Review:

on 2011-09-03 CharlesMartel Said:

Mission of Burma were a band I came to quite late in life. Frankly, when they first were around in the eighties I had never even heard of them. That is hardly surprising for, on the one hand I was in a place where hearing new music was notoriously hard and, second, I had begun to turn away from sheer volume and more towards melody. And Mission of Burma were nothing if not volume! There was little subtlety in this.

Let's make no mistake, Mission of Burma are all about noise. It is not surprising that one of the original members went deaf in one ear as a result of playing in the band. Sadly, that noise is generally used as a coverall for the fact that this album is inconsistent in its delivery. That criticism should not be confused with a misplaced criticism of what is, in reality, a laudable attempt to mix together tracks of very different styles in terms of their punk or post punk roots. No, it's just that the songs themselves are not always up to the same mark. There are distinctive highs and lows which make listening to this album a quite difficult exercise at times. And that is exacerbated for, on this album, reissued with four bonus tracks. You get a lot more Mission of Burma for your spondulicks.

I am not sure where the name came from but Burma, at the time, was going though a political revolution which would ultimately be quelled with ferocity and result in one of the most vicious, brutal and illegitimate regimes on the planet  a situation which sadly persists to this day. A beautiful country with wonderful people ruined by murderous, kleptocrat thugs whose chests are decorated with medals won in campaigns where their own people were the victims.

Mission of Burma can be seen as a New England equivalent of the post punks across the Atlantic. There is the same sombre approach to music, often downcast and dejected; guitar-led and with occasional effects caused by synthesisers or fiddling around during production. This is most noticeable during "Weatherbox". The big difference between the home-grown and American versions of the genre lies in the vocals. Often, Mission of Burma resort to shouting rather than singing, such as on the anti-religion "New Nails" or the preachy "Learn How". At these moments, the album is at its weakest: post punk was not instructive it was descriptive. This is when noise takes over from style and the result is not enjoyable.

At other times, the band almost seem to experiment with the sound. "Fun World" veers towards the Killing Joke style of heaviness while "That's When I Escaped My Certain Fate" tempts the listener to get up and dance like a maniac. But the band are at their best when they actually think about what they are playing. "Trem Two" and "The Ballad of Johnny Burma" are fine examples of this, but the best is "Einstein's Day" which has a riff which builds you up and holds you, but then lets you down rather than smack you in the face as it initially promised. Not surprisingly, this is the albums stand out track.

Loud, yes, consistent, no. This is the music you first hear in a dingy basement club and have such a good time that you think the music is wonderful. So eager are you to recapture those moments that you go out an buy the album, only to discover that it is as full of holes and flaws as many others. Good, but not a masterpiece. Perhaps they should have turned the volume on their monitors down a bit.
Rating: 6/10