Customer Reviews

Gyrate +

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

 

 

I can't believe there aren't more reviews here on Amazon of this classic postpunk cornerstone. DFA have done a wonderful job of digging up all of Pylon's early recordings - The Gyrate LP, Pylon! 10" EP, Cool/Dub single, and a previously unreleased track - and finally making them widely available. Contemporaries of the tense, angular, bass-heavy art/punk bands like Gang of Four, Au Pairs, Delta 5, Mekons, Mission of Burma, etc., that were flourishing at the time, Pylon are essential listening for anyone interested in that amazingly creative period from about 1978 to 1982 when, inspired by punk, bands were inventing new sounds and expanding rock & roll's horizons in amazing leaps. It seemed like a completely innovative new band was emerging every week, and Pylon were one of the very best. Definitely check this out, along with DFA's reissue of the band's second album (with bonus tracks) Chomp.

Without question one of the best, most defining albums of the early eighties post punk/new wave scene. Sounds just as fresh today as it did when it was originally released. Punky, spikey, dancy rhythms, jagged guitars, pulsing bass, pounding drums and one of the best female vocalists ever! Vanessa is amazing. An absolute must!

This disc collects Pylon's best recorded work, though it's all eminently great. They were never better than on the "Cool/Dub" EP, which opens this disc, IMHO. All of "Gyrate" is really great, though. My personal favorites are "The Driving School," "Feast on My Heart," and "Gravity."

Nothing can match, really, though, the ferocious intensity that was Pylon live back in the day. I saw them on a bill with the B-52's at the Agora Ballroom in Atlanta circa 1980, and the sheer energy and joy issuing from the stage was just awesome. I thought I would die from dancing so hard. Pylon's monstrous rhythms would just make you move, whether you wanted to or not.

The whole band is great, but Vanessa is just fierce. I don't think she ever really understood just how primal her vocals were at the time. Recordings can't really capture the transcendental experience that Pylon was, but this comes pretty close.

Now, where are the Method Actors on CD?

Oh, what fun it is to hear this reissue! Those of us who were stuck in the backwater South when "Gyrate" was played at parties or on college radio can remember the joy and liberation we felt upon hearing Pylon and their Athens brethren. Those of us who "got" Pylon felt they were a punch in the face to all the purveyors of Arena and Southern Rock being force-fed to the masses. Much of the better known music from punk and new wave poseurs of this era sounds silly and dated twenty-five years later. However, owing to Pylon's superb musicianship and originality, their music holds up well. If you were in school in the South during the early eighties or are a connoisseur of new wave, you owe it to yourself replace your lost Pylon records by getting "Gyrate Plus." Relive the joy.

Pylon's guitarist, Randy Bewley, died young, at 53, in 2009 after this CD & "Chomp" had been remastered. If you have the 1980s compilation, "Hits" (that's a joke, they never had any hits) it's ok, but these remastered CDs are clearly superior, more forward instruments & vocals, more vigorous overall. What does Pylon sound like? Punkish, groovy, abrasive, & melodic. They don't really sound like any other band. They were trailblazers who covered the trail behind them so no one could follow. Randy Bewley was the father of 2 kids & had recently become a grade school art teacher when he had a heart attack while driving near Pylon's base, Athens, GA.

Pylon was a fun band from the late 1970s to early 1980s. Sparse and minimalistic, but it all worked. I loved the vinyl version of Gyrate, but this is even better as it has all the tracks plus bonus material with none of the pop and hiss. Think of the B-52's, but earthier and not as kitsch. Vanessa has got SOME energy! They were a blast live!

I don't think there's one bad track on the entire album. One of the best albums from that time period and it still stands the test of time.

I got so rapped up in looking outside the U.S. (Enland Mainly) for older alternatives that I overlooked this great band. I can't believe they aren't more known than they are, even in underground circles. To set the record straight this music rivals anything Gang OF Four did. I don't mean its better just on the same level. So if u are a fan of them u should like this. Although they arent as political. Lets take the song DUB for example its like they are loud and messy on purpose, but it can be effective on the dance floor or dare I say a mosh pit. Seriosly this music dosent sound dated at all!

this is a great recording of a great band. sharp 3 minutes songs led by drums and base guitar with choppy lead guitar and some snarling vocals.

from "MAKE IT BIG: CULT FAVES, CRITIC'S DARLINGS, AND ALSO-RANS" by David Cohen and Jonathan Green, c. 1992:

While the B-52's moved from Athens, Ga., to New York to make their mark, the next band to come from Athens would stay at home to keep it simple. Pylon, aptly taking their name from a William Faulkner novel, featured post-modern scritch-a-scratch guitars over an incessant pop-dance beat and the thrift-store voodoo-doll incantory wailings of Vanessa Briscoe-Hay. From their first release, 1979's "Cool," Pylon was highly regarded, although never more highly than in Athens, where people came to expect the start of a new scene.

Pylon opted not to follow the B-52's route to success. They played outside of their hometown, but never really left it. They opened for several dates on U2's War tour; it was not out of the realm of the possible that they could have picked up some of U2's momentum. When they were offered the spot for the entire tour, the band decided that, rather than play to crowds too big to enjoy and spend an increased amount of time in the studio, they would break up while it was still fun. In 1990, they reunited briefly for an album, a tour, and a going-out-of-business rummage sale.

Pylon - Gyrate + (originally released - 1980)

... and what can I say? I'm not going to be listening to this CD. In fact, I'm going to copy it and trade it in at the local record store for something else. Really, I appreciate that this band was THERE, that they were an integral part of the Athens music scene. And I do appreciate that they influenced (and even moreso, were influenced by) some great bands, notably the B-52's whose James Bond/Duane Eddy guitar style is clearly evident on GYRATE in certain places.

Musicians whom I like much better have sung the praises of Pylon and no doubt had some great times with them. I've loved R.E.M.'s cover of Pylon's "Crazy" since the day I first heard it (probably the very week it was first released on the DEAD LETTER OFFICE collection).

GYRATE is primal and the instrumentation is primitive. The guitars are indeed scratchy a la Gang of Four and Pylon does in fact sound somewhat like that band. Both feature vocalists who aren't too concerned with, ah, sounding pretty. In fact, I find the Pylon vocalist to be rather atonal and annoying. I'm not really much of a Gang of Four fan either, but I do like them in small doses. I can imagine reaching for this album once in a blue moon, especially to groove on the dubby "Danger!" (quite unlike the song actually titled "Dub"). But it will never be a favorite and I can frankly see why they never blew up the way those other bands did. Rating: caution.