Silence Can Speak Louder Than Words--The Sound-- From The Lion's Mouth

I first heard about The Sound in a record store in White Plains. Back in the 1980s, at least in the UK, this London foursome were considered to be competitors with acts like U2, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Teardrop Explodes. But unfortunately the big break never came, and commercial success eluded them. Posterity has not been kind to them either. Their music is not that easy to get a hold of. If it were not for the Renascent label reissues from ten years ago they would be complete unknowns. Why this band is not appreciated is a complete baffler. They sound to me very much like a more pop oriented Joy Division. But that is not a slur at all. The songs are fantastic sounding, and as lyrically tortured as anything Joy Division did. Singer Adrian Borland of course had his own dark poetic slant on the world, a grim world that he was in a seemingly Pyrrhic struggle with.

From The Lion's Mouth is the second album by the Sound and they seemed to be poised on the edge of stardom. The album was engineered and produced by the great Hugh Jones, who has done amazing work with Echo and the Bunnymen, Gene, Simple Minds and Shack. This album is no exception as the sound quality is excellent; austere, crisp and terse. Graham Green's bass is a dominant instrument on many of the tracks, and the hypnotic glacial keyboard work of Max Mayers adds to the intensity of the songs.

The album begins with Winning, an almost tribal sounding keyboard driven track. It's a song about perseverance in a hostile environment. Typically strong vocal and hypnotic guitar performance from Borland.

I was going to drown
Then I started swimming
I was going down
Then I started winning...

Sense of Purpose is another introspectively powerful tune.

Are we what we want to be?
All wrapped up in our safety?
Comfort and complacency
It hurts me, It hurts me so...




Tough stuff. But even though Borland is struggling to make sense of the world around him, he is not simply griping. He is in the fray, battling, getting involved. Things may be bad but he is not giving up. And in doing so comports himself with consummate class and intelligence.

This album is simply a masterpiece of the 80's. You could program this album on shuffle and come up with a great song without fail. I especially like Skeletons with its frenetic bass pulse and we're alive but really dead lyrics. Another favorite of mine is The Fire, "led by the heart, drawn toward the heat". The ghostly keyboards are a nice contrast to the uptempo rhythm section. Silent Air is another pensive philosophical ballad that is unbelievably moving in its unpretentiousness.




The final cut is the epic New Dark Age. Dark tribal slow burning intensity remotely similar to Killing Joke. Which segues into uptempo bursts.

In the darkest times
Darkest fears are heard
And from the safest places
Come the bravest words

Scratched away at the walls for years
All we've got to show is the dust on the floor...

That cut has the single Hothouse appended to the end of the track. While a nice track it has a lot more levity than the other 10 songs here. While I like the song, it seems a little out of place here.

Sadly after a solo career complete with some very worthwhile recordings, Adrian Borland took his own life in 1999, more than 10 years ago. Mental illness unfortunately took its toll. A sad end to a great underappreciated talent. He deserved better. It seems that today The Sound reissues are going out of print, but some are still available via the Renascent Label including 5 live concerts from the Netherlands. For those interested in Adrian Borland post-Sound, the Red Sun Records website would be a good place to look. He also recorded as White Rose Transmission. As far as From The Lion's Mouth is concerned, I think anybody who enjoys bands like Wire, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Jesus and Mary Chain, Gang of Four, Ruts, even Duran Duran would find favor here. One of the forgotten post-punk classics of the 80's.