release date: Sep. 1987
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Adam Peters
label: Replay Records - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: 1. "Subversive" - 2. "Surface" - 3. "Four Days in Florence" - 4. "The Trapper Song" - 9. "Mingos Down Memory Valley"
Studio album debut by Danish art rockers, The Poets released on the independent Danish label, Replay Records. The band is formed by the two band members from the remains of the Danish post-punk art punk band Poets of the Signature (1981-86; included on the compilation album Somewhere Outside), vocalist and guitarist Troels Bech (also credited for accordion, piano & keyboards) and vocalists Lars K. Andersen. Here they play as a sextet together with vocalist Birgitte Bang, bassist Mads Frederik, organ-player Torben Engberg, and drummer Colin Wilkinson. Andersen has written all lyrics and Bech is credited as musical composer.
Stylistically, it involves a huge blend of styles, ranging from alt. rock, indie rock, and art rock with elements from jazz and fusion rock as well as progressive rock. It's music built using both traditional instrumentation as well as more electronic devices like drum machine, sequencer, and various keyboards.
My then verdict was an interesting release that just lacked coherency and enough original material to pay much attention, but I also concede that my later impression hands much more recognition to a band that didn't succeed as they rightfully deserved. Fact is, the music is truly ahead of its time. The conglomerate of styles and genres were anything but comme il faut. The closest you get to the style is art rock by The The, David Sylvian, and psychedelic rock by Julian Cope and the like, but nearly all of these artists also had their share of trouble in gathering acclaim from other than contemporary critics. Anyhow, the musical complexity is there - perhaps all that is absent are strong melodic compositions, and the lasting impression is an album of artistic originality without an overall lasting picture.
