman - No Escape

 Nightman - No Escape


#682

1981 Housekeeping

Nightman

No Escape

Genre: Power Pop

3.75 out of 5




Highlights: 

Headline

Waiting

Critical Line






This one is weird. There’s virtually no information about this band. Tiny label, Limp Records put this out, no doubt to cash in on the Power Pop Knack trend. 

It sounds like them. A lot. The production is shitty but the songs are tight and the Feiger runs deep and true. 

The drummer is a Tommy Keene stalwart as is the bassist. So this is a Tommy Keene adjacent project with William Craig (who?) on vox. 

I wonder if they opened for Tommy. 

Since Limp put out Razz stuff, no doubt that’s how they made this happen.

A Tommy Keene backing band project without Tommy is…okay. Whatever. 


Can I ask, though, what was the deal with New Wave/Power Pop bands an Ska? Why’d every single one of them from Joe Jackson to Nightman include at least one syncopated reggae/ska tune? Was there a pact or something?

I wanna rate this higher but it didn’t shake out that way, even though “Secrets” was the kind of song that would have been that perfect B-Side that you knew was better than the single and told all your friends but they didn’t care. They got the riffs but they ain’t got the songs when they need ‘em. “Find a Way” is a great example. It explodes and then disappoints, lyrically. 





https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W_KzGReouYOCArxPQUGbbJM_tiWSUcG-?usp=sharing


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