So Charity and I met up one evening last week to have a pleasant evening's stroll through Boston's North End, followed by dinner in Chinatown. Because I work from home and Charity works in the Longwood Medical Area, we have to take different subway lines to meet up in Government Center. Government Center, no matter what the Jonathan Richman song about it says, is a horrible, horrible place, a vast, treeless, red-bricked expanse around the ugliest public building I've ever seen in my life. (Seriously, y'all, Image Google "'Government Center' Boston" and gaze upon the evil yourself, or just go here: www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/kallmann/front.jpg ) But there's a Newbury Comics nearby, so that makes it okay.
I often have to explain this to people who aren't from New England: Newbury Comics is actually a record store with a small sideline business in comics and other bits of geek-boy paraphernalia. They are, in fact, easily the most kick-ass record store chain since those long-forgotten days back in the early '80s when Sound Warehouse was actually good. I was browsing the used CDs idly with one hand and texting Charity with the other when I stumbled upon the circa-2001 reissues of the Suburbs' two Twin/Tone records, 1980's In Combo and 1981's Credit In Heaven, at the appealingly low price of $3.99 apiece. Having not heard the albums in years, but with fond memories of the group's high points, I snapped them up. (Also got a nice Barbara Acklin compilation -- you might know her hit "Am I the Same Girl," which I adore -- for only $2.97!)
Listening to these albums again, especially Credit In Heaven, in light of recent Little Hits discussions, I made a connection I'd never heard before but is now inescapable: The Suburbs were a slightly less pervy Human Sexual Response with a much less theatrical singer and better pop instincts. Like I suspect many Little Hits readers did, I came late to their dance-rock party: when I bought the Replacements' Let It Be in early '85, it was packaged with an inner sleeve that had a full Twin/Tone catalogue, with descriptions. Over the years, I've bought nearly all of the albums listed there, but the Suburbs' core catalogue -- these two, 1982's Dream Hog EP and the 1983 major-label bow Love Is The Law -- resonated more for me than the likes of the Phones or Curtiss A. Though I was rediscovering punk through new bands like the 'Mats, Husker Du and the Minutemen at this point, I was still a fairly hardcore Anglophile, and the Suburbs were possibly the most English-sounding American band I knew of in 1985. Specifically, they sounded heavily influenced by Roxy Music's early, weird albums, by Sparks (who I think I still thought were English at the time) and by the Gang of Four. Their fundamental sound was an odd mixture of dancey synth-pop and a much more ballsy, punky thrash element, and everything was held together by what I now recognize as one of the all-time great rhythm sections in bassist Michael Halliday and drummer Hugo Klaers.
The Suburbs were pitched toward MTV and college radio with the catchy dance-pop singles "Music For Boys," "Waiting" and "Love Is The Law," but their albums also were filled with two-minute freakouts like "Tape Your Wife To The Ceiling," which is what makes them so fundamentally different from, say, Spandau Ballet. (It must be said, however, that the Suburbs were very nearly as pretty as Spandau Ballet, and I assume that in Minneapolis in 1982, there wasn't necessarily a lot of cross-over between Suburbs fans and Replacements fans.) I strongly recommend picking up these CDs while they're still around: the Suburbs sound every bit as vital today as they did a quarter-century ago, and there's no reason why a fan of Franz Ferdinand or the Arctic Monkeys wouldn't find this band instantly comprehensible.
Incidentally, the video pages at Twin/Tone's website feature a number of live and promo videos from the Suburbs' career, which revealed something to me just now that I never knew before: though I've always somehow been under the impression that guitarist Beej Chaney was the group's primary lead singer, it turns out that keyboardist Chan Poling actually did the lion's share of the singing. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the other bit of gossip I know about the Suburbs: the story I've always heard is that the band broke up not entirely from major-label ineptitude (though they had their share, like any former indie stars from the '80s), but because Chaney married an heiress to the Cargill Feed fortune and didn't need the tsuris anymore. Good for him, say I.
-Stewart Mason
posted by Jon Harrison at 8:55 AM
15 Comments:
Fun song. Interesting summary. Nice use of the yiddish!
I haven't heard anything else by them that I remember, but this song reminds me of the Soft Boys.
