The Sound/Adrian Borland

[Guillaume]

I'm listening to this band for a few weeks now and i find some of their songs quite incredible...touching, moving haunting, beautiful..

WINNING, fantastic song, and just incredibly electrifying when they played it live:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUmF8xuSyoA&ab_channel=CaseyStrange

TOTAL RECALL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6FnXF6omsI&ab_channel=JohanneBlanco

WINTER:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7DzrBLyajI&ab_channel=crispyfiverblue

WHERE THE LOVE IS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6a0pBLFqeU&ab_channel=ABorlandFan

Are there here some fans of this band and his singer songwriter Adrian Borland?

[Johnz]

I'm listening to this band for a few weeks now and i find some of their songs quite incredible...touching, moving haunting, beautiful..

WINNING, fantastic song, and just incredibly electrifying when they played it live:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUmF8xuSyoA&ab_channel=CaseyStrange

TOTAL RECALL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6FnXF6omsI&ab_channel=JohanneBlanco

WINTER:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7DzrBLyajI&ab_channel=crispyfiverblue

WHERE THE LOVE IS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6a0pBLFqeU&ab_channel=ABorlandFan

Are there here some fans of this band and his singer songwriter Adrian Borland?

Such an underrated artist. I love a lot of his stuff, be it with The Sound, solo or with White Rose Transmissions.

He did a beautiful version of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj_f_vKlZm0

Even more touching knowing his own sad story.

[Guillaume]

Such an underrated artist. I love a lot of his stuff, be it with The Sound, solo or with White Rose Transmissions.

Which albums do you recommend from Adrian Borland's solo career and with White Rose Transmissions?

Have you seen the documentary about him "Walking in the opposite direction"?

I've read that the band was a bit cult in Holland in the 80's but wasn't famous in the UK despite some good reviews from the critics.
Also some critics compared them to early U2, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure but if i enjoy some of these bands i think that Borland's songrwriting was more visceral powerful and piognant, at least it moves me more than the works of these bands!

First time i've listened to "Winning" on the great live album IN THE HOUTHOUSE i had like a musical and emotional "electroshock", you can really feel the despair and hope in Adrian's voice...i also think that "Total recall" is an awesome song, so moving the way Adrian sings it, again, on the studio version or on the live album, his voice was very beautiful.

Others great songs in my opinion:

"I can't escape myself";

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ad2ujW5Sl8&ab_channel=MyLittleUndergroundTVMyLittleUndergroundTV

"New dark age"...awesome!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWoNSADanoA&ab_channel=MyLittleUndergroundTVMyLittleUndergroundTV

"Under you":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ec64bOGl3Y&list=OLAK5uy_lWBmk9COv-P6KFMwY37mMXwoEfkLJoeyg&ab_channel=DemonMusicGroupDemonMusicGroup

the beautiful "Monument":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga8D9rtimPc&list=OLAK5uy_nit8-jp7LmXNQugvnu5r4_SVdfKIVBZJk&ab_channel=TheSoundTheSound

"Missiles":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-XinpbEsz8&ab_channel=AlexWaltonAlexWalton

Which are your favourite songs from Adrian Borland Johnz?

[Johnz]

Which albums do you recommend from Adrian Borland's solo career and with White Rose Transmissions?

Have you seen the documentary about him "Walking in the opposite direction"?

I've read that the band was a bit cult in Holland in the 80's but wasn't famous in the UK despite some good reviews from the critics.
Also some critics compared them to early U2, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure but if i enjoy some of these bands i think that Borland's songrwriting was more visceral powerful and piognant, at least it moves me more than the works of these bands!

First time i've listened to "Winning" on the great live album IN THE HOUTHOUSE i had like a musical and emotional "electroshock", you can really feel the despair and hope in Adrian's voice...i also think that "Total recall" is an awesome song, so moving the way Adrian sings it, again, on the studio version or on the live album, his voice was very beautiful.

Which are your favourite songs from Adrian Borland Johnz?

The early Sound stuff is my favourite; From The Lions Mouth is a great album. I also love Shock of Daylight. Songs like Winning, Total Recall, Counting the Days are fantastic and were ahead of their time. His solo stuff is more patchy but there are lots of great songs in there. I love the White Rose Transmission version of Walking in Opposite Direction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROsW3gfiLa0&list=PLMcOIuAwqp9DOHTBWMu5AA_9yggrbWyrP&index=6
It's from the album 700 Miles of Desert which AB wrote all the music for.

This is a nice write up of his solo stuff with video links:
https://www.toppermost.co.uk/adrian-borland/

I really like 5am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO81I3LrmeA&t=571s

There is still a lot of his stuff that I don't have. Some of it is hard to get and some of it doesn't really do much for me. But there are usually a few good songs on all his releases. So please let me know if you find stuff that you like. I haven't watched Walking In The Opposite Direction. Thanks for reminding me.

