Mission of Burma were always one of those faceless groups that in my mind were probably ultra-political and intimidating. I thought that in order to be taken seriously as a fan you probably had to quote various leftist writings and be ready for revolution. Underground and intellectual. In reality, although they composed songs that were far from ordinary, they were just another band out of Boston.
Their debut EP, Signals, Calls, and Marches, was released in 1981. Considered a bridge from punk to indie rock, one has only to listen to Fame and Fortune to understand why. It starts off sounding like a mix of punk and new wave, Clash, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson, and Wire mixed together, but after a minute it breaks down into a chaotic middle section of guitar scrapes and noises. The bass and drums find a place to drop anchor, and are soon joined by a picked guitar, a combination that REM would use just a couple years later on their first album.
The music picks up speed at 2:11 and returns to its opening sound at 2:45, but something has changed. I still hear Talking Heads and Clash, but the future is there as well: Guided By Voices, Sleater-Kinney, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth for example.
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