The 1981 Listening Post - Vardis - The World's Insane

 Vardis - The World's Insane

#147

April 1981

Vardis

The World’s Insane

Genre: Boogie Rock

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

All You Ever Need

Curse the Gods

Requisite 80s Cover: Hawkwind’s “Silver Lining”.  Um…I’m not sure that qualifies as a “requisite” cover cuz I don’t think they were trying to draw attention the way a good cover should. Like, “Look at this! We are a male fronted band and we are covering Lauper’s “She Bop”! Get it? Cuz it’s a song about female masturbation and this is ironical! Get it!?!?! Huh????” Okay, that band was stoopid but you get the idea. The cover should alter it enough, ala the Residents, or it should be an additional calling card. Unless it opens the record and then you are effed. 

It’s not that “Silver Machine” sounds like a leftover Sweet song that disappoints, it’s that it’s the best track on the record. The cover shouldn’t be. 

I am using the term “Boogie Rock” loosely because, to be honest, I prefer even Handsome Beasts to this. And that’s just because they all sound…bored. 100 MPH showed they had the chops, what they were missing was production. I don’t know what happened to them here but they seem more like they just wanna jam together and hang a “song” on that jam.

I put “All You Ever Need” and “Curse the Gods” on the Highlights just cuz…well…I felt they were good representations of what I’m talking about. 

To be fair, the album picks up steam in the last third but it’s not enough to get me jazzed. 

There’s a reason nobody talks about Vardis. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-worlds-insane/1386096538

The 1980 Listening Post - Vardis - 100 M.P.H.

Vardis - 100 M.P.H. 

#393

October 1980

Vardis

100 M.P.H.

Genre: Underproduced Indie New Wave of Heavy Metal

3.25

Highlights:

Situation Negative 

It’s underproduced because the band recorded it live, apparently. 

There’s a tonnage of riffs here and that’s basically what I gather this band is all about. “Songs” are secondary too shredding. And this is, I gather, pretty early in the shredding era so maybe it’s ground breaking. But, damn, does the shoddy sound hurt it as a demo. It sounds like it was recorded straight from the board at a shitty little club. Which it probably was but, dammit, go back into a studio and record it proper. You have the chops, obviously. I mean, listen to the bluesbreaking rock “Destiny” and and the glammy “Living Out Of Touch” and tell me that they couldn’t play alongside any other boogie rockers of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2m8lWynfrc&list=PLlvn8uktX5Lv3PahmX5xLwLtIVpo5GXt_

The 1986 Listening Post - Vardis - Vigilante

Vardis - Vigilante

#565 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

1986 Housekeeping

Vardis

Vigilante

Genre: Glam Metal

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

All the World’s Eyes

I Must Be Mad

Radio Active

Another is a long series of bands that didn’t penetrate the mainstream ecosystem but still managed to exist and put out records that, tbh, don’t suck. 

In fact, if you like The Darkness this is right your alley. IOW, bombast and boogietastic, adoring of Zeppelin but also of all the glammers. I wonder if this band could have toured with Slade? That would have been a fun bill. 

This sound is straight out of 1975. And I totally dig it. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/vigilante/842689401