When a song gets stuck in my head with unrelenting intensity, and this fact makes me happy instead of majorly upset, I have to give props where props are due. Satyagraha, the first song on Seven Seconds classic '88 release Soulforce Revolution is one such song. The chorus is on a ten second loop in my brain as I write this, with Kevin Seconds sugar sweet voice ruling the radio station that sends messages only to my brain for the fourth day in a row. This demands to be heard. I'll be right back, I am going to risk permanent imprinting for another listen.
I'll admit, I enjoy reading reviews of music and comics on line, so to return the favor I have decided to make an effort to review some of the important CDs and MP3 downloads in my collection. I love having to make the distinction between CDs and MP3s but from time to time will refer to them both as albums. Call me old fashioned, but album seems like a good catch all word for a complete studio recording released on one date. Soulforce Revolution is a great album in any format.
The second song Busy Little People follows Satyagraha, is a call to treat others with more respect on the positive vibe that this era of Seven Seconds is famous for. The music in this song is excellent, with a Fugazi before there was a Fugazi style guitar line and excellent drumming that incorporates some alternate percussion sounds from the traditional punk kit. The third fine song in a row, I Can Sympathize, has an engaging chorus and some great lyrics.
This album necessitates the traditional punk rock question of how punk is this punk rock? While some say punk is only a style of music, I think punk is an attitude of extreme rebellion combined with a concentrated urge to deviate with what came before. Punk rock puts chocolate in the peanut butter and rebels against the punk genre of music while keeping the rebellion. Punk to Punk Rock is a revolution on an axis where the music rotates from sounding radio friendly or aggressively unfit for mass consumption alternately. This album is a response to early punk profanity and thrash, so it incorporates poppy, melodic, mainstream sounds with a punk message and with a punk preference for independent publishing, making it pure punk rock.
It may sound corporate today (it was not released on a major label) and it may sound common (today), but Soulforce Revolution and Seven Seconds began this trend - they did not follow it like the hundreds of imitators who shall remain nameless but who have become household names if I was to name more names. (Seven Seconds makes me want to stay positive today, so I will, I compare them to Fugazi with admiration). This album really was a Revolution in punk rock, and while many people point to the influence of U2 on them, I'd call this an authentically new sound at the time, but one that years later sounds completely familiar.
Soulforce was my second MP3 download from the iTunes store, as I use iTunes to shop for things that are hard to find in print. I have been looking for a copy of this for over a decade, ever since the cassette I stole from the coolest ex-girlfriend ever broke down in the sun. iTunes is a wonderful place to find content like this. I had been eyeing this download for a long time and I am psyched that I invested, even though in reviewing this I am guaranteed to hear the melodies in my head for at least another week. If catchiness is something to be appreciated, Soulforce Revolution is a great choice. Four AM in Texas, the ninth track on the album, is a slowed down masterpiece of catchiness, with Tom Petty style flourishes, and more of that awesome percussion. I can't get it out of my head! Mother's Day is as sweet as the album gets, an ode to Kevin Seconds' and Steve Youth's mother, (assumption here I could be wrong) that begins with acoustic guitar and stays on the verge of easy listening punk.
This album overall is inspiring and compelling, but don't expect cookie cutter sounds here. Soulforce Revolution was as different as it was daring and a true revolution away from what most people call punk. As such it marks a revolution within a revolution, one of my favorite brain puzzles in punk, and it brings back fond memories and fine feelings with every listen.
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