Beneath The Shadows
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Beneath the Shadows'' is the second studio album by the American
hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
band T.S.O.L. (True Sounds of Liberty), released in 1983 through
Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 by Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra and guitarist East Bay Ray in San Francisco, California, with the intention to release the Dead Kennedys' self-produced single " C ...
. With the addition of keyboardist
Greg Kuehn Gregory Russell Kuehn is an American composer, songwriter, musician and producer. Career As a performing musician Kuehn's career began in Orange County's early punk scene, when he left his classical piano studies at California State University ...
to the lineup, the band moved away from
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
in favor of a
gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...
sound in the vein of later releases by the Damned and
Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...
, alienating much of their hardcore audience in the process. Though the album was critically well received and led to the band being featured in director
Penelope Spheeris Penelope Spheeris (born December 2, 1945) is an American film director, film producer, producer, and screenwriter. She has directed both documentary film, documentary and scripted films. Her best-known works include the trilogy titled ''The Decl ...
' film ''
Suburbia A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
'', it was largely rejected by their fanbase within the punk scene. By the end of the year founding members Jack Grisham and Todd Barnes had left the group. They were respectively replaced by singer Joe Wood and drummer Mitch Dean, with whom T.S.O.L. would continue further from punk rock, eventually becoming a
glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...
outfit. The original four members reacquired rights to the name T.S.O.L. in 1999 and signed to
Nitro Records Nitro Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1994 and operated by The Offspring's Dexter Holland and Greg K. Nitro is famous for being an incubator for punk rock artists who have subsequently become successful, most notab ...
, who re-released ''Beneath the Shadows'' and put out the band's two subsequent studio albums.


Background

T.S.O.L. had released their first full-length album, '' Dance with Me'', in 1981 through Frontier Records. Its combination of
hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
with
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
- and gothic-inspired subject matter had put the band at the forefront of what was becoming known as "
Death Rock Deathrock (or death rock) is a rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, prima ...
".Blush, p. 93. Their subsequent EP, 1982's '' Weathered Statues'', was released through
Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 by Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra and guitarist East Bay Ray in San Francisco, California, with the intention to release the Dead Kennedys' self-produced single " C ...
, the record label run by
Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Init ...
and East Bay Ray of fellow California hardcore band the
Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Initially consisting of lead guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Fl ...
, with whom T.S.O.L. had performed.Blush, p. 94. The experimental nature and melodic leanings of the EP presaged the musical direction the band would pursue on their next album. With the addition of keyboardist
Greg Kuehn Gregory Russell Kuehn is an American composer, songwriter, musician and producer. Career As a performing musician Kuehn's career began in Orange County's early punk scene, when he left his classical piano studies at California State University ...
to the lineup, the band expanded in new creative directions. According to singer Jack Grisham, improved musicianship and new musical influences were also factors in T.S.O.L.'s stylistic changes:
We learned to play. We wanted to try more things. We're not going to pretend we're something that we're not anymore. It's funny, assistMike Roche got mad at me for doing what I did, but he's the one who turned me on to
Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...
. After hearing different singers and music I'd never heard before, you're bound to expand.
''Beneath the Shadows'' was recorded at Perspective Sound in Los Angeles with producer
Thom Wilson Thom Wilson (died February 8, 2015) was an American punk rock record producer and engineer. Career Wilson began his musical career in the mid-1970s, engineering recordings by soft rock artists Burton Cummings and Seals & Crofts. He began worki ...
. It was released in 1983 through Alternative Tentacles as catalog number VIRUS 29. Grisham credited himself as Jack Delauge on the sleeve, following a tradition of using a different
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
on each release both to confuse audiences and to hide his true identity from the police. Drummer Todd Barnes credited himself as Todd Scrivener, a pseudonym he had also used on ''Weathered Statues'' derived from the name of the street he lived on.


