18 June 2012

Sods "Under en sort sol" (1980)

Under en sort sol
release date: Jun. 1980
format: vinyl (first pressing - MdLP 6027) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Michael Ritto, Werner Scherrer
label: Medley Records - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: 1. "Repeature" - 2. "Ice-age for a While" (3 / 5) - 3. "Walking on Red" - 4. "Conflict" (3 / 5) - 5. "Roller Ball" - 6. "Marble Station" - 7. "Misguided" (3 / 5) - 8. "Eveningsong"

2nd studio album by Sods and also the final album under the name of Sods is released nearly 1½ years following the band's debut, which for a punk rock band is almost too long. Musically, the band has come a long way, and it's very different from their first studio album. The style is post-punk but in a more American and New York-based experimental art punk and no wave-style.
I was so fond of the debut album that I just went out and bought this, and boy, was I disappointed! The music is very different from their hardcore debut, and although, I was quite interested in the new developments within the punk rock and post punk sphere, I never found the album great. "Marble Station" has lyrics by the Danish poet Søren Ulrik Thomsen, and the final track, "Eveningsong" features Lars Hug of Kliché on vocals - he later debuted with his solo album City Slang (1984) consisting of music to poems entirely written by Ulrik Thomsen.
After this, the band rejected the name Sods and continued with an unchanged members list under the name of Sort Sol.
In retrospect, I think better of the album than at the time of its release. It's quite original in its sound and style, and it contains fine songs.

[ collectors' item - 1st pressing - from ~ €65,- ]