I grew up in Germany. They were never big there but they were known in indie circles. I remember buying Shock Of Daylight when it came out. I haven't kept up with all the releases. There have been quite a few after AB's passing. They are often compared to The Chameleons and I can see why. Another underrated band that made three beautiful albums.

[Guillaume]

The early Sound stuff is my favourite; From The Lions Mouth is a great album. I also love Shock of Daylight. Songs like Winning, Total Recall, Counting the Days are fantastic and were ahead of their time.

All these songs you said are great, i LOVE "Total Recall", just incredible his voice, the bass, the lyrics, the guitar, wow! Also i love "Under you" and "Whirlpool" from this HEADS AND HEARTS album.
I agree about FROM THE LION'S MOUTH being great (just for "Winning" and "New Dark age", fantastic opening and ending songs!!) , on SHOCK OF DAYLIGHT  i also like "Golden soldiers" and i LOVE "Winter"!
ALL FALL DOWN is a very good album also (my fav: "Where the love is", i never tire of this song!!) with various styles and tracks.
The only one album a bit disappointing is THUNDER UP, but i've listened to it only once..

So please let me know if you find stuff that you like.

Yes, i will update this thread in the weeks/months to come when i will dig further in Adrian's career, to share the tracks i like from his solo career.

They are often compared to The Chameleons and I can see why. Another underrated band that made three beautiful albums.

Here's a Mark Burgess song about/to Adrian...beautiful:

 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEVpSaL4hhA&ab_channel=bokart77bokart77

[Johnz]

ALL FALL DOWN is a very good album also (my fav: "Where the love is", i never tire of this song!!) with various styles and tracks.
The only one album a bit disappointing is THUNDER UP, but i've listened to it only once..

Yes, All Fall Down is great. I didn't like Thunder Up much at the time but it has grown on me over the years. I Give You Pain is a great song although you can clearly here AB's love of The Doors here. You've Got A Way is lovely, too.

Yes, i will update this thread in the weeks/months to come when i will dig further in Adrian's career, to share the tracks i like from his solo career.

Awesome thanks. Looking forward to it. This is a great solo concert with awesome sound quality (and a crowd of 40 people!): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvhtFJLy0g8s3pDLT17wMFPlGuAuXJHcC

Here's a Mark Burgess song about/to Adrian...beautiful:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEVpSaL4hhA&ab_channel=bokart77bokart77

I love that song. Love The Chameleons and used to follow Mark's work closely. He does sing on one of the White Rose Transmission tracks, too called Digging For Water. I wish he would do more original stuff rather than Chameleons nostalgia shows (as great as they were). He has done some great stuff by himself. Do you have the Invincible album called Venus that he did with Yves Altana? It's got some good songs on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g0YkaHtp_8
Some of the Black Swan Lane stuff is good, too but I haven't kept up with all their releases.

[Guillaume]

I didn't like Thunder Up much at the time but it has grown on me over the years. I Give You Pain is a great song although you can clearly here AB's love of The Doors here. You've Got A Way is lovely, too.

I wiil give it another chance sooner or later!

I forgot the PROPAGANDA album which is pretty good.

I love that song.

Yes it's beautiful...it feels nostalgic, ethereal, heavenly..

Do you have the Invincible album called Venus that he did with Yves Altana?

No, from Burgess/The Chameleons i've only listened so far to the "Script of the bridge" album, and the "Swamp thing" song.

This is a great solo concert with awesome sound quality (and a crowd of 40 people!): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvhtFJLy0g8s3pDLT17wMFPlGuAuXJHcC

Thanks for the link!!

[Johnz]

No, from Burgess/The Chameleons i've only listened so far to the "Script of the bridge" album, and the "Swamp thing" song.

Oh lots more to be discovered. I think the first three albums are all wonderful.

Try Tears from Strange Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLwtnH2nhII

Perfume Garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KueYEPOBzfU

Intrigue in Tangiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkGns3eCZw0

Both from What Does Anything Mean, Basically.

Ok, back to The Sound now.

[Guillaume]

I Give You Pain is a great song although you can clearly here AB's love of The Doors here. You've Got A Way is lovely, too.

i've just listened again to these songs thanks to your recommendation and yes both are fine!
my favourite of the two is "You've got a way", very good i think...as usual with The Sound Adrian's voice is fantastic and the atmosphere is  quite haunting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFe_lBG77FQ&ab_channel=PabloBorbar%C3%A1nPabloBorbar%C3%A1n

[Johnz]

i've just listened again to these songs thanks to your recommendation and yes both are fine!
my favourite of the two is "You've got a way", very good i think...as usual with The Sound Adrian's voice is fantastic and the atmosphere is  quite haunting.

Glad you like them. Do you like Song and Dance from ALL Fall Down? Always loved that song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18pCkDhkVrA&list=RDMM&index=5

Shock of Daylight is my favourite release of theirs but that's probably because it was the album that got me into them at the time. Counting the Days and A New Way of Life and Winter are among my favourites.

[Guillaume]

i've just listened again to these songs thanks to your recommendation and yes both are fine!
my favourite of the two is "You've got a way", very good i think...as usual with The Sound Adrian's voice is fantastic and the atmosphere is  quite haunting.

