Soldier-Talk: Difference between revisions
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Z<blockquote>Stretch a point, you got a line. Two lines, you got a lane. Drive a car, or a train of though through that lane, on the soundtrack on the most irritating, jangly guitar sound, the treble up to ten square, and the best drummer of the year playing a snare drum as sharp as a bullwhip crack. Poly-poly rhythm fragments. A hard dose of cranium salts, pushing against your frontal lobe with the humour of a psychotic — who else rhymes "Eastern Europe" and "pancakes with syrup". Yeah that voice has the same on-the-edge-of-psychosis as David Talking Head, but this guy has been around twice as long. He must have been, to put this concept together. But what is the concept? Stretch a point, make a line, these lines hold the instrumental and vocal sections together in such a cryptic graph you need a decoder to sort it out. All right, make the people understand, use the adjective: Avant Jazz Psychedelic Folk Rock. What, you don't understand? Albums like this and the Pop Group are creating a music that you can't passively use for background music — you must commit yourself, body and foggy brain. Not ready yet? All right, repeat after me — make a point. Till its pointless. Logic is logic unless it isn’t logic — my brother grew potatoes but you grew tomatoes-—starting to get it? That o.k., buy it now and five years when it assumes neglected masterpiece status you won't have to pay bloated prices for the reissue. Meanwhile if you're not quite ready for this, there's always the new Devo album — compared to this it’s a first grade reader. But at least it won't give you a headache. Now give me a beer, albums like this are too much hard work — ahh, that’s better. This is a pretty incredible you know — glurg, glurg, glurg.....</blockquote> | Z<blockquote>Stretch a point, you got a line. Two lines, you got a lane. Drive a car, or a train of though through that lane, on the soundtrack on the most irritating, jangly guitar sound, the treble up to ten square, and the best drummer of the year playing a snare drum as sharp as a bullwhip crack. Poly-poly rhythm fragments. A hard dose of cranium salts, pushing against your frontal lobe with the humour of a psychotic — who else rhymes "Eastern Europe" and "pancakes with syrup". Yeah that voice has the same on-the-edge-of-psychosis as David Talking Head, but this guy has been around twice as long. He must have been, to put this concept together. But what is the concept? Stretch a point, make a line, these lines hold the instrumental and vocal sections together in such a cryptic graph you need a decoder to sort it out. All right, make the people understand, use the adjective: Avant Jazz Psychedelic Folk Rock. What, you don't understand? Albums like this and the Pop Group are creating a music that you can't passively use for background music — you must commit yourself, body and foggy brain. Not ready yet? All right, repeat after me — make a point. Till its pointless. Logic is logic unless it isn’t logic — my brother grew potatoes but you grew tomatoes-—starting to get it? That o.k., buy it now and five years when it assumes neglected masterpiece status you won't have to pay bloated prices for the reissue. Meanwhile if you're not quite ready for this, there's always the new Devo album — compared to this it’s a first grade reader. But at least it won't give you a headache. Now give me a beer, albums like this are too much hard work — ahh, that’s better. This is a pretty incredible you know — glurg, glurg, glurg.....</blockquote> | ||
=== Nuvox === | |||
January 1985<ref>http://subkultur-ost.de/Nuvox%2001-85%20(Friedland)%20Fanzine%20%6085OCR.pdf</ref> | |||
Walter Ziese<blockquote>Unbeirrbarer, stampfender Rhythmus, im Gleichschritt. Sonst ist alles schräg. Trompete veranstalten Kriegsgeschrei. Das Sax ist alles andere als soft. Menschenkörper, eingezwängt in quadratische Soldatenpanzer, marschieren verzweifelt. Keiner hat irgendeine siegesbesessene Kampfeshymne auf den Lippen. Alle haben Angst. Einer singt verzweifelt eine Liedphase: »''Civilisation is burning down, burning down''«. Der Gitarrensound ist aus Stahlhelmblech gemacht, zerreißend verzerrt. Befehl- und Gehorsamsgeschrei »you made me a slave by hammer«. Soldier-Talks, Soldatengespräche handeln von samenbekleckerten Girls und meinen »verklebten Eiern«. Zerquetschte Sinnlichkeit. Die musikalische Disharmonie dieser Platte klingt nach Verzweiflung.</blockquote> | |||
=== Scaruffi === | === Scaruffi === | ||
Revision as of 03:42, 19 July 2023
| Soldier-Talk | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Studio album by The Red Crayola | |
| Released | March 1979 |
| Recorded | |
| Studio |
|
| Label | Radar |
    / 
| |
Track list
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "March No. 12" | 2:01 |
| 2. | "On the Brink" | 2:55 |
| 3. | "Letter-Bomb" | 2:03 |
| 4. | "Conspirators' Oath" | 2:41 |
| 5. | "March No. 14" | 1:22 |
| 6. | "Soldier-Talk" | 7:06 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Discipline" | 3:25 |
| 2. | "X" | 3:13 |
| 3. | "An Opposition Spokesman" | 5:02 |
| 4. | "Uh, Knowledge Dance" | 2:57 |
| 5. | "Wonderland" | 3:00 |
Background
- 1978 - Radar reissues
- October 1978 - Howdy from Texas the Lone Star State
- October 1978 - Hurricane Fighter Plane flexidisc
- October1978 - Wives in Orbit (single)
- March 1979 - Soldier-Talk released
- Soldier-Talk tour
Personnel
The Red Crayola
- Mayo Thompson - vocals, guitar
- Jesse Chamberlain - drums
Additional musicians
- Lora Logic - saxophone
- Christine Kozlov - additional vocals
- Dick Cuthell - trumpet
Pere Ubu
- Tony Maimone - bass
- Allen Ravenstine - synthesizer
- David Thomas - additional vocals
- Tom Herman - guitar
- Scott Krauss - drums
Retrospectives
Mayo Thompson, 2015[1]
[...] Jesse Chamberlain, who drummed and sang some on Corrected Slogans, joined me when Radar gave us a deal. I reformed the band because Christine [Kozlov] and I fell out with Art & Language. I had to get something going, so got back in the music business. Radar was rereleasing the International Artists’ stuff, so it was a natural for all concerned. It made sense to restart the group rather than pursue a solo music career.
