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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Walls Stand Strong, October 23, 2003
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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Too many great songs left out-but worth it anyhow, January 28, 2003
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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For Once, The Record Label Gets It Right, September 18, 2001
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.
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