Customer Reviews

Onoffon

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First: how about a little history on Mission of Burma. Perhaps one of the most heralded and influential groups in the history of rock music, Mission of Burma was the epitome of what underground punk was supposed to be in the eighties. MOB's 'time in the sun' however, was more like 'time in the shade.' During the best years of their brief career during the early to mid-eighties, it seemed that only fellow musicians such as Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Big Black, The Minutemen and a small sporadic fan base were appreciating Burma's extremely unique brand of punk rock. It was MOB's outside the box thinking that garnered them the attention of like-minded people and the underground media. Mission of Burma was a power trio with an added twist; and that was one of things that separated them from most of the other punk bands at the time. Unlike many of the fast, angry and undecipherable punk bands in the early eighties; Mission of Burma was still very much an amplified/distortion and feedback group. It was just evident in their sound, as it is especially now - that their music just seems to have a much more thoughtful center to it. With Peter Prescott on drums, Clint Conley on bass and Roger Miller taking up guitar duties, Mission of Burma was a complete and functioning entity that spewed-forth pure, rocking creativeness. However, it's extremely undeniable that the brilliant nuances of tape manipulator Martin Swope was an extremely important factor as to why Mission of Burma is, and will be one of the most important bands in the history of American music. Having only released a couple of seven-inch singles, one EP "Signals, Calls and Marches", one LP "Vs." and their final recording, "The Horrible Truth About Burma" which was a compilation of live recordings from their final tour in 1985; Mission of Burma called it quits and went their separate ways on good terms. All of the members have stayed in their native area of Boston, MA - except for the enigmatic Swope. Having recently regrouped in the past couple of years; what was supposed to be a couple of one-off reunion shows has since turned into a full-blown documentary, subsequent album and tour. "ONoffON" is Burma at their best! It's like these guys walked through a time warp direct from 1983 and haven't skipped a beat. Absent from the line-up this time around is the ever elusive tape manipulator Martin Swope. Having retired from music, he now lives on an island in the Pacific Ocean and is probably enjoying the hell out of life. Taking up duties as tape manipulator and recording engineer for "ONoffON" is none other than producer/engineer/musician extraordinaire (*and active member of Shellac) Bobby Weston. With sixteen amazing new tracks from the innovators of what has now become "indie rock," Mission of Burma's highly anticipated album "ONoffON" has definitely been worth the 22-year wait. Mission of Burma: even better - and always ON! Keep it real kids*

How could a band get back together after 22 years and still sound relevant...like they never left? They're playing today with the same raw intensity and musical ambition that they had in 1983. No more Martin Swope manipulating their sound but their producer, Bobby Weston does create some pretty interesting effects. My favorite three tracks are the hard-rocking "The Set Up" which is loaded with great riffs and noises, "The Enthusiast" sounding like the Gang of Four jamming with The Clash, and "Fake Blood" with King Crimson like guitar and bass lines. I hope we don't have to wait 22 years for their next album.

As a hugely influential great band for a brief time in the early '80s, the only thing that could result from reuniting nearly 20 years later was to suck and cash in on the hype surrounding their legend. Not so. The band is too talented. All three members contribute songs to this album and the results are like they released this album in 1983. Roger Miller has more musical talent in his toenail clippings than I do in my entire body. It is just not fair that these guys are that good. Saw them play in D.C. recently and they were great. Not bad for a bunch of guys that are only a few years younger than my parents.

Great return from a band who haven't recorded in over 20 years. Amazingly, they still sound current even though they've changed very, very little stylistically since the last time they released an album (and that's what we had back then, albums, not CDs)! This is a perfect example of a comeback done just right. Let's hope they decide to stick around for a while this time.

People who listen to this for the first time, coming from a healthy (mandatory) love of VS. and SIGNALS, CALLS, AND MARCHES, might be struck by the directness/simplicity of it; it's beyond a doubt an energetic, rich, raw disc, BUT it's actually much more straightforward than previous recordings would have led you to expect: the band, if anything, has immatured over the years. In some cases this works immediately -- Peter Prescott's "The Enthusiast" grabs you by the throat and hurls you at th' wall in its first minute, sounding, uh, I guess unsurprisingly, like somethin' the Volcano Suns mighta done at their peak; the opening cut, "The Setup," is a fast favourite, too -- but other tracks take awhile to grow on you, and some flat out haven't, yet, after repeated listens. But it's a strong, passionate, real slab of meat, in an era where those are few and far between; it ISN'T as musically complex as VS., and it is as far removed from Birdsongs of the Mesozoic as it could be; and it probably ISN'T as exciting on its own terms as the whole IDEA of a Mission of Burma reunion, which is probably what most people are REALLY drooling about -- but it's well worth picking up. Oh, there're a few reworkings of tunes you might know from FORGET and HORRIBLE TRUTH, too. At least five songs on it are indespensible, and the rest aren't so bad that they'll spoil the experience.

