Riding the post punk wave out of the 1970s and into the 1980s along with such bands as The Talking Heads, The Residents, Devo, and Cardiacs, was a favourite band of mine – a thinking man’s band some would say – Wall of Voodoo. Particularly if you happened to pick up their second full-length album, 1982’s Call of the West – which All Music Guide described as “full of tales of ordinary folks with little in the way of hopes or dreams, getting by on illusions that seem more like a willful denial of the truth the closer you get to them.” To me, at least, a perfect description of the decade of the 80s which would later be aptly described in Jay McInerney’s novel Bright Lights, Big City and Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 American Psycho.
Today’s Sunday Big Note features Wall Of Voodoo at the El Mocambo in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on June 2nd, 1983, in an FM radio broadcast (with additional bonus tracks):
Call Box (1-2-3)
[audio:SBN_20110320_01 Call Box.mp3]
Animal Day
[audio:SBN_20110320_02 Animal Day.mp3]
Lost Weekend
[audio:SBN_20110320_03 Lost Weekend.mp3]
Call of the West
[audio:SBN_20110320_04 Call Of The West.mp3]
Factory
[audio:SBN_20110320_05 Factory.mp3]
On Interstate 15
[audio:SBN_20110320_06 On Interstate 15.mp3]
Can’t Make Love
[audio:SBN_20110320_07 Can’t Make Love.mp3]
Tomorrow
[audio:SBN_20110320_08 Tomorrow.mp3]
The Passenger
[audio:SBN_20110320_09 The Passenger.mp3]
Longarm
[audio:SBN_20110320_10 Long Arm.mp3]
Ring of Fire
[audio:SBN_20110320_11 Ring Of Fire.mp3]
Mexican Radio
[audio:SBN_20110320_12 Mexican Radio.mp3]
Back in Flesh
[audio:SBN_20110320_13 Back In Flesh.mp3]
Bonus tracks:
End of an Era (Live at The Barn, University of California, Riverside, November 22nd, 1979)
[audio:SBN_20110320_bonus_07 End of an Era (live).mp3]
Red Light (The Barn, University of California, Riverside, November 22nd, 1979)
[audio:SBN_20110320_bonus_12 Red Light (live).mp3]
The Good, Bad, and the Ugly / Hang ’em High (The Barn, University of California, Riverside, November 22nd, 1979)
[audio:SBN_20110320_bonus_13 GBU.mp3]
Line-up:
Stan Ridgway – vocals, harmonica, keyboards
Joe Nanini – percussion, drums, voice
Chats T. Gray – synth, bass, backing vocals
Marc Moreland – 5 and 12 string guitars
Bill Noland – keyboards, trumpet, backing vocals
“What does he say?” Classic video, shown frequently from a bygone time when MTV was actually worth watching.
[quote comment=”26802″]”What does he say?” Classic video, shown frequently from a bygone time when MTV was actually worth watching.[/quote]
Indeed. And great music for those open to it. Many of the elements, both in the video, and in the music, itself, harkens back to the beginnings of Devo.
They were, indeed, a fine band. And Stan Ridgway’s first couple of solo albums — particularly “The Big Heat” — are quite wonderful. (The Big Heat is on my list of all-time favorites — there’s just so much great stuff to sink one’s ears into….)
Plus, to my knowledge, WoV and the Gleaming Spires are the only “respectable” bands I know of who specifically authorized use of their tunes in porn films of the time. (WoV’s Ring of Fire was used in one of Rinse Dream’s feverscapes, and the Spires — who backed Sparks during their great ’80s resurgence — allowed the Dark Bros to use their Christian Girl’s Problems for one of their Devil in Miss Jones films.
Or so I hear.
🙂
Thanks so much.
More than half a decade ago, I got this music (Mexican Radio) from a Internet friend whom I even don’t have contact anymore.
Strangely, the ID3 tags indicated that it was A ZAPPA SONG. I always felt confused by this.
The world sure spins around…
Great find. Keep it up!
Wall of Voodoo is another band from that era I thought I understood but is better than I realized.