Four Steps Toward a Cultural Revolution

The Beakers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 2, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: K. Records
• ASIN: B00065TZDM
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,759 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Beakers were a hack fit of four art-bashing funk wave arbiters who skronked into action January 1980 and expired in January 1981. In between, they toured up and down the West Coast, released a 7" single & songs on two compilations, played shows with Delta 5 & Gang Of Four and recorded several times.

The majority of the 17 songs on Four Steps Toward A Cultural Revolution have never been released before; the handful that were once available are now long out of print. The four Beakers – George Romansic (drums), Mark H. Smith (guitar, vocals), Jim Anderson (sax, vocals) and Frankie Sundsten (bass) – were an abrupt, powerful force on the Seattle musical scene, who through the force of their personalities and charmingly abrasive music made that town quake, dance and smile.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection of a little-known band, November 22, 2004

By 

Craig Clarke "Living After Midnight: Hard and... (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Four Steps Toward a Cultural Revolution (Audio CD)

What a difference a year makes! Funky punk quartet The Beakers toured Seattle and its environs between the Januarys of 1980 and 1981, often appearing on the same bill with fellow Seattleans The Blackouts and the legendary Gang of Four and XTC. Meanwhile, sometime inbetween, they recorded (some of them live) the seventeen tracks that make up Four Steps Toward a Cultural Revolution -- a few of which appeared on their "Red Towel" single and an EP of local music called Life Elsewhere, but most of which have remained unreleased (O, the perils of self-promotion!).

Sounding to this reviewer's ear like a combination of the Talking Heads and Morphine (courtesy of the Byrneian vocal stylings of singer/guitarist Mark Smith and the "skronking" saxophone of Jim Anderson), the Beakers embraced their "gregarious amateur" status as a funky punk band but nonetheless have a dynamic energy that is infectious. You won't even mind when "Bones" (which features Smith screaming "I am the king!" repeatedly) -- and other songs that seem to have as little content -- end abruptly.

"Red Towel" is a great opener -- it's probably the most produced of the Beakers' songs -- a catchy, loud trifle that starts out with a level of unexpected insanity, but eventually becomes familiar with repeated listens, almost comforting: "We're getting a great tan / We're soaking in the rays / We're changing our color / We're lying on a red towel!" That last line is so triumphant that I can't imagine not taking a red towel to the beach from now on. Also interesting is "3 Important Domestic Inventions," which takes a bluesy lyrical style and does very strange things with it ("I'd like to explain retroactive / You have to look backwards / I'd like to explain the cathode ray tube / You have to face it"), but my favorite song on Four Steps Toward a Cultural Revolution has to be "Dinosaurus Mambo." It starts with a rolling bass line and an atypically typical rock beat, then folds in the Beakers' charm gradually. I would recommend it for those who like to get their feet wet before jumping right into a new sound.

The album cover is always part of the listening experience and this conglomeration of Picasso subjects playing football does more than you could imagine to imply what is contained within. Four Steps Toward a Cultural Revolution is a great album for mowing the yard, working out, or any other activity that requires uptempo inspiration. It's unfortunate that the Beakers as an entity didn't make it past a year of age but, luckily, during their tenure on the Pacific Northwest music scene, they attracted K Records majordomo Calvin Johnson as a fan. His admiration of their style led to the release of this compilation, offering their music, at least, a second chance at immortality and the popular success they courted so vigorously.