Reception

''Beneath the Shadows'' received positive reviews from critics.
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
's Bradley Torreano remarks that the album "blew away all the preconceived notions about the group's sound. T.S.O.L. had put out a record that equaled
Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...
when it came to sheer sonic pomposity but still retained their gothic punk leanings. Fans were mildly confused, but the band garnered rave reviews".
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
gave the album a "B" score, criticizing Grisham's lyrics as uninteresting but calling the musicality "so robust and determined it blows all suspicions of nostalgia away." Joe Viglione of Allmusic rated the album 4½ stars out of 5, praising Wilson's production, Grisham's questioning vocals, and the clever nuances of Kuehn's keyboards: "Rather than merely copying, T.S.O.L. are exploring. The anti-thesis of 'The Sound of Philadelphia' by MFSB from the disco decade before, there's enough slashing strings and artistry here to satisfy the most rabid fan of true rock & roll when college radio and rock stations forget what they're supposed to be playing. It's there in the evaporated love turned to anger in 'Wash Away', as well as on the closing garage sounds of 'Waiting for You'. Heartbroken choruses which garner the band a Grade A for this excellent effort." Such positive reviews led T.S.O.L. to be included, along with fellow
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
punk groups D.I. and
The Vandals The Vandals are an American punk rock band, established in 1980 in Orange County, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums, three live albums, three live DVDs and have toured the world extensively, including performances on ...
, in director
Penelope Spheeris Penelope Spheeris (born December 2, 1945) is an American film director, film producer, producer, and screenwriter. She has directed both documentary film, documentary and scripted films. Her best-known works include the trilogy titled ''The Decl ...
' film ''
Suburbia A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
'' (1983). T.S.O.L. appears in the film performing "Wash Away" from ''Beneath the Shadows'' and "Darker My Love", an otherwise unreleased song. Despite the warm critical reception, the band's change in musical direction confused and alienated their hardcore audiences. Mike Boehm of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' commented that "''Beneath the Shadows'' was drenched in rainy romanticism accented by glistening piano and
synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
shimmers. The album disregarded punk's sonic and attitudinal boundaries and effectively ended the punk chapter of T.S.O.L.'s career." Steven Blush, author of '' American Hardcore: A Tribal History'', writes that "the experimental nature of '82's ''Weathered Statues'' EP bewildered some fans, but T.S.O.L. lost their hard-to-please fanbase overnight with '83's ''Beneath the Shadows'' LP. As a wave of hardcore bands tried a more 'mature' sound in the vein of The Damned, it made sense at the time, but constituted a suicidal career move. Too bad, as ''Beneath the Shadows'' sounded powerful and progressive." According to Grisham, the use of synthesizers was unpopular with the hardcore punk crowd:
The trouble with being a popular band is that all your changes are aired for the public. So yeah, we ventured and a lot of the stuff went too far. But how do you know where you are if you don't go too far? Using synthesizers wasn't popular with hardcore. To be honest, a lot of the synth sounds at that time weren't very good, but we went for it. I've met a lot of people who say "That record was cool." At the time, it was...for me, at least.
Critic Jack Rabid, editor of '' The Big Takeover'', has called ''Beneath the Shadows'' "one of the finest U.S.
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 ...
LPs ever" and cites audiences' rejection of it as a turning point in his dissatisfaction with hardcore:
''Beneath the Shadows'' being rejected by the hardcore scene was the final straw for me, after many, many straws. Here was this most fascinating outgrowth of punk — they could've been our Damned or
Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...
— retaining the original guts and drive, taking it into this unique direction. The hardcore audience rejected them, the rock & roll audience figured they were still hardcore, so there was no audience for the music. They broke up. It was a very bad time. It became a rugby game with no meaning.


Band changes and re-release

Grisham and Barnes both quit T.S.O.L. in late 1983.Blush, p. 95. Grisham cited increased violence and police presence at shows, as well as audiences looking to him for instruction, as factors in his departure. He renounced hardcore to continue in the musical direction of ''Beneath the Shadows'', playing with the keyboard-driven Cathedral of Tears and then with Barnes in Tender Fury. Kuehn also did not stay with T.S.O.L. past ''Beneath the Shadows'', going on to other musical credits including playing with
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
.Blush, p. 96. Guitarist Ron Emory and bassist Mike Roche continued on as T.S.O.L., bringing in singer Joe Wood and drummer Mitch Dean. Over the course of four more studio albums, the new T.S.O.L. lineup would take the band's style even further from punk rock, moving first in a
gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...
direction, then into
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
and
glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...
before dissolving in 1990. The original T.S.O.L. lineup of Grisham, Emory, Roche, and Barnes reunited in 1991 and won back legal rights to the band's name in 1999. They signed to
Nitro Records Nitro Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1994 and operated by The Offspring's Dexter Holland and Greg K. Nitro is famous for being an incubator for punk rock artists who have subsequently become successful, most notab ...
, who re-released ''Beneath the Shadows''. Though Barnes died in 2000, the band continued on with other drummers and released two studio albums on Nitro, with Kuehn returning for 2003's '' Divided We Stand''. Of the ten songs from ''Beneath the Shadows'', only "Wash Away" and the title track were included on releases by the reunited lineup: A live recording of "Wash Away" appears on '' Live '91'' (1991), and a re-recorded version appears on '' Who's Screwin' Who?'' (2005). Live recordings of "Beneath the Shadows" and "Wash Away" are also included on '' Live from Long Beach'' (2008).
Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago. The band's current members are Matt Skiba (guitar, vocals), Dan Andriano (bass, vocals), and Atom Willard (drums). Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Doran, and drummer Glenn Por ...
covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...
"Wash Away" for the soundtrack of the 2005 video game '' Tony Hawk's American Wasteland''.


Track listing


Personnel

;Band * Jack Grisham
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
(credited as Jack Delauge) * Ron Emory
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
s *Mike Roche –
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
*Todd Barnes –
drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
s (credited as Todd Scrivener) *
Greg Kuehn Gregory Russell Kuehn is an American composer, songwriter, musician and producer. Career As a performing musician Kuehn's career began in Orange County's early punk scene, when he left his classical piano studies at California State University ...
keyboards ;Production *
Thom Wilson Thom Wilson (died February 8, 2015) was an American punk rock record producer and engineer. Career Wilson began his musical career in the mid-1970s, engineering recordings by soft rock artists Burton Cummings and Seals & Crofts. He began worki ...
record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
*Mike Zoto – executive producer *Michael Rubin – photography and cover art


References

{{Authority control T.S.O.L. albums 1983 albums Alternative Tentacles albums Nitro Records albums