Reviewed by Julia Talbot
Released: 1980 The Turn Ups Turn Up Genre: Punk (but also a little experimental, but also not experimental enough to be really experimental) Rating: 3 out of 5 Highlights: The Raven Just Dropped In I can honestly say I would not have ever found or listened to this album if not for Sheffield Chastain and this fact has me wondering about the album picking criteria for this group because I am all about access and if a piece of art is not accessible 40 years after its creation/release because of a price gate, what does that mean? I mean Sheffield (Shef?) was nice enough to share his copy of this album with me/us but I’d be interested in what the group (who are professionally a shit ton more artsy than I am) feels about being paid for one’s work/craft/art v. such being free – like is there a time limit? Should there be a time limit? My only point here is that I would have NEVER found this album or listened to it at all given the pay wall. I suppose my life is a little richer for hearing the album (and nothing against the band, most likely I will never listen to it again), but again, requiring payment for me to listen to this album is an effective way to assure that I will never listen to it …. except for Sheffield. Pretty long justification for my “three out of five” rating, huh? Full disclosure, this line of thinking is inspired by listening to the recent four hour “500 songs” podcast on the Grateful Dead who, as you might recall from one source or another, did tangle with the concept of art being free … a concept that could be more realistically? legitimately? called for in the vastly more optimistic economy of the mid to late 60s than in today’s world where we all seem to be careening towards disaster on several fronts (never mind the economy). It also feeds to a radio show I am building for broadcast at a regional burn in Michigan next month where I am looking at the music of film and television (dm me if you want the particulars, I guess). Has anyone besides me noticed the incredible influx of rather popular, (hence, I assume) pricey songs in shows broadcast on Apple, Hulu, Netflix, etc …? Of course you have because you are all in LA and connected to this industry sector in one way or another, but my (ever spreading) Midwest ass is a little more removed and only recently bothered to question the economics behind the rather stunning Ted Lasso playlist. But I digress. I am listening to the Turn Ups, Turn Up while writing this. First, this band had a good album cover. Second there are multiple bands called the Turn Ups, none of which have been even close to wildly successful, just sayin’. Third, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more of a vegetable-based tie-in to any of the album’s songs because Turn Ups/turnips, get it?? Thanks for being there for my 82nd dad joke ever. I am trashing gender stereotypes left and right, I tell ya. Fourth – this is a pretty standard and honestly pretty forgettable punk rock album. It is timeless in that it could have been produced in 1980 (which it was) or literally, I have heard bands just like this recently. The songs were proficiently executed and pretty immemorable. Points for being craftsmen/musicians but not a lot of points for originality. I liked the fourth track, “The Raven”, and the cover (song 11) “Just Dropped In”. There are better covers of “Sound of Silence” out there. Other than that, this album, which had nothing in particular wrong with it, was largely forgettable.
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