Sound, The

Sound, The

All Fall Down

1972

At the time their third album was released, The Sound was one of the UK’s most acclaimed bands and were on the precipice of a commercial breakthrough. Having been upgraded from the Korova label (also home to Echo & the Bunnymen) to Warner Bros., the group was met with label demands to deliver a more commercial release. In what many consider to be a willfully defiant move, The Sound delivered the challenging and more experimental All Fall Down, a record many of their most ardent fans still consider their most accomplished. It remains one of the great post-punk albums of the early ’80s. The logical progression from the band’s previous work, the seminal From the Lions Mouth, All Fall Down unfolds slowly and rewards patience. Each song’s power is augmented by the ones around it. Highlights include the upbeat “Calling the New Tune” and “Party of the Mind,” the melancholy “We Could Go Far” and the dissonance and bleakness of “Glass and Smoke.” The aura of Adrian Borland’s well-documented mental illness gives many of the songs a sinister edge. All Fall Down has proved itself over time to be an essential album—it is a timeless, modern record that still sounds fresh, and its high points match anything else in the group’s canon.

Sound, The

From The Lions Mouth

1972

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  For The Sound’s sophomore LP, the group decided to work with producer Hugh Jones (Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Bauhaus). The resulting album is more richly layered than their debut, fusing the band’s atmospheric, affecting sound with a set of accessible yet invigorating songs. At the time, From the Lion’s Mouth gained great marks from the British music press, but did not break the band beyond its devoted cult of fans. Now it is considered a post-punk classic. A relatively restrained but vital follow-up to the charged and ragged Jeopardy, From The Lions Mouth proves that The Sound’s critical stature among the post-punk elite was no fluke. A more robust recording budget allows them to explore a fuller, more cohesive sound, while Adrian Borland’s lyrics are even more introspective (a jarring turn after the often political bent of Jeopardy). However despondent the singer’s words became, the tone, as pointed out in the original NME review of the album, never descend into “pessimistic wallowing.” Tracks like “Sense of Purpose” and “Contact the Fact” still feature a sweeping urgency and highlight the tension between Borland’s grim worldview and his knack for a hook. The bleak nature of the lyrics would be the first true displays of Borland’s mercurial nature. While he waged a tragically losing battle with depression for the rest of his life, it’s hard not to view this album as an enduring and fascinating document of the beginnings of madness.

Sound, The

Jeopardy

1972

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Formed in 1979 and fronted by the mercurial and troubled Adrian Borland (he would commit suicide in 1999 after years of battling depression), The Sound are one of the most unjustly neglected band of the ’80s. They may not be as well-known as their contemporaries Echo & the Bunnymen or Joy Division, but their contributions to the first wave of English post-punk are equally unique and influential. Fed up with its simplistic structure and rote posturing, Borland cut ties to the punk movement after fronting ’77-era group The Outsiders. Not unlike Magazine’s Howard Devoto, whose similar inclinations led to his leaving The Buzzcocks, Borland wanted to create a sound that relied more on atmospheres, tensions and instrumental interplay while harnessing the urgency of punk’s spirit. With the release of Jeopardy, The Sound turns this inspiration into a nearly perfect debut. Featuring rough-edged production fitting its £800 recording budget, Jeopardy is a caustic rush, full of songs with hooks and emotional impact that never resort to histrionics. The album’s opener starts off minimally, until the nervy guitars of the chorus rip through the song. This auspicious beginning only hints at what’s to come. Every song that follows builds on the momentum of a complex pop masterpiece. Borland’s lyrics also prove him to be one of the few post-punk songwriters whose words are worth poring over and analyzing. The album received extremely positive reviews, with NME, Sounds and Melody Maker all bestowing their highest ratings,...