Customer Reviews

Walls Came Down: Best of

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

 

 

The Call made three albums of fervent rock in the early eighties that caught some notice for their nervy energy and passionate lyrics. When I was in college, my college station began discovering the intense "War Weary World," and the song caught on with our listeners so strongly that the local rock station was forced to add it to their rotation...that's how strong it resonated with those that heard it. (And this was a station that had Ozzy's "Crazy Train" in a heavy rotation at the time.) That first album, represented here by 6 songs, was as dramatic a statement made by any band of the period (U2 always sprang to mind when I listened to the album). From the deadpan "Yeah, we've seen it all before" line behind lead singer Michael Been's righteous vocal on "War Weary World" to the stark questioning of "Doubt," The Call were obviously a band to be reckoned with. By the time the second album came out, they'd toughened up enough to hammer out an MTV anthem with "The Walls Came Down." They had begun forming a fan base of such luminosity that Garth Hudson (of The Band) had become a member by this time. His keyboards helped give The Call some diversity and propelled such numbers as the instrumental "Destination." Been's songwriting was also quickly turning more and more pointed, with "Turn A Blind Eye" continuing the political acuity that "War Weary World" delivered on the debut.

Unfortunately, internal turmoil made 1984's "Scene Beyond Dreams" a transitional record. You can hear the focus shift on such tracks as "Tremble" and "Delivered," which sport a dated sound and feel less like a band than the first two albums' songs on this collection. It is also the album where Been began his spiritual journey that would gel on the albums to follow. Struggling with conflicts between Christianity and a formidable dose of rock cynicism (much like U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Cockburn and Peter Gabriel), The Call had begun crafting songs that explored this rift with sincerity and power. Despite the indistinct production, these five songs from "Scene Beyond Dreams" are still powerful statements about the human condition.

By this time, however, there was enough tension that the band went dormant for two years, switched labels and stormed back with the incredible "Reconciled" in 1986. A singer as forceful and passionate as Been just could not be relegated to video pabulum. He and his bandmates always understood that rock, for many of us, could still make the world shift on its axis, if for only three and a half minutes. This early document of a largely unsung band is a must for those who respect deeply personalized, spiritual rock.

This album is indeed great, including excellent songs such as 'War Weary World' and 'Flesh and Steel', unfortunately, a more accurate 'Best of the Mercury Years', would nearly have to be twice the size of this CD. Granted, The Call did only 3 albums with Mercury, yet this 18 song compilation left out some truly great songs and carried on some that weren't necessarily the best of the possible selections. Apparent in the songs left out were 'Time of Your Life' from 'Modern Romans' and the excellent 'Bandits' from the epynonamous first album. In fairness, only 4 songs are not included from the first album, and only 3 from 'Modern Romans', with another 5 missing from 'Scene Beyond Dreams', which is admittedly, the weakest of the three. This collection tantalizes you with an idea of a complete release of these albums, which would only require a two CD set and adding the other nine songs. Come on, Mercury Records-show the love! In value, most of these songs are grandious in their New Wave Southern Rock sound, with etherial lyrics by Michael Been. It is the only place currently to get these songs easily on CD, and worth the money for this point.

Wanna hear the Talking Heads, the Cars, U2, Men At Work - type songs done really well, but aren't really those bands, and a major helping of the band doing other songs of theirs that sound like nobody BUT the Call? It's here on this recap of the early music these guys put out. The production is good, the selections just right. Some of the smooth, insightful lyrics remind me of a young John Lennon, after the teeny-bop; angy, socially/politically consious without being pretentious,as always delivered with Been's enthusiastic and uncannily expressive voice. In fact, some of their guitar/melody hooks were Beatle-ishly catchy. Flashes of great song-writing invade a cd laced with material that's good without them. Listen to the lyrics closely a few times to see how simple but sweetly true they are, then sit back and enjoy how smartly they're captured within the music. Yes, they were young and angry, but weren't we all at birth? And just like any other child full of promise, delightful!

I've never understood why The Call wasn't a huge hit. their consistently catchy and intelligent music is complemented by serious and thought-provoking lyrics, and as far as I am concerned they never made a dull album. Named for their one big radio hit, The Walls Came Down includes the best of their first three albums, none of which is otherwise available on CD. From the opening lines of "War Weary World" through the stunning selections from Modern Romans (all of which are as good or better than "Walls") The Mercury Years provides an excellent introduction to this astonishingly creative and artistic band.

Leader/vocalist/guitarist of The Call, father of Robert Been (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) as well as the sound engineer for BRMC, Michael Been has passed away at the age of 60. No official cause of death has been announced and all the information we've gotten thus far has been from foreign news sites translated. Here's what we know about this very sad event:

Michael Been, sound engineer and father of bassist Robert Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, was unwell Thursday in the backstage area of Pukkelpop. "The first aid was immediately administered by the workers of the Flemish Cross and the doctors present backstage." says festival organizer Chokri Mahassine. "The Medical Emergency Team was immediately on the spot." He was rushed to the Salvator Hasselt hospital where he later died.

Our hearts go out to our close friend Robert, his family & the band.

RIP Michael Been.

This is a collection of songs from The Call's first three albums, "The Call", "Modern Romans", and "Scene Beyond Dreams". Ordinarily I would prefer a record label to issue the original albums in their entirety, but in this case I think they made the right "call" by just compiling the best tracks from those albums. The fact is, they were able to fit about 70% of the material from those albums onto this one disc. And they did an outstanding job of picking which to include and which to leave out. The first 3 albums were inferior to what came later from Michael Been and company, but nonetheless there were many fine songs that all made it onto this collection - "War Weary World"; "The Walls Came Down"; "Turn A Blind Eye"; "Modern Romans"; "Scene Beyond Dreams"; "Tremble". The stuff that got left off is really of interest only to the most devoted of fans. For most of us, this does just fine. For those who first heard of The Call through later hits like "I Still Believe", there are many fine treasures to be discovered on this CD.

All the great early songs from a cool Punk Wave band.Their best work by far. "All about you" and "Violent times" are edgy and angst that still feels pertinent & grumpy today. I think the Call's later stuff was written mostly by the singer dude( I don't know names) because the songs kinda sound one dimensional, as in from one perspective, yet dude can still write a catchy hook. Listen to the album "Reconciled" to see what I mean. I like most of it, it just feels like one guy is playing all the instruments.