Rites Of Spring - End on End

Rites of Spring remain one of my favorite mid-80's punk bands. The band's only full length release, End on End, was released on LP in 1985 and two years later on CD. They have since been both remastered in 2001 (CD) and 2009 (LP), all on Dischord Records. For those unfamiliar with the band, Rites of Spring were an emotionally charged band that stood in response the negative "macho" attitude current that was prevalent within the punk scene and genre. They carved their niche, and should be applauded for this, as the underlying life blood of punk or hardcore punk is the defiance and challenging of accepted rule, whether that be societal or within the genre itself. I have long felt that Guy Picciotto's singing on this album was as an impassioned voice as I have ever heard. Never having a chance to see them live, I can only imagine how a stage performance must have felt for those lucky enough to be in attendance. Picciotto and fellow band-mate Brendan Canty (drums) went on to form Fugazi, and are probably more well known for there efforts there. Its guitarist Eddy Janney that nears Picciotto in standing out on this album, as his writing and playing on the guitar brings character to the songs on the instrumental side. Canty handles the pace and fills well, while Micheal Fellows supports on bass, though he sometimes is lost in the album's mix. The recording at times is a bit thin (see bass and guitar), and the drums could use a better recording specifically, but none of this takes away from the auditory experience that much.


Rites Of Spring - "For Want Of"

Feedback flows into the full band, led by Guy's vocal "I...". Active guitar chords run over the steady drum beat. With every "I" sung by Guy he seems to exhale more and more, building steam into the chorus. The instrumental parts of the song are pretty straightforward. They roll into a guitar led interlude (my favorite moment of the song) that pulls away momentarily as the vocals return, then together returns to the main guitar part. This cycle is repeated again through the rest song, but the emotion in the final vocal parts is almost overflowing, intensified by the guitar and drumming. 


Rites Of Spring - "Nudes"

Towards the end of the album the songs are a bit more diversified musically. "Nudes" opens right up with powerful vocals. In fact, the vocals are possibly stronger and more forcefully sung on this song than any other on the album. The music is tightly played with the vocals, and accents the lyrics well. Its as if the music is pounding the words into your ears, well in a good way that is. Everything just works together in a collective effort to emphasize. Emphasize the sung word, the played chord, the emotion felt by the listener, emphasizing it all.

Other stand out songs on this album include "Persistent Vision", "Spring", "Deeper Than Inside", "End on End" and pretty much every song towards the end of the album. There's alot of strong material here that not only brings me back to listen repeatedly, but basically for the whole album. You can check out samples of each song at the Dischord website for Rites Of Spring. You can purchase the LP, CD, or mp3 there as well. The 12" LP comes with free mp3 downloads which is very cool thing that labels are doing more and more.

I can't really put into words the emotions resonated by some of these songs, and I wonder if sometimes if it's just something about me (or the me from years ago) that finds their music so evoking and holding. I often think appraisal of artistic mediums has as much to do about the appraiser as the appraised. I find myself identifying with certain characters or roles in some of my favorite movies, finding out that this is what really draws me to falling in love with a certain film or song, its perceiving these emotions that are familiar or, maybe in a way more applicable to this album, "strike a familiar chord" within me. I think there's a rush when we believe someone else "feels" the same way as we do. Our language caps our ability to communicate, we are limited by our words. We can't describe emotional experiences accurately through words, so when that feeling that someone else is experiencing a similar emotion (sometimes we believe it to be the same) occurs we perk up as if we just successfully remembered that tip-of-the-tongue word that escaped us momentarily, and connection and understanding is made between us. So I don't know if this album will evoke you the way it does me, I am not sure I can objectively review or critique it, though I am also not sure how one does that anyways.