''Action Reaction'' is the debut album by American

Post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band Get Smart!, released on

Enigma Records Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. History Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/d ...

' "Fever" imprint in 1984.

Info

Initially, Nebraska's "Capitol Punishment" announced that the album would be released on the "Fresh Sounds" label, which had previously issued the band's debut single and "Fresh Sounds" cassette. However, the band later signed with

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

based "Fever Records" (not to be confused with the New York-based label of the

same name ''Same Name'' is an American reality television series in which an average person swaps lives with a celebrity of the same first and last name. It premiered on July 24, 2011 on CBS. The series received low ratings, and CBS pulled it after four-ep ...

), which ultimately released the album. The album was originally recorded by Michael McGee and produced by Taylor Ross at Media Sound in Oklahoma City. Ross then recruited

Iain Burgess Iain Burgess (24 November 1953 – 11 February 2010) was an English record producer and audio engineer. He helped define the sound of the Chicago post-punk music scene in the 1980s and early 1990s. Burgess worked with a number of key underground ...

to remix the album for release at Chicago Recording Company in Chicago. An earlier version of "Ankle Deep In Mud" had appeared on their debut single, " Numbers and Colours", and an earlier version of "Black Mirror" has appeared on the "

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

#7" compilation cassette. All songs were written by the band, except for "Ankle Deep In Mud" which was written by Vance Lyons, and "Black Mirror" where the lyrics were written by Vance Lyons and the music was written by Get Smart!. (''Vance Lyons had played with Marc Koch in a previous band called the Battling Tops.'') Side 1 and Side 2 were originally supposed to be reversed, as the album was supposed to start with "On And On" and then end with "You've Got To Stop" (i.e. it would start with "On" and end with "Stop"), but for some unknown reason this was reversed in the final product.

Track listing

Side 1: #"Because Of Green" – 3:03 #"What It Is We Fear" – 3:18 #"Knight" – 2:18 #"Ankle Deep In Mud" – 4:55 #"You've Got To Stop" – 3:38 Side 2: #"On And On" – 2:02 #"Just For The Moment" – 2:23 #"The Difference" – 3:02 #"Face" – 2:36 #"Black Mirror" – 2:18 #"Berlin On The Plains" – 2:47 #"They Walk In Pairs " – 1:58

Personnel

*Marc Koch – vocals, guitar *Lisa Wertman Crowe – vocals, bass *Frank Loose – vocals, drums

Reception

* "This is what happened to Midwestern bar bands when they heard the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

. Lots of beat and jangle; it's raw and rocking" (Barbara Nellis,

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

, March 1985) * "Warm pop melodicism competes with punky bluntness and jagged noise tendencies on Action Reaction, creating a variety of stylistic voices within the plainly constructed guitar-bass-drums framework; harmony vocals add to the appeal." (Ira Robbins,

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

, 1986)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Action Reaction 1984 debut albums Albums produced by Iain Burgess Enigma Records albums Get Smart! (band) albums