Wow! I grew up in St. Paul and attended plenty of Suburbs shows over the years (including a great one at a roller skating rink!), but haven't listened to these guys in a while (I have "Cows" floating around here somewhere). Thanks!
Nice. As a Minneapolitan (well, city-loving Bloomingtonian) youth in the early '80s, I will tell you this: at least among the kids in Bloomington who were into the Mpls scene (but not the whole Prince thing), if we loved the Replacements, we also loved the Suburbs (and Husker Du, of course). Those bands were a holy trinity of sorts... The 'Burbs still get together every few years and still put on a great show.
That's good to know that there wasn't that tribal split between the Replacements and Suburbs camps. According to my wife, Boston groups in the '80s weren't so lucky: you didn't see many of the same crowd seeing, say, O Positive and Gang Green.
"Mommy, I'm shakin . . . slap me."
I just (re)purchased Credit in Heaven two weeks ago. In addition to "Tape Your Wife", I had forgotten how much I enjoyed "Cig in Backwards". I grew up in a small college town south of MPLS, and probably saw the 'Burbs out over twenty times in the mid-80s. I saw the Replacements and Husker Du, too, and those were some fantastic shows -- but the 'Burbs consistently brought the fun.
I have to agree with you about much of the TwinTone catalog - Curtiss A, Pistons, Phones, etc. were a taste I never could quite bring myself to acquire.
"Tape Your Wife to the Ceiling" was really the only song on Credit in Heaven that sounded much like the Suburbs' first, frantic album In Combo. The difference between those two albums was like going from the first Clash album to London Calling, without Give 'em Enough Rope in between. Didn't Paul Westerberg namecheck the Suburbs on "Gimme Noise" ("I can't figure out Music for Boys")?
Hey Stewart, Very cool to see your summary on The Suburbs. I enjoyed it! Oddly enough, I was thinking the same thing as "nimbleboy" (also funny per I grew up in Bloomington, MN). Most people in Minneapolis who were into one band were into the other, as well (well all the Mpls bands). The Burbs probably played locally much more often then the Mats or Husker Du.
Live they were a very high energy, fun band. Really terrific, each member with their own twitchy kind of groove. Beej's weird facial expressions and antics compared to Polin's suave manner but still pounding keyboard playing. The rest were as fun to watch too.
I had not heard that about Beej marrying into wealth. Could be. I know he left for LA sometime after they broke and pursued a solo career with out much success.
When they talked about reforming awhile back they were all like "yeah, if Beej is game". Other then the bass player Michael Halliday who seemed ratjer bored with the idea.
Anwway, I think "In Combo" and "Credit in Heaven" are the two to get. After that they started to lose a bit of that which made them unique (In my opinion).
Enough from me,
Steve D
Great to see something on The Suburbs..a vastly Unsung band..Is there any possible way you could post the track "Yo Sa Ba I I Noni" from the Dream Hog ep?..Such a wonderful song but it isn't available on anything else(compilation etc),and I doubt anyone is rushing to reissue the ep in another format
Thanks again for such a great blog!
Best chain? What about Amoeba? I live in Berkeley, near the original and worst of the 3 locations, and it's still amazing. The one in LA redeems 90% of hy hometown's sins.
Well, three stores only barely qualifies as a chain. And I know this is heresy, but I actually don't like Amoeba that much. I find that when record stores are that big, I just sort of shut down. I don't like any store where I feel like I have to pack a lunch to be able to make it through.
A buddy of mine is a pal of Chan's, and he turned me on to Chan's new group, The New Standards, who are pretty righteous...
http://myspace.com/thenewstandards
I fondly remember the Suburbs playing Purdue University in the middle 80s. Emissaries from another world.
Love your blog. I grew up listening to the 'Burbs... just a little girl from Duluth, MN in grade school, my brother taught me the words to Cows in the early 80's. That was it... I was and will always be a 'Burbs fan always. I do agree that their best albums are In Combo and Credit In Heaven, as well as Love Is The Law. Wasn't a big fan of their self-titled A&M release (which came out when I was in jr. high)... their earlier stuff is far better and raw 'Burbs before the record label tried to polish them up too much for possible mass consumption. Much better rough around the edges. Thanks!
Beej did marry "money" but as I hear the story, the girl was from the pillsbury family.
No matter how you slice it, sounds like a nice gig!
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