Customer Reviews

Cypress/Afoot

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is some of the best rock/pop to have been recorded in the 1980's. It was perhaps too good, too deep to be perceived by the masses as such, despite the fact that bandleader Mitch Easter was a reigning "hip priest" due to his role in R.E.M.'s first three records and a host of other projects.

Easter's production of these records is rather great, full of pastoral sounds and colors layered on top of the band. His material is rather strong. The band play rather well. All in all, it's the state of the art for independent music circa 1984 and it's astonishingly good. However good you think this might be, it's better. In a fairer world, this would have been bigger than U2 or R.E.M. (as would the dBs' first two albums).

If heaven is going to have a "pop" soundtrack playing at all times, then my friends, this is THE CD that should fit the bill. It is about as irresistable and satisfying as a pure pop album can be, with plenty of goodies and surprises in store for all pop and rock fans. Why this band didn't become a household name in the 80's will forever be a mystery and a big mistake. Simply put, it doesn't get any better than this. I would highly encourage music lovers in general to purchase this CD. You absolutely, positively can not go wrong. Your money will be well invested.

Incredibly smart yet accessible. Instantly catchy but not disposable. And more playful than the ( mostly ) willfully obscure early REM. These two long - unavailable albums ( on one cd, no less...YES !! ) are, simply put, some of the best pop music of the 1980's.

I wore out my tape of Cypress. Afoot is great, but Cypress is amazing. I bought this while stationed in the Army. There weren't too many "new wave" tapes available at the PX, and I wasn't going to listen to Def Leppard or Bon Jovi. So I bought Cypress.

One of those rare tapes that I bought 20 years ago and still listen to every few months (The Jam's Snap and Setting Sons, and The Smith's Hatful of Hollow are 3 other tapes I never tired of).

Get this CD. Get it now! It is great. Thanks for reissuing it.

Clever, fun, catchy and generally excellent. Why is it that we don't get much answering to any of those descriptors these days? (Possibly because self-awareness and irony leave room for little else.)

Anyhow, buy Let's Active and hear it for yourself. The 80s scene went layers deeper than the famous headliners. The lesser known groups like Let's Active, The DBs or Guadalcanal Diary are a lot better than you might think. They're great groups that were overshadowed by the Michaelangelos of alt-pop. Take another (or a first) look and you'll see they stand on their own.

NB- It's my opinion that a regional "sound" is formed by a number of bands that feed off one another's influence. If you think some of this sounds like (early) REM, remember that REM sounds like them, too. History may be written by the supergroups, but these guys were peers in (and in fact the producers of) that jangly southern sound.

I saw Let's Active open for R.E.M. in '83 when they were promoting afoot and Murmur respectively. Spent the whole Let's Active set with a friend screaming "They sound like the bleeping Monkees" disparagingly in my ear. By set's end, my response was "I love the bleeping Monkees!" And I love this band. Smart, catchy, jangly, and pristine, this is American pop at its best. Mitch Easter as producer/player has been responsible for some of the gems of the last twenty years, from R.E.M., Primitons, and Game Theory through Velvet Crush. He is overdue for praise and recognition. Maybe he'll get it with the second go-round of these releases.

This is great news for me that these are available on CD now.
Having thrown away all my cassette tapes over 15 years ago, this is THE one I could not dream of losing. Mitch Easter is an incredible song writer/musician. It's too bad we have not had more access to his work.

I saw Lets Active open for an REM concert in Statesboro GA in 1988. Their perfomance simply blew REM away. One of my favourite melodic bands along with Game Theory (for which I think Easter also produced).

that you will discover them very soon - buy this disc! Seriously, I had vinyl of both of these releases in college and as CD's took over replaced my vinyl with this. It's pure psychedelic power pop done right, combining sing along hook happy elements of the Beatles, ethereal layered guitar work with background electronics that really put it "out there". Front man Mitch Easter of course played a hand in putting REM at the forefront of college radio and it's unfortunate that his excellent work with Let's Active never really made it into the mainstream consciousness. Those who have heard it know. Buy this, love it, and then move on to Big Plans for Everybody.

Get it, Get it, Get it, Get it! There is no chance what so ever you won't love it. Just as much as a classic in 2008 as the early 1980's