Geoff Baker's review of The Reaction @ the Routes Club in Exeter

photo: Mark Jordan - Aylesbury Friars April 15th, 1978 - used here for illustrative purposes only 😄

(All photos and documents herein provided by George Page (unless noted^^) and published/shared with his kind permission.) 

In the previous post, there was a letter from Geoff Baker to the Reaction asking to attend their gig at the Roundhouse for July 23. In the letter he mentions an unpublished  review, which I've transcribed for you here.

God bless Geoff, he was truly a great fan of the band. A 'gushing' review according to George Page. But I disagree and think he's just being humble. I think it's probably spot on. Geoff's description of George made me truly regret never seeing the Reaction live. Mind you, I would have been three years old at the time and nobody wants a crying toddler around them.

GWB July 12

After getting drunk on warm beer, and feeling better for the belches, I hung around (trying to look hard and failing) waiting for the support band - The Reaction.

They came on like they knew they were good. They had an instant buzz in their blues which hit you like a smack in the face.

Like may of the bands that have emerged since J. Rotten esq. started puking over punters and saying it was cool, they had that aggressive energy that hippies lack, but they added a definitive touch that put them miles above the bands whose names people like to mention in “hip” conversation at gin and tonic records parties - musicianship. They don’t just strut like turkeys playing B flat, they know their way around an axe.

Gino Williams, who drummed like a threshing machine on amphetamine sulphate, summed up the band’s ethos for the ligging journalist.

“The most important thing lacking today is the ability to play what’s hanging round your neck. The Pistols started the vibe - which was great cos it proved you could get to the crowds without coming on like some super guitarist. But then it degenerated and you got bands just getting up and playing anything as long it was loud and fast.

“What we try to do is link both areas so you get this high energy and musical ability”.

Which is what they’ve got. As a band they are enigmatic on stage. Mark Hollis, lead vocals and rhythm axe, stands, legs askance, ready to blow a lot of “name” bands off the boards. To an extent this kid is personified rock and roll.

- Gruff, wild, skinny and raw - R&R ain’t about be[ing] fat and comfortable in your silk armchair. Let’s hope that no executive from Island “matures” the image and wrecks the band with business-inclined compromise.

Even though his brother - who brought a new meaning to the Hot Rods and to sunglasses - helped shaped Barrie Masters into one of the best front men in the country - Mark’s gonna wreck that reputation if the Press give him a chance.

On lead there is this demon who comes on like some cross between Wilko Johnson (in dress) and Billy Wyman in his dancing. Wilko, who half the country acclaimed as king when he was with the Feelgoods, just ain’t in the same league as this guy, he whips solo’s out with all the ease of someone darning socks.

The band is tight - tres tight - a lot of that, I think is due to Bruce’s bass, I haven’t seen a guy move over the frets with such power and dexterity since wotshisname left Free.

You can’t describe the effect a band like this has in an article. But the best way to sum them up was by their version of “Badge”.

They broke this 60s classic into the 70s by mixing the epitome of musicianship (viz. Cream) with all the raw power and energy of punk This was music how it should be played - brining new ideas and interpretations to old, but intact, doctrines.

See them when you can, impress your friends with tales of these Titans of young rock. Your future and the health of music lies in their hands. 

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Stuff I'm Listening To - A Week of Covers - Day 2 - Talk Talk Talk Talk

Artist: Talk Talk 

Original Artist: The Reaction

Favourite Lyrics: (Original)
Well yeah, I told you before when I was up, 
Society was bringing me down.
Politicians they keep talking in rhymes.
Twisting around to make me think you're straight down the line

Favourite Lyrics: (Cover)

Well, did I tell you before when I was up?
Anxiety was bringing me down
I'm tired of listening to you talking in rhymes
Twisting around to make me think you're straight down the line

Why?: If I ever needed an excuse to post things by Mark Hollis three times in one go, this is it! 

The desire to know if Talk Talk had ever done a cover song has been stuck in my head for a long while. So far as I knew, Talk Talk never recorded any cover songs.

Recently, I had queried in a few Facebook groups a fun "what if...?". What if Talk Talk had indulged themselves and done an album of covers, what do you think would be on it or what would you have liked to see them cover? It was a fun discussion that gave me few new (to me) discoveries of some great music. But alas, we will never know what songs they would have wanted to remake.

