The 1980 Listening Post - Mass (GR) - Angel Power

 Reviewed by Rob Haneisen

Released: 1980 Mass (GR) Angel Power Genre: Germans Who Wished They Lived In NYC And Hung Out With The Ramones Rating: 3 out of 5 Highlights: Angle Power Too Much Business Call it If Mass came out in the 2000-2010 era when throwback hip and raw rock bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, and The Hives were all the rage they would have been hailed in the alterna-music press as the next big thing. The problem was, they came out in 1980 when their kind of counter-culture unrefined hard rock was most definitely a niche audience without the glam and fanfare attached to later scenes. It’s too bad, because Mass’s 1980 album “Angel Power” is a blend of Iggy Pop meets Motorhead. It’s got that rough, snotty rock sound you could hear in similar bands from the New York CBGB scene (think the Ramones with less doo-wop) but maybe these guys were a bit fond of speeding things up either through influence or design. And you could certainly put them in the same league as the Jim Carroll Band (remember “People Who Died” from his 1980 “Catholic Boy” album that resurfaced in 1995 as part of the Basketball Diaries movie soundtrack?). Not bad for four guys from Germany. There’s certainly a punk element too but honestly the guitarist Dave Schreiber is too good for punk. While many of the riffs and beats get repetitive and formulaic after 5 or 6 songs, when the lead guitar kicks in for a solo it seems bonzo-good for this genre. It’s not that it’s super clean, a la Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck, it still holds its raw, authentic energy but the level of shredding on many songs is the equivalent of marrying-up. The opening guitar pyrotechnics on “Bad Times” is straight up Angus Young from AC/DC “Powerage” heyday. Lyrically, there are some simplistic chuckles delivered by Jack E. Burnside (who died in 2022). On “Good Times” we get “Gonna have a good time tonight/ Rock n Roll music gonna play all night/ Don’t worry baby it won’t take long/ Only takes a minute just to sing my song.” And he’s right, the songs are certainly efficient, or maybe this is a nod to his bedroom endurance. We get more succinct wisdom on “Too Much Business” where the singer laments “Living life takes too much money.” Ain’t that the truth.