If you were an obsessed young rock fan in the pre-Internet days, you scrounged for information on new bands any way you could. Magazines, The Trouser Press Guide To New Wave Records, opening acts at shows — all potential links to the next epiphany.
Another way to look for bands was to connect the dots: so if you were an R.E.M. fan, you found out about the Replacements because Peter Buck played the solo on “I Will Dare,” and found out about Pylon or the dB’s because R.E.M. covered them.
I got turned on to Let’s Active because it was Mitch Easter’s band, and Mitch Easter produced R.E.M.’s Reckoning (the album I would have taken a bullet for in ’84).
I would have loved Let’s Active if they were good or not, probably, but thanks to Easter’s producing skill their albums Afoot and Cypress still sound great to me. Reckoning, too, for that matter. (But before you go accusing me of being blinded by simpler, younger days, I’ll just tell you STRAIGHT OUT that Wang Chung’s Points On The Curve isn’t holding up very well.)
I’ll connect the next dot tomorrow, but for today here’s one of my favorite Let’s Active songs. I love the crunch of guitar strings and that lil jam at 3:26.
Let’s Active – Waters Part from Cypress
Bonus Wuzza-Wuzza Who’s A Cutie Wil Puppy?
Let’s Active – “Every Word Means No”
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I think I arrived at Let’s Active the same way you did. Great band. And yes, a tattered copy of the Trouser Press Record Guide used to be my bible, and the stacks of Option and Puncture magazines were my Christian Science Monitors. Enjoyed the post!