[...] Punk qua form wasn’t about making interesting music, rather about music as self-realization. Even poor punk was interesting, though, particularly if it sold. That’s what made the Crayola viable. Sales made it interesting in a broader sense. [...]
Jesse Chamberlain, 1980[2]
Mayo taught me a lot as far as 'just play - anything works in music, anything goes'. We had a great time, but as far as politics, I couldn't understand a lot of what he was talking about. Mayo had a grudge against the world. He was kind of an angry young man. I looked at it from a musical point of view - I got to play angry young man lyrics.
Mayo Thompson, 1986[3]
Jesse – there wasn't much for him to do, in a way, I think he wanted to say what he felt about the record, and he wanted it closer in the direction of pop, because Jesse, that's always been one of his gifts, and I was determined to make the record work, and thought that it could, and should, and working with Geoff Travis, using his insights into the way music works, there was no other way it could be… because those songs, they're all very schematic, not all of them, but... they don't have choruses all the way, maybe a motif is repeated but it's not repeated in exactly the same way... it's changed in terms of the time signatures, it's a complicated work.
Reviews
Melody Maker
April 28, 1979[4]
Jon Savage
Slash
August 1979[5]
Z
Stretch a point, you got a line. Two lines, you got a lane. Drive a car, or a train of though through that lane, on the soundtrack on the most irritating, jangly guitar sound, the treble up to ten square, and the best drummer of the year playing a snare drum as sharp as a bullwhip crack. Poly-poly rhythm fragments. A hard dose of cranium salts, pushing against your frontal lobe with the humour of a psychotic — who else rhymes "Eastern Europe" and "pancakes with syrup". Yeah that voice has the same on-the-edge-of-psychosis as David Talking Head, but this guy has been around twice as long. He must have been, to put this concept together. But what is the concept? Stretch a point, make a line, these lines hold the instrumental and vocal sections together in such a cryptic graph you need a decoder to sort it out. All right, make the people understand, use the adjective: Avant Jazz Psychedelic Folk Rock. What, you don't understand? Albums like this and the Pop Group are creating a music that you can't passively use for background music — you must commit yourself, body and foggy brain. Not ready yet? All right, repeat after me — make a point. Till its pointless. Logic is logic unless it isn’t logic — my brother grew potatoes but you grew tomatoes-—starting to get it? That o.k., buy it now and five years when it assumes neglected masterpiece status you won't have to pay bloated prices for the reissue. Meanwhile if you're not quite ready for this, there's always the new Devo album — compared to this it’s a first grade reader. But at least it won't give you a headache. Now give me a beer, albums like this are too much hard work — ahh, that’s better. This is a pretty incredible you know — glurg, glurg, glurg.....
Nuvox
January 1985[6]
Walter Ziese
Unbeirrbarer, stampfender Rhythmus, im Gleichschritt. Sonst ist alles schräg. Trompete veranstalten Kriegsgeschrei. Das Sax ist alles andere als soft. Menschenkörper, eingezwängt in quadratische Soldatenpanzer, marschieren verzweifelt. Keiner hat irgendeine siegesbesessene Kampfeshymne auf den Lippen. Alle haben Angst. Einer singt verzweifelt eine Liedphase: »Civilisation is burning down, burning down«. Der Gitarrensound ist aus Stahlhelmblech gemacht, zerreißend verzerrt. Befehl- und Gehorsamsgeschrei »you made me a slave by hammer«. Soldier-Talks, Soldatengespräche handeln von samenbekleckerten Girls und meinen »verklebten Eiern«. Zerquetschte Sinnlichkeit. Die musikalische Disharmonie dieser Platte klingt nach Verzweiflung.
Scaruffi
Piero Scaruffi[7]
Pitchfork
April 2, 2007[8]
Douglas Wolk
Dusted
April 10, 2007[9]
Jon Dale
AllMusic
Thom Jurek[10]
Coffee-Table Notes
March 16, 2019[11]
Neil Cooper
References
| Songs |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- ↑ https://bombmagazine.org/articles/mayo-thompson/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20000524022632/http://www.chrisspedding.com/paper/80/0315.htm
- ↑ https://www.furious.com/perfect/redcrayola.html
- ↑ https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/red-crayola-isoldier-talki-radar
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/slash_circulation_zero/page/n668/mode/1up
- ↑ http://subkultur-ost.de/Nuvox%2001-85%20(Friedland)%20Fanzine%20%6085OCR.pdf
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20020102084435/https://www.scaruffi.com/vol2/redcrayo.html
- ↑ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9938-soldier-talk/
- ↑ http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3503
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/soldier-talk-mw0000577583
- ↑ https://coffeetablenotes.blogspot.com/2019/03/missing-in-action-40-years-of-soldier.html