The 1981 Listening Post - John Ruth (AKA John Ruskan) - I Am a Model

 Reviewed by Kelly Hoben / LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Released: 1981 John Ruth (AKA John Ruskan) I Am A Model Genre: Minimal Synth Pop Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Highlights: 50 Mile Radius (it’s how I imagine transcendental meditating while sitting on a cloud in Super Mario World would sound) Experimental synth sounds that still surprise 42 years later, minimal melodies, and repeating bass lines create a dark and magnetic synth-pop landscape. It’s hard to write this review because Ruskan’s (essentially) one-man band pulls me into a state of mind more conducive to painting or staring at the ceiling than writing. As expressed in Kick Me In The Bed, “Practicing Serious Introspection” is what the album is really about. John Ruskan said in an interview that he wants to dispense with the foreground and background in music because their separation is symptomatic of western thinking and the ego-mind. He calls this criterion “equal prominence,” and he identifies in trip-hop and ambient music. I had already been familiar with his 1997 ambient album Desert Dawn when Sheffield hit me with I Am a Model, and that felt like synchronicity, and then I found out that Ruskan is interested in Jungian psychology and yoga nidra, and basically I’m a total fan girl now. I get the sense of “equal prominence” perhaps best on Ordinary Mood, which has a satisfying monotony. He sees himself as an artist, and some of his more-spoken-than-sung lyrics are about sculptures and paintings, but it sounds genuine, like when David Byrne sings about art, and Ruskan has actually written books about aesthetics. I’d classify him as an Expressionist / Cognitivist—he says music embodies emotion and art can be a means to evolve consciousness. The sounds he elicits from the technology all over the album attest to his own mechanical engineering artistry with the monophonic synthesizer. Ruskan talks about trance music transcending the ego-mind by getting into the body, and he inspires that bodily awareness by increasing rhythmic components and decreasing melodic components. It works for me.

The 1980 Listening Post - True Confessions - True Confessions

 Reviewed by Kelly Hoben

Released: 1980 True Confessions True Confessions Genre: New Wave Pop Rating: 1.2 out of 5 The drums (Terry McCubben), bass (Mark Fournier), guitar (Glen Binmore and Julia Bourque), and keyboard (Blanche Rube) are ok. Nothing ground-breaking here, but the rhythm is tight, and a few guitar riffs provide some pleasant melodies despite several awkward key changes. The vocals (Glen, Julia, and Blanche), however, are weak - and at times, grating - and I wish they would stop. If someone were communicating the contents of this album’s lyrics to me in a conversation, I would excuse myself and avoid these people. It’s like “Grease” set to the sounds of 1980, with the same limited gender roles, lack of self-awareness, and misguided social landscape. When “I love you” is part of a refrain, you have to wonder how much time went into song writing. There are too many references to meeting romantic partners in the alleyway. It’s gross, and it makes me nervous. “7/11 Heaven” tracks a clique of girls as they follow boys in cars to shoot some meaningful glances across the intersection then tag along into a literal 7/11 to watch the boys buy cigarettes. Watch them. That’s all. The male voice praises the one girl who is busy with actual hobbies involving her tape recorder and her Nikon - “Modern Girl, you’re a real education / I see you’re smarter than a library,” except I think he actually says “liBERRY,” but I am not going to confirm it by listening to this drivel again, so I’m not sure. In “Smokey’s Gonna Dance Tonight,” the female voice is like, “His shoes are sharp / His moves are right / Dance card full every night.” Ugh. The 1980 instrumentation adds no value to this romanticization of the 1950’s ethos. In short, I hate the world that True Confessions has reiterated here. The music is not strong enough to compensate for the inane lyrics. This album has appropriately been buried.