Buy this CD! Any American alternative/punk band owes their existence in part to Mission of Burma. Time has come for the kings to reclaim their thrones and this is the first warning shot. The music is a logical extension of the "Vs" album, which is also available on CD. Insect punk to melancholy cellos define the range of sounds. But ... where are all the other kings? Glenn ... where the hell are the Feelies and don't think that I don't remember you working at a certain hardware store on Rt. 23! Tom ... what ever happened to Television? And Richard ... how the hell much more of a blank generation can we get? From the sound quality, the CD seems to be compiled from several years of recording but, who cares? This is the real deal and this stuff never gets old. If more music of this kind was available ... maybe kids could find the strength to overcome the propaganda and make a new world.

The first Burma album I bought was "The Horrible Truth about Burma" back in 1985. I remember thinking upon first hearing it that this not your average band. Songs about post Mao China, dumbells, covers of "1970" and "Heart of Darkness" all done with bombast and brains. Their new one,"OnOffOn", builds on the legacy of their old material with added elements brought on by their 19 years of doing other things musical and non-musical in nature. Plus the new Pete Prescott songs inject a sense of humor into the mix, something that was missing the first time around. "OnOffOn" is easily the best record I've heard since Steely Dan's "Everything Must Go", the only other band I know who's return to active status actually produced more great songs.

An old Boston friend wrote me an email in late 2001 to tell me that Mission of Burma was reuniting after a 2 decade hiatus. The news ruined my day. Why would Mission of Burma want to reunite with its three founding members well into middle age? Had Roger, Peter and Clint succumbed to the impulse to finally cash in while the Mission of Burma name was still bankable? The Sacred Legend of Burma would certainly go up in flames, as the reunited members would certainly be a mid-life crisis parody of the band's former glory. An artistically viable reunion of a middle-aged Mission of Burma seemed akin to something like mission impossible.

For three short years (1980-1983) Mission of Burma was the band that was our life. In the fashionably right wing climate of the early Reagan/Thatcher years, our boys fought the power and laughed in the face of conventional success as rock stars. It wasn't all about fame and fortune for Mission of Burma. Burma's music was about the outsider, the quiet loner who finally makes a political statement by reaching for his revolver and blowing it all away. Burma's left-leaning politics were aligned to the anti-authoritarian stance that inspired post-punk bands like the Gang of Four, the Mekons, Au-Pairs and even the Clash in the late Seventies.

The 2004 release of "Onoffon" on the venerable indie label Caroline, Mission of Burma gives faith to the jaded skeptics who believe that lightening cannot strike twice. From the opening chords of "The Setup" the trio plays with the same intensity, inspiration, clarity and creativity as their farewell gig in the Bradford Ballroom in 1983.

If anything the refinements in digital technology has enhanced the chugging leviathan rhythms of Peter Prescott and Clint Conley's signature drum and bass sound. Roger Miller's knotty riff driven guitar that inevitably resolved the dramatic tension with squalls of feedback remains intact. This is not a watered down, chilled out, lounge lizard version of Burma. Mission of Burma 2004 remains unafraid to enter the eye of the hurricane.

Burma rages against the New McCarthyism of the current George W. Bush era with the same vehemence as they did in opposition to the New World Order of the Reagan/Bush years of the early Eighties. The egalitarian experimental spirit of the early Eighties when Mission of Burma played seedy Boston punk rock circuit in clubs like the Underground, the Rat and Cantones has risen from the ashes. The resurrected Burma can still deliver deadly blows against the empire and inspire shock and awe.

Burma are quite simply my favourite rock band. It genuinely aggrieves me that I cannot buy a real copy of VS anywhere, as that, along with the first EP and single, are recordings that really defined their sound.
Killer tracks are the Set Up and Wounded World, Fake Blood and Conley's excellent weirdo country Nicotine Bomb, but like all of their good work, it takes 3 or 4 listens to realsie the depth of the music they make. They're a smart band, and they seem to be aware of how these hidden twists make the music so much deeper and rewarding. And love that bellowing drummer...
I say this is phase 1 cont., because you'll hear a real change in the sound on the Obliterati. I love that album, but the guitar sound is different, with a change in direction not unlike Fugazi's the Argument. However, OnOffOn still sounds like it was written and produced in 1982, especially for the first side. Which, to be honest, after mourning a band that broke up when you were 5 yrs old is EXACTLY what I needed, and I'm sure anyone 10 yrs older would say the same.
One more thing - tinnitus my a$$. If I'd put out Vs. and watched it sink like a stone, I'd have quit too. Quote Pete Townsend 1967, "I spat on the (British) record buying public."

Bands that reunite after 20 plus years aren't supposed to sound like this. On OnOffOn, Mission Of Burma sound like they've unleashed a lost record from 1983. All of the passion, energy, and chops are still here; this is by far the most incredible reunion record I've ever heard. It's just as good as all of their previous output, and although it won't replace Vs. or Signals, it's beyond worth owning. I mean, really, how many bands sound like this after remaining stagnant forever? Come on, even Gang Of Four and Television put out crappy reunion albums, both incredible bands. Even if the Pixies gave a new album a go, could they write anything on par with "The Setup," "Falling," or "Wounded World"? Mission Of Burma's 2004 opus is proof that sometimes getting the band back together won't inspire groans. This'll bring a tear to your eye.