22 Days Until Naamioiden Yo (Halloween) California Punk Landmarks---True Sounds Of Liberty--Beneath The Shadows



Live In A World Of My Own Creation

 Beneath The Shadows is an all-time favorite of mine. When I was an Undergrad student in Worcester Massachusetts, one of my roommates worked at the WCHC, the on-campus radio station. They did a really nice job there with a punk/new wave format that included playing a fair share of local bands. Any this roomie sometimes brought some promotional swag from the station back to the apartment, and this album was part of the booty. He put this album on and started to listen to it on the stereo. The music caught my attention,  because it was familiar but distinct. It clearly had the energy and passion of a punk album, but there was so much melodic atmospheric keyboards on it. And since I play the piano that was a good thing. And there seemed to be a lot of precedents here from the 60's, like the Byrds, Rolling Stones. And there are  paisley underground, theatrical goth elements, maybe even pre-Emo, in addition to the California Hardcore. True Sounds Of Liberty? What was this--I'd never heard of these guys before. That week I broke out the wallet and picked up my own personal copy. This album is unlike any punk album of its time and is a perfect example of the sonic diversity that can be found in the punk alternative scene of the 70's and 80's. If you think you heard this before, its probably by some band who emulated them, like the Offspring.

Jack Grisham is a bit of an underground legend a long time member of the early Punk scene in California. A lot of colorful tales can be found in back issues of Big Takeover magazine, which is the best music magazine you could possibly get your hands on. (Unlike a lot of magazines, they have a more historical perspective about music, not just focusing on new releases. And they do this without having another redundant article on the Beatles or Pink Floyd in every issue, like a lot of the top notch British magazines). Grisham is probably known to the general public as one of the multitude of candidates for California Governor in the infamous recall election in 2003, running on the Social Democratic platform and finishing in 37th place. And though his chances were negligible, he ran a serious campaign, and tried to bring attention to issues of governance that he felt were being overlooked by the mainstream candidates. In interviews when journalist tried to paint him as another sideshow novelty candidate, he made a point of getting the interview back on track.

I have to say right out that Beneath The Shadows is an essential item in any rock music collection. Right at the outset, when you hear the piano intro to Soft Focus. Greg Kuehn the keyboard player is definitely the wild card on this album. While Ron Emory does superb work on guitar, the keyboard creates dynamic diversity, provides a majestic gravitas which sets the record apart from bands of the era. And I find the album evocatively sinister for some reason, which is why I added Halloween to the title of this post, even though their are no songs about Mummies or Beelzebub. When I hear these songs they always remind of full moons and dark fall nights.

Not one duff track on this disc. You have heartpoundingly melodic punk like Wash Away. Another standout among standouts is She'll Be Saying, a revved up Stonesy tune. The title song is another macabre classic, a beautiful melding of light and darkness. The Munstersish organ fuelled explosion of Other Side is exciting sped up garage rock. The proud and defiant Walk Alone seems to be a view of the world through the eyes of a homeless person. Glass Streets is an energetic and lovely instrumental with sharp edged guitar and bell-like synthesizer riffs.

Well enough blather. This album is one you need--pick it up today and you'll thank me, just as I thank PJ today for turning me on to this back in college.