Westfield, New Jersey's
Animation had the good fortune of having their ep,
Loud Day, produced by Pat DiNizio of Smithereens renown. Not bad for a band just getting on it's feet, although that key production credit apparently didn't jettison Animation to household name status. The quintet's amiable, ringing guitar rock wasn't overly derivative of any of their contemporaries, but the neuvo-psychedelic flourishes of organ that crop up occasionally make a case that Animation may have partaken in the work of some of their West Coast Paisley Underground contemporaries. "Where it Rains All Days" is my sure-fire pick for instant gratification here, but a run through the Velvets "What Goes On" is nearly as satisfactory. Check out the band's Myspace page, conveniently linked above, for more tuneage.
01. Hide & Go Seek
02. Grandfather Clock
03. That's the Way It Happens
04. Where It Rains All Days
05. What Goes On
Hear
8 comments:
Ah, thanks for this! "Where It Rains All Days" is one of my favourite unheard tracks of the 1980s.
How's about some rare stuff by The Call, in honor of the late, great Michael Been?
I wasn't aware that he died. Nothing to share by the Call, sorry.
Thanks for this one. Had it on vinyl until a party got out of control.
Awwww. I have yet to try digitizing vinyl, but this sounds like vinyl recorded on cassette tape too "hot". Is there any chance you could try again? A lot to ask, I know. But I don't have the vinyl anymore. I really loved this EP.
Thanks.
I played keyboards in Animation. I appreciate our being included on this blogspot.
Our band formed during the summer of 1983 but we kept the name from a band that both the singer and guitarist played with in high school because that band had released a seven inch single. Having a piece of wax gave us a head start and as early as the fall of 1983 we were playing shows at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick and getting airply on WRSU.
Loud Day was recorded in January 1984 at The Record Plant. It was engineered by the same team who worked on The Smithereens Beauty and Sadness EP and their first album, Especially For You. The record was released in August 1984. By September we were opening for bands like The Church.
We were very young. When Loud Day was released we were all between the ages of 18 and 20. Because the record made the Top 50 of the CMJ charts nationwide major labels and independent labels were interested in signing us. That interest, however, waned when they realized how young we were. One A&R head told our manager that they rarely work with bands under the age of 25 because most musicians in their teens and twenties lose interest in a career as a recording artist after a couple years. He said that signing us would be a tremendous risk because key members like the singer and main songwriters could quit. His advice was to keep playing and talk to him again in five years.
In 1985 we recorded our followup to Loud Day. Unfortunately, this time we used an untested studio with novice engineers. The result was a tape unsuitable for mastering. The band broke up in early 1986. Our guitarist, John Rokosny, went on to form a band called Carry Nation that released two or three albums in the late 80's and early 90's. Our drummer, Joe Albanese, played in that band. Our bass player, Adam Forgash, went on to write and produce two movies.
A couple more comments about my old band.
Between 1984 and 1986 we did van tours throughout the northeast. Boston and Washington, DC were the two cities we did best in when we were on the road.
One thing that confused people was our label, Vital Records. It was based in South Carolina which made many think that was where the band was from. Our guitarist's brother co-owned a booking company based in Hilton Head Island. They decided to expand by forming a record label and we had the good fortune of being the first (and only) band on that label.
As far as musical influences go, my keyboard playing was inspired more by Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers and Ray Manzarek of The Doors than anyone else. Our guitar player was a big REM fan going all the way back to their first EP. He also loved The Who. Our singer had very wide and eclectic tastes but Joy Division and The Talking Heads probably informed his work with our band more than anyone else. Adam, our bass player, had a style similar to Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order. Everyone in the band loved The Velvet Underground.
Could you re-up this EP please? Thanks. :)
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