The 1980 Listening Post - Legend (OK) - Legend

 Reviewed by Kelly Hoben

Released: 1980 Legend (OK) Legend Genre: Southern Rock Rating: 1.9 out of 5 Highlights: (skilled lead guitar) Lowlight: Carolina (a boring ballad that like every other song is just way too long) The optimistic opening of Legend inspires me to crack open a cold one and don my jorts for some fun in the sun. But this song, like the rest of the album, quickly overwhelms with too much speed, too many instruments, and too many notes. The vocals are unfortunately crystal clear. I find myself enjoying the long instrumental parts despite the excessive noodling more than the amateurish lyrics and vocals that often fall flat. Legend tries desperately to emulate the big hitters of 70’s southern rock, and the fun guitar solos are generally impressive. But the speedy, mechanical rhythm puts no swing in my denim cut-offs. I don’t know if it was the knowledge that ‘The Reason Why’ is the last song on the album and freedom was growing closer with every second, but I found the first half of this song pleasantly nostalgic. It reminds me of being too little to see into the front seat of an Oldsmobile where a cracked window lets cold air and cigarette smoke whip across my face. It’s past my bedtime, and we’re passing under streetlamps whose beams periodically change the inside of my eyelids from black to orange. Then with just one beat of warning, the song erupts into fast, senseless rock, and I imagine my little eyes popping open to behold the golden arches on the side of the road. One of the grown-ups twists the volume knob to the left and refuses my request for a drive-through Happy Meal. I sink back down into the giant seat and let the streetlights wash over me as the radio crackles. How much longer until we are home? The plain lyrics of the album express yearning to find freedom, to shake the memories of a failed love, or to elude death by running away on horses and trains. The desperation of both the sentiments and the music is contained in limited dynamics and lack of nuance. It rushes forth without understanding how to escape itself. Billy Joe Stange has commented on YouTube in a way that suggests even he nearly forgot the album existed, but that he believes in his heart there’s something in it for listeners of today to enjoy, and judging by the remarks of other commenters, there is. But overall, I can’t say that I count myself among those listeners.

The 1980 Listening Post - Reluctant Stereotypes - The Label

 Reviewed by Kelly Hoben

Released: October 3 1980 Reluctant Stereotypes The Label Genre: New Wave/Ska Rating: 3.6 out of 5 Highlights: Reluctant Reluctant Stereotypes’ only album, The Label, followed the release of three singles and the change of two band members. A successful run of live shows was by all accounts energetic and fun. Inspired by the Coventry music scene of the late 70’s, they innovated a fusion of second wave ska and new wave post-punk with a splash of jazz. Steve Edgson’s clarinet and Paul Sampson’s guitar elicit sounds of all the ingredient styles, but the fusion is not always cohesive. ‘Back to the Greek’ sounds like three different songs as it breaks too abruptly from one style to the next, and the equally awkward jazz-reggae of ‘Reverend Green,’ delivers a critique of Christianity that might have been edgy at its time but strikes me today like musical theater. The lyrics of ‘Sunday Tears’ also point to some bad times had at church, but Edgson’s acid jazz clarinet riff is a bonus. Tony Wall’s groovy walking baseline and Collin Heanes’ reggae knock on the drums steadies the pace of ‘Plans for Today’ in the vein of Sting and the Police, and although the clarinet nearly screams out like an 80’s sax, Edgson’s measured restraint is welcomed. ‘Visual Romance’ is as reggae as the album gets, and the smooth blend of instruments complements the narrative, “A smile emerges on his face as they began another night, just a visual romance, a highlight of his life.” I remember Paul King as a VJ on MTV and VH1 during my childhood in the late 80’s, and I bet he was a total heart throb on stage (I mean, who doesn’t love a Galway boy in Doc Martens?), especially while singing ‘Reluctant,’ the peak of post-punk on the album. The chugging guitar and the melody of ‘Reluctant’ remind me of the ska revival of the late 90’s (I know that’s backwards, but I was still a teenager in the late 90’s, and I wasn’t aware of the Coventry scene until I was a fully formed adult. And anyway, it indicates the lasting influence that bands like Reluctant Stereotypes had even decades later). ‘Reluctant’ is a very danceable tune with punky drums, a sound that strikes me as authentic to the band. Its strong finish is a lot more satisfying than the fade-out endings of ‘Confused Action’ and ‘MOD.’ ‘The Label,’ reminiscent of Bowie and the Beatles, closes out the album with a pleasant strumming guitar and clarinet anthem that seems to bid goodbye. It’s too bad that Reluctant Stereotypes didn’t put out a second album because they were onto something, and the innovations of The Label, although patchwork in places, showed a lot of potential. At least they rocked the faces off their many adoring fans in their heyday, and we have these few recordings representing this evolutionary moment of music in 1980 England.