PAGE 14 February 1, 1985 Poisoned continued from page 13 ation compelled me to check out one of Poisoned’s live shows.! immediate- ly bought their ten song self titled demo cassette.Wiseman picked it as his favourite album of 1984.1 don’t agree, it’s only in my top three. | went raving about this band to everyone | know. They said ‘‘Dave, you’re a music kind of guy: what do they sound like?,’’ a question | found difficult to answer.Poisoned are defin- ately not alternative,but instead are a modern day derivative of what used to be called rock and roll. The first thing | did to answer my friends’ questions was to analyze the songs on the tape for the influences that inspired them. Most obvious was a return to the guitar sound of early 70’s power pop artists ‘fiké The Raspberries. The drums are mixed prominently as well, providing the driving beat common to most rock. Art’s vocal: styling some- times resembles David Bowie’s, but contains the power of Eric Burden. Traces of Lou Reed and both Elvises pop up once in a while. The more | listen to this tape, the more ‘‘influ- ences | found. Virgin Territory contains a_ brief synth run which never fails to remind me of She Said, She Said by The Beatles. Pieces reminiscent of Procol Harem, Max Weinbergish metrono- mic cymbal drumming, and. John Lennon’s primal scream period all occurred to me before | decided that | was looking too hard and reading too much into the music. Apparently, the revival of punk music in the late 70’s and the psyche- | delic revival of the early 80’s have mulched up so many previous rock styles that tracing roots is difficult, if not impossible, and pointless. | gave up that route of explaining Poisoned. To describe them in terms of other bands can create the wrong impress- ion, because the only band Poisoned sound exactly like is Poisoned. Bergmann manages to craft songs which — like Nick Lowe’s early work — are accessibly familiar, but dis- tinctly unique. Similarly, Bergmann’s lyrics con- tain elements which are at least superficially similar to those of Lou Reed, early Elvis Costello, and Bob (God) Dylan. All deal with personal experience in a more or less allegori- Art Sepeenanas friend per Te tee ee al 4 Think about it. Talk about it. Take action. OVER- DRINKING. Canada cal style. Reed and Costello appear as particularly strong predecessors be- cause Bergmann writes intense, harsh lyrics which reflect the dark side of humanity. I’d like to print passages from all 10 songs to illustrate this, but I’ll restrain myself to just a few. A woman shrieks from the apart- ment below/is it noisy. love or a photo by Dave ataon. iv booze-laden blow?/ Domestic Bliss/Dirty needle hiss/ Cheap, broken streetlife./ Just another fight on social housing row/ The synthesizer swells on my radio/ Give me some emotion, something | can chew.on/ Some honesty and hatred/ Cause I’m lost for the mazes from Emotion [Give me some]. Our luck/has never run its course/ All our wages/lost on a fast, dark horse. / | get too nervous/I can’t touch you now/ Get so excited/but I'll catch you somehow. It’s a crapshoot/with you as victim/ Will you survive?/The odds are slim or none. from Deathwatch (my favourite cut). 90 miles an hour in a little tin box/ We were still laughing when we hit the rocks/ Just within reach of that golden beach/ As the waves crashed over us/ Discontented, dispossessed and desperate. from Vultura Freeway. As you can see, the lyrics are full of cynicism, desperation, betrayal and anger. They also don’t seem to rhyme too often, but Bergmann’s vocal style makes them fit together so they sound as if they do. He also stretches and compresses words or lines to fit into Health and Welfare Bien-étre social Canada lO’ *‘[ like the taste of a cold beer on a hot day, but | certainly don’t think you have to get the gang together with a couple of cases of beer just to celebrate the fact you've had a bit of exercise?” JOHN WOOD OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALLIST Santé et Canada the hook-filled rhythm of the music. Art’s guitar punches right through in that Who-derived 70’s style pre- viously mentioned. The drums are almost as prominent, with the bass kept to its traditional rhythm role. Poisoned uses a synthesizer, but they don’t over use it as so many bands do today. The synthesizer is a marvelous piece of modern technology but it sure can be boring and soulless if allowed to dominate a song. About the only complaint | have about the songs on this tape is that some have repetitive choruses which keep me waiting for the next verse to begin. It didn’t bother me too much until after 30 or so_ listenings, however. | can’t finish this review without mentioning Bergmann’s voice again. It’s great, tortured and expressive. A new album is due for release soon, and I’m anticipating it as much as the recently discovered unreleased Velvet Underground album. | like Poisoned so much that | will make an offer to buy the tape off the first person who tells me they don’t like it and can explain why. | figure it will be a collector’s item one day (hopefully soon), when Poisoned are signed to a major label. If you want to catch Poisoned live, they are appearing February 4th at The Town Pump (I'll be there) and February 21st at the Luv-a-fair (I’ll be there, too).