Glad you like them. Do you like Song and Dance from ALL Fall Down? Always loved that song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18pCkDhkVrA&list=RDMM&index=5

Not my favourite but yes i like it!
On this album i also like the opening "All fall down", "Party of the mind", "Calling the new tune", "In suspense", but my favourite are "Where the love is" and "Monument".     

Shock of Daylight is my favourite release of theirs but that's probably because it was the album that got me into them at the time. Counting the Days and A New Way of Life and Winter are among my favourites.

Yes all these ones are fine "Winter" is my favourite among them, so haunting, and very different from NMA"s "Winter"!!
On SHOCK OF DAYLIGHT i also like "Longest  days", "Golden soldiers"...well the 6 tracks on this EP are good!

Don't you think that at times The Sound's music and Adrian's voice have a bit of feel of early Simple Minds?
Like for NMA i dig the cool bass lines but like for NMA i think the band's greatest strength is the incredible expressive voice of his singer/guitar player.

Here are my 10 fav songs from The Sound..:

1: Winning/Total recall...ex aequo because "Winning" is incredibly powerful and its lyrics deliver an important "message" when you have the feeling at times to struggle in life, but on the same time...i think that "Total recall" is incredibly heartbreaking too, i never tire of both of these songs!

3: Under you

4: Where the love is

5: New dark age

6: Winter

7: Monument

8: I can't escape myself

9: Missiles

10: All fall down/Longest days/Counting the days/Whirlpool/One thousand reasons...

All of them great songs. It's always a bitter feeling when you have a great, musical "shock" find/discovery, and that you find that the band is gone for years, and worse, than the leader singer is not anymore with us  ...

[Johnz]

Don't you think that at times The Sound's music and Adrian's voice have a bit of feel of early Simple Minds?
Like for NMA i dig the cool bass lines but like for NMA i think the band's greatest strength is the incredible expressive voice of his singer/guitar player.

I can hear bits of several other bands in their sound. A bit of early U2, Sad Lovers and Giants, The Doors/Stranglers. I think they influenced a lot of other bands. I know that Adrian was sometimes bitter about other bands' success. I remember an interview where he claimed that Bono had stolen all his ideas. I don't know how true that is but Adrian's songwriting was certainly influential and different.

Here are my 10 fav songs from The Sound..:

1: Winning/Total recall...ex aequo because "Winning" is incredibly powerful and its lyrics deliver an important "message" when you have the feeling at times to struggle in life, but on the same time...i think that "Total recall" is incredibly heartbreaking too, i never tire of both of these songs!

3: Under you

4: Where the love is

5: New dark age

6: Winter

7: Monument

8: I can't escape myself

9: Missiles

10: All fall down/Longest days/Counting the days/Whirlpool/One thousand reasons...

All of them great songs. It's always a bitter feeling when you have a great, musical "shock" find/discovery, and that you find that the band is gone for years, and worse, than the leader singer is not anymore with us  ...

All great songs. I agree, Winning/Total Recall are their two biggest tunes. I think In the Hothouse has almost a perfect setlist. Great versions of many of the songs like Red Paint. It's a great live album. It was very sad to learn of Adrian's death at the time. I never realized that he was that troubled. Many of his lyrics took on a new depth after his death. I've always liked The Sound but didn't follow them as closely as some other bands like NMA. He never gave many interviews either. Their music really stood the test of time though. I still listen to it regularly. Temperature Drop is another one of my favourites that doesn't get mentioned very often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOI9pPfYaPY

[Guillaume]

Their music really stood the test of time though. I still listen to it regularly. Temperature Drop is another one of my favourites that doesn't get mentioned very often.

I have yet to listen to many of their songs (and also Adrian's solo career  ) , to digest the whole of all their albums but i think that the band should have been as huge or praised as U2, The Cure and Joy Division. Like Justin and NMA should have won a more massive success..

It's a bit sad that Adrian's works are more praised, the band receiving at last accolades, new beautiful releases on CD's...years and years after his passing... but like you write the band has stood the test of time 35 years after the release of their last album, and so many new young people can find now about the beauty of Adrian's voice, lyrics and music.

[Guillaume]

"You've got a way" has grown and grown deeply on me and i now think that it is really one of Adrian's best songs ever ex aequo with "Total recall" and "Winning"!! 
Also "Contact the fact" and "Sense of purpose" are great.


Here's The Guardian nice tribute to the band:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/mar/29/cult-heroes-the-sound-critics-favourites-crowded-out-by-joy-division

 

[Johnz]

"You've got a way" has grown and grown deeply on me and i now think that it is really one of Adrian's best songs ever ex aequo with "Total recall" and "Winning"!! 
Also "Contact the fact" and "Sense of purpose" are great.


Here's The Guardian nice tribute to the band:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/mar/29/cult-heroes-the-sound-critics-favourites-crowded-out-by-joy-division

Great write-up. You've Got a Way is a great song!