My Favorite Album - La Swaynos's Contribution

Mission of Burma- Vs.

Great albums are an odd thing. It doesn't matter how great a band is or how much you love a particular song-- it's all about the composition as a whole. From start to finish it's more than just solid--it's a story set to time that can be pulled out and replayed. 

For me that moment last 41 minutes and 30 seconds from needle drop to its fuzzed loop pull off. Mission of Burma isn't my favorite band, they barely even make in my top 20. But ultimately that doesn't matter. A great album doesn't just mean a good song or two or if so-and-so does this really great solo or that the fade in/out was dead on or any of those elements on their own-- it's all the working pieces taken together. I can't think of one song on this album without immediately thinking of what came before and after. I'd call it an epic -- Homer's rose-tinted fingers of Dawn flash post-punk grey-- but in tune with the aesthetic of the time its cruder and more elemental. In the way that the cogs inside a clock tell a better story of time then it's face-- all these aspects work together.

It starts with a warming hum like that uncomfortable moment you walk in from the freezing cold, your ears feeling hot and achy. You can feel the stage lights brighten and flash a din with the sudden change in voltage. The vocals kick in-- too fast, too far away sounding. Shit. Is my record player broken? Every time it throws me for a loop. I read in an interview once that for this album they were trying to replicate the natural feeling of a live performance. That's probably why I have such a love affair with Vs.-- it's a show in my stereo.     It starts warm anxious and with a sudden flash of energy that rolls on til its abrupt and essentially unfinished end. In recording the tape literally ran out too soon. The effect is utterly mesmerizing. The lights are cut, the band packed and gone. Last words ringing in your head "Did I hold you? Did I hold you back? Can I count on you if I fall apart? This is how I escaped my certain fate"

La Swaynos is an avid cultural consumer and expert food professional living in Austin.

Click here for Boulezian's Contribution
Click here for HaZmora's Contribution
Click here for The McBee's Contribution
Click here for Le Drgon's Contribution
Click here for The Brannock's Contribution
Click here for The Danny's Contribution
Click here for The Drioux's contribution
Click here for El Reyes's contribution
Click here for My contribtuion