Музыка и песни Lyres / Lyres на CD

A great selection of covers and originals make Lyres' second album a fascinating example of a band at the top of their game. Sound, attitude and a way of making music that you don't see around too often. Over the next few months Munster Records will reissue the complete Lyres discography on Ace of Hearts. +++ A sticker on this LP's shockingly pink jacket proclaimed this new product to be "Lyres Lyres" All new for '87 Lyres Vol II 'She Pays The Rent'. Yeah, wow, well... we were certainly more than ready! Upon examining the rear cover we find that the group's personnel had shifted slightly, with Paul Murphy no longer in the drum seat, his place now taken by John Bernardo, also known as John Smith, formerly of the Mick Divvensfronted group from Columbus, Ohio, Boys From Nowhere, named (plurally) after the DMZ song. While a previous EP version of 'She Pays The Rent' had a fairly moderate pace, the LP reading couldn't have been any more different, moving at a snail's pace and somewhat dramatic to boot. This version could well be Jeff "Monoman" Conolly at his most James Brown/Otis Redding soulful best, shredding his larynx as he bares his soul. The element of theatre continues throughout the LP, which contains one of their most, let's say, atypical offerings, the Oscar-worthy 'The Only Thing'. In keeping with some of the sentiments expressed in 'She Pays The Rent' and their cover of The Nightcrawlers' heart-breaking 'If You Want My Love', this is also an emotionally charged choker. It's fair to say that some of the greatest achievements in Lyres cover version territory present themselves on "Lyres Lyres". Specifically, I'm speaking of their glorious interpretation of two Dutch beat gems from the writing duo of Ronnie Splinter and Wally Tax - lead guitarist and lead singer, respectively, of The Outsiders. 'Teach Me To Forget You' is sad beyond belief, a tale of lost love; originally the B-side of that group's '67 chart smash 'Summer Is Here'. 'I Love Her Still, I Always Will' too, another B-side beauty, came from an early Outsiders single. Lyres, in their wisdom, do not diminish any of the qualities contained in the original and create an astonishing and truly haunting rendition. "Back From The Grave" stars The Alarm Clocks and The Jesters Of Newport also get 'Lyred' as their stone cold killers 'No Reason To Complain' and 'Stormy', respectively, are brought kicking and screaming from the darkened void into the dazzling daylight of the modern world. It's a similar situation regarding 'You'll Never Do It, Baby', already a long-held favourite in the hands of The Pretty Things, the British-based Cops 'N' Robbers original version, and also Berlin's finest stompmeisters, The Boots. But it's not like there was any lack of high-end original Lyres cuts around to make the grade either, far from it. In fact, for this particular fan, "Lyres Lyres" houses one of their most enduring creations, the juggernaut garage pop sensation 'You Won't Be Sad Anymore'. Its heart-skipping primary refrain and veritable rabbit's warren of words seem to tumble over themselves in an effort to get out and be heard, and it's hard to think of a more positive, musically more perfect Lyres rock'n'roll love song. Another significant factor of the "Lyres Lyres" record is that it produced a kind of polarisation in some quarters, between some fan factions who wanted them to stay as they had been before, raw and basic with not quite yet still an air of slavish 60-style garage affectations, and just the minimal acquiescence towards a half-way modern sound. Others, meanwhile, welcomed the new approach. "Jeff and I did not want to make another "On Fyre"," says producer Rick Harte. "I thought we had made our point with that record. We wanted a more progressive interpretation which resulted in more production, effects, etc. The 'outside the box' choice of material is a testament to Jeff's knowledge of the genre and his genius. There was a huge, obsessive effort put into making all of the Lyres records." Indeed, "Lyres Lyres" is an album that can stand up to repeated plays year on year and always offers something new to the listener. (Lenny Helsing) CD, Album, Reissue, Digipak

Formed in Boston in the late 70s out of the ashes of the legendary DMZ, Lyres are one of the truly essential bands of 1980s garage and their fierce debut from 1984 has been a benchmark for the genre since then. Over the next few months Munster Records will reissue the complete Lyres discography on Ace of Hearts. +++ Like many young Europeans at the time, the first real taste I had of Lyres - aside from copious blastings of a second generation cassette tape of their exhilarating Dutch VPRO radio broadcast from 1983 - came when their debut long-player, the sensational "On Fyre", was released the following year. Nothing we'd heard previously coming out of USA around that time could have quite prepared us for the sound of Lyres. You see, theirs was born of an altogether different mother strain. Yes, there were those groups that were part of the still burgeoning scene that was beginning to happen, and yes, most other contenders that came our way at that time were also said to be heavily influenced by the wildly intoxicating sounds of the 1960s garage bands; but the majority weren't cut from the same raw and inspiring framework that Lyres were. Not the kind of group who deemed it more important to look like they stepped out of a Rolling Stones photo shoot circa '65, or could be bothered with parading any uniform look such as any of their own heroes, like say Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Kinks, or even The Wailers, presented back in the mid-60s. Lyres were just gonna let the music do all the talking, and so for them jeans, tee-shirts, leather jackets and a pair of sneakers would do just fine. Producer Rick Harte's Ace Of Hearts label was already known for their attention to detail regarding presentation of sound and artwork, through releases by the likes of Mission Of Burma and Classic Ruins. They also issued a stunning 12" EP of the earlier Lyres, and pre-figured "On Fyre" with the release of a crackshot double-deck 45 with 'Help You Ann' and 'I Really Want You Right Now', both stone cold killer tunes easily identifiable as the signature Lyres sound - their appearance on the LP also numbering among the major highlights. "On Fyre" itself is a royal succession of unstoppably great selections, all with inventive use of major/minor chord switches, ear-bending tremolo gear, and/or relentless in-motion rhythmic sequences - sometimes all at once. Home base for Lyres, nearly always, has been Boston, Massachusetts, where the majority of the group's early personnel had already experienced a pretty strong taste of group life, having played a major part in one of the foremost punk-era outfits the city had earlier thrown up; they were, of course, the legendary DMZ, mighty fine purveyors of rock'n'rollin', R&B-derived high-velocity pop action. Both DMZ and Lyres were spearheaded by lead vocalist, organ/piano player and tambourine-basher extraordinaire Jeff Conolly, whose own individual performances have a direct lineage that can be traced back to the unbridled abandonment displayed by none more so than the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis. That the raw sonic exultations captured throughout "On Fyre" were unleashed almost thirty years ago now is quite an astonishing, terrifying statistic given that, in the here and now reality of March 2012, it's a record that still sounds as fresh, bold, new and exciting as it did back in 1984. That's the beauty of Lyres too, their non-applicableness to feeble time constraints. The fact that they didn't, and still don't, care one iota for any tawdry musical fads and fashions that come and go, serves to illuminate their timeless appeal to rock'n'roll fans and practitioners. (Lenny Helsing) CD, Album, Reissue

The third Lyres LP on Ace of Hearts in another mighty collection and own songs and chosen covers, all bearing the inimitable imprint of the Boston band. An unmissable piece of one of the most essential discographies of the 80s. Style: Garage Rock