There was one hint in an interview once with Mark noting how he loved Singin' in the Rain and the Gene Kelly dancing through the streets part. But trying to envision a Talk Talk cover and accompanying video for it has stretched the very limits of my Peanut brain (this is the same brain that, fueled by spicy pizza, managed to cast Mark Hollis and Lee Harris in Bladerunner one night)... trying to imagine Mark recreating Gene Kelly’s number has been hard to do. But as usual, I digress. 

After the fantasy covers album discussion had peaked and went away, my brain decided, in a 'too much shwarma the night before' laced dream, that Talk Talk did indeed release a cover song, originally recorded and released by a different band, albeit one that had the same lead singer. I'm not sure if this qualifies officially as a cover song as Mark co-owned the rights to the song with his brother Ed, but for the purposes of my list, it is a cover. Part of this whole cover/not cover debate was brought on by John Fogerty, who used the music from Run Through The Jungle and stuck his Old Man Down The Road lyrics over it. He was sued for copyright infringement by CCR's label. This was part of my justification for this as well, though I know the situation is entirely different and the outcome not entirely in favour of my criteria... but my brain, my logic, ok?*

Naturally, the first version of the song I'd ever heard would be Talk Talk's version from their debut album. I have these vague recollections that I may have known about this song back in the day but never made the connection that this was the same band that sang It's My Life until last year. Did I like the song in the beginning? I can't remember. Given that it was most likely the Russell Mulcahy version of the video (below) that I saw first, I'm going to say no. Mulcahy's video was likely too weird for six/seven year old me and definitely spurred some strange men in white-suits nightmares for me at that age. Hmmm... Let me explain. They only seemed to play decent music videos late at night back then. I was anywhere from four to eight years old back in those days. So here I was, up late when I shouldn't be. It's dark, quiet and a bit spooky (think older, creaky house). I'm sitting there watching these music videos, as quietly as possible and sometimes on mute because I'm waiting for something familiar, a little tired and with all the wrong heightened emotions running through me. It should be easy to see why a Talk Talk video, of all things, would cause me to have a weird dream/nightmare.

I have discovered in the past year that Mark Hollis fronted another band prior to Talk Talk, a mod/punk band called The Reaction. The Reaction have released exactly three songs. The single for I Can't Resist, and it's B-side I'm A Case, and this, their contribution to a compilation record. Their track for Talk Talk Talk Talk (audio only) is below. As for which version is my favourite? I'm a little torn. Of course Talk Talk rates high, as it's that 80s synth-pop I will forever love, but then the original version by The Reaction, a much younger and angrier Mark Hollis has its charms as well. I'll say that my favourite version is largely dependent on if I'm wearing my safety pins for earrings that day or not. BONUS: Russell Mulcahy's 'I'm gonna film stuff and throw in a monkey and use the same weird shots and concepts for Bonnie Tyler later' attempt for Talk Talk is also linked below (featuring Paul Webb's most aweome gravity defying pompadour... Yeah, I'm still jealous of it). 

(Personal aside: So far as I'm concerned, what worked for Duran Duran (i.e. Colin Thurson, Russell Mulcahy), clearly did not work for Talk Talk... everybody needs to stop comparing the two. It's lazy journalism. Thanks.)


*Thanks to my cohorts, Penny, Curmudgeon and the Queen for letting me bounce this idea off them a few weeks ago.

Stuff I'm Listening To #53 - The Jam

Artist: The Jam
 
Title: That’s Entertainment
 
Lyrics:
Days of speed and slow time Mondays
Pissing down with rain on a boring Wednesday
Watching the news and not eating your tea
A freezing cold flat and damp on the walls
That's entertainment, that's entertainment
 
Why?: There were so many songs when I started listening to mod revival that I had no idea who the artist was. It was always a struggle to find song titles. These days you have apps that can do that for you. While the apps suck for classical music (even more of a struggle), they work pretty good for these songs. It wasn’t until Morrissey did a cover of this song that I finally found out it was Paul Weller. This is one of those instances when I get upset that I discovered this group a bit late. Also, this is my current mood for today.

Stuff I'm Listening to #4 - Madness

Artist: Madness
 
Title: One Step Beyond

Favourite Lyrics (heh): 
Hey you! Don’t watch that! Watch this! 
This is the heavy heavy monster sound. 
The nuttiest sound around! 
Why?: Ska! Ska! Ska! I knew when I was young I was never going to fit into mainstream culture. At my heart I identified as a mod (and irony of ironies, here I am riding a motorcycle, married to a rocker. And even in subculture, I don’t quite fit in!) But I always loved ska. My kingdom for a James jacket... I miss that thing. :(

Note: This was originally published with video link and lyric choice only.