Flashback Friday - Face to Face

Well if you haven't noticed by now a lot of my flashback posts have been groups/artists from the 80's. In the 80's I was a teenager and music was my escape from everything. I promise I'll do my best next week to pull a song from another decade.....


I was sitting at home this past Tuesday night going through the 300+ CD's, and vinyl I've accumulated over the years. Most of my collection came from my aunt Cynthia who used to take me record/CD shopping in Berkeley every summer here. We'd go to Tower Records (now closed), Amoeba Records, and a few indie stores which are now long gone. As I was going through my collection I remembered a group from the summer of '84. I searched for an album from a group called Face to Face. As I was  looking I remembered that album was one of the many albums I had sold when I was jobless in the early '90's. I kept the majority of my vinyl, but I regret ever selling any of it. Lesson learned. 


After realizing my mistake in my youth I retreated to You Tube to see if there were any of their videos posted. I was happy to have found that there were. "10-9-8" was their first single that I remember hearing and seeing on MTV as well as Night Tracks 





I would spend just about every Saturday nights from 9pm to 12m watching videos on Night Tracks. Another single that came out a few months later called "Under the Gun" which got played  a lot as well.





After watching these videos I search for their music on iTunes. I was excited to find it there. I downloaded it and began listening to it again. I remember how much I loved this album. There isn't one song on it that I didn't like. The songs that I posted are their most popular, but there are others on the album which I felt should have been singles instead of these. I know that Flashback Fridays are usually about one song, but this one is about one album. 


Hearing this album took me back to that summer when I first bought it. It made me miss my record shopping excursions with my Aunt Cynthia to Berkeley. The hours she'd spent walking from store to store with me until I found everything that I wanted to find. And then would pay for it all even though I had my own money. That was 26 years ago, but still seems like last year to me.


Thanks again Auntie.

Suggested Listening - The Radio Dept.

This is a band I found by mistake, and what a lucky mistake it was for me. I was bored (but when am I not) on my iPhone on iTunes (no this isn't a plug for apple) scrolling through genres to finally ending up on alternative. I was scrolling and listening to samples of random artists I finally came across The Radio Dept. 


The band was started in 1995 by schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson, who named the group after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" (Swedish for The Radio Department). Shortly after forming the two stopped playing music together which put the band on hold. The group was reformed in 1998, when Duncanson starting making music with Martin Larsson. In 2001, Larsson's then girlfriend Lisa Carlberg joined the group on bass, followed by Per Blomgren on drums and Daniel Tjäder on keyboards (Carlberg and Blomgren left the band when they changed directions in music a few years later). 


I don't know what drew me to them, but I started listening. As I listened to songs on the "Pet Grief" album, I came across this song "It's Personal"





Although there isn't a video that I could find for this song, I don't think it needs one because the song can stand on its own. A beautiful instrumental that you should listen to with your eyes closed and let the song take you into a dream like state. Another favorite of mine on the album is "The Worst Taste in Music". 





Some of you may recognize their music since a few of their songs where used in the Sofia Coppola's movie "Marie Antoinette" (great sound track, not so great movie). Their (The Radio Dept.) music fit in perfectly. They have an 80's electro-syth sound that went well with the other music in the movie. This next song is off their album "Lesser Matters" called "Where Damage is Already Done". This is another great song on a equally great album.







This song as well as the album seem more up beat sounding compared to "Pet Grief". No matter the sound I enjoy their music. Listening to these albums makes me think they this would be a great soundtrack for a nice long road trip. It seems that The Radio Dept. is another group that's not well know here in the U.S. that should be. Their music albeit not mainstream seems like they would find a great fan base here but they very rarely tour the U.S. This is one of those groups that I will like for as long as they are around and together. 

Suggested Listening - Holden

Holden's not well know here in the U.S. They are a group from France, which maybe the reason. They were formed in 1997 with band members Armelle Pioline (Vocals), Dominique Dépret (aka Mocke, guitar), with help from Pierre-Jean Grapin (drums), Evan Evans (keyboard) and Richard Cousin (bass). The band came up with their name from the JD Salinger's novel character Holden Caulfield.

My friends Paula and I discovered their music on MySpace  around 2006. We would spend our lunch hour scouring for new music/artists (what MySpace was originally created for) which sometimes would turn into almost an all day thing (hopefully our old boss Linda isn't reading this). Paula came across their page and played a few of their songs. Even though I don't speak or understand French that well if at all, I enjoyed their sound. Their Album Chevrotine was just released and they had a few songs posted. The first song I remember listening to was "Ce que je suis" (translates to "I have the right")

The lyrics of the song translate to:

I have, I have the right,
I have the right too,
To fail, to faint,
Until I weight the price,
But what happens to me?
I laugh until I cry, I cry until I laugh.
But what happens to me?
I sleep beside my bed
Ohoo I so regret,
I am not what I am,
Walls have ears,
Walls talk to much to me
Ohoo I so hate,
I am not what I am,
The moon is stalking me
The moon is on my back

I have, I have the right,
I have the right too,
To lead, to dismiss men,
To the end of night.
Ohoo I so regret,
I am not what I am
Walls have ears,
Walls talk too much to me.
Ohoo I so hate,
I am not what I am,
The moon is stalking me,
The moon is on my back,
Ohoo I so regret,
I am not what I am,
Walls have ears...

Armelle's voice is beautiful, that if she sang it in English it would loose the emotion in the translation. Another on the album is "Sur le Pavé", though it's sort of a creepy video. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever watched the video the entire was through.

But my favorite song on this album has to be "Madrid".

This a song that you should add to your collection of music for driving. It one of those songs that makes you want to own a convertible and drive down the coast (if you live by an ocean). I haven't listened to this CD in awhile because I played it to often. I have a tendency to do that with music or an artist that I really enjoy.  

I read a few weeks back that they had released a new CD in March. I haven't found it since they are relatively unknown here. I was lucky enough to ask my old boss Linda (who is originally from France) if she wouldn't mind picking up Chervortine (their third CD) for me on her trip back home. I can't thank her enough for this. I just might try to enlist her help to get their new CD since she's back living in France (hopefully she's reading this part). It's always great to discover artists from other countries that you would never hear on U.S. radio. I hope that in the future they become better known in the U.S. It would be great them perform live.