[k3oxkjo]

I am in London on vacation with a portable CD player and IED, so I was out on the prowl for records/CD's. My favorites are to scarf up all the old Decca/EMI etc. British classical records from back in the day, but I checked out the rock stores, too.

I stumbled accross a copy of Mission of Burma's new CD "The Sound. the Speed, the Light". Now, I knew M of B from late 70/early 80's period where they released one of the best "post punk" albums ever, "Vs". They retired in 1983 (due to members hearing problems resulting from their LOUD live shows), far too soon.

But they reformed in 2002 and released the acclaimed "ONoffON". I lost track again until yesterday. Their new album is great, full of drive, energy, power chords, screaming lead guitar, insistant drumming and yes, melody. I listened to it and had to play it again immediately, this NEVER happens.

In a just world, they would be household names, but look at the bright side they can be legends in YOUR household for the cost of a CD...

Kevin

 

[Jeff Guidry]

I picked up their live recording "The Horrible Truth About Burma" and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their alternative rock. Very good band, but I don't think that they are lost geniuses, but a very good band that just got lost in the shuffle of all the other alternative acts around them at the time. I feel the same way about School of Fish, a band from the early 90's that put out two good records that were under-recognized because of the explosion of grunge at the time.

 

[Cianyx]

Best post-punk album? I believe Joy Division or Gang of Four already secured that spot.

The reason why MOB never really kicked off as well as they deserved is because post-punk appears to be a rather niche genre (very few people talk about it let alone fans of it).

 

[tru blu]

Great band…not sure I'd call them geniuses, but they've influenced plenty of folks. It might be cool to check out some of the bands they formed after Burma, too: Roger Miller's Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic was kind of a chamber-rock concept thing with horns and stuff; he's the one who had tinnitus, so the music was quieter, though it still rocked. Drummer Peter Prescott had a really great band called the Volcano Suns for a few years after Burma. I heard them one night in the "80s play an amazing cover of Brian Eno's "The True Wheel". Quite memorable…

 

[gbacic]

Mission of Burma are very good, I'm going to listen to Vs. tomorrow just because I saw this thread

 

[A Love Supreme]

Great band, though the best post-punk album is Unknown Pleasures : )

 

[limpidglitch]

I introduced these guys to my sister this christmas, she loved it.
Still haven't heard any of their post reformation suff. Any good?

 

[swoon]

Vs and Signals, Calls, and Marches were huge huge albums in the "college" rock scene and they even had pretty good NE crossover success right before the broke up. Of course after the breakup they were arguably even more popular and influenced pretty much everyone, especially the Boston scene and Dischord artists.

Our Band Could Be Your Life is good reference to figure out how big these bands actually were, something I've noticed a lot on the music side of this board. I mean Mission to Burma is on Rock Band, hardly unheard.