Disco de Mission of Burma: “Onoffon”

How could a band get back together after 22 years and still sound relevant...like they never left? They're playing today with the same raw intensity and musical ambition that they had in 1983. No more Martin Swope manipulating their sound but their producer, Bobby Weston does create some pretty interesting effects. My favorite three tracks are the hard-rocking "The Set Up" which is loaded with great riffs and noises, "The Enthusiast" sounding like the Gang of Four jamming with The Clash, and "Fake Blood" with King Crimson like guitar and bass lines. I hope we don't have to wait 22 years for their next album.

Great return from a band who haven't recorded in over 20 years. Amazingly, they still sound current even though they've changed very, very little stylistically since the last time they released an album (and that's what we had back then, albums, not CDs)! This is a perfect example of a comeback done just right. Let's hope they decide to stick around for a while this time.

Buy this CD! Any American alternative/punk band owes their existence in part to Mission of Burma. Time has come for the kings to reclaim their thrones and this is the first warning shot. The music is a logical extension of the "Vs" album, which is also available on CD. Insect punk to melancholy cellos define the range of sounds. But ... where are all the other kings? Glenn ... where the hell are the Feelies and don't think that I don't remember you working at a certain hardware store on Rt. 23! Tom ... what ever happened to Television? And Richard ... how the hell much more of a blank generation can we get? From the sound quality, the CD seems to be compiled from several years of recording but, who cares? This is the real deal and this stuff never gets old. If more music of this kind was available ... maybe kids could find the strength to overcome the propaganda and make a new world.

An old Boston friend wrote me an email in late 2001 to tell me that Mission of Burma was reuniting after a 2 decade hiatus. The news ruined my day. Why would Mission of Burma want to reunite with its three founding members well into middle age? Had Roger, Peter and Clint succumbed to the impulse to finally cash in while the Mission of Burma name was still bankable? The Sacred Legend of Burma would certainly go up in flames, as the reunited members would certainly be a mid-life crisis parody of the band's former glory. An artistically viable reunion of a middle-aged Mission of Burma seemed akin to something like mission impossible.

For three short years (1980-1983) Mission of Burma was the band that was our life. In the fashionably right wing climate of the early Reagan/Thatcher years, our boys fought the power and laughed in the face of conventional success as rock stars. It wasn't all about fame and fortune for Mission of Burma. Burma's music was about the outsider, the quiet loner who finally makes a political statement by reaching for his revolver and blowing it all away. Burma's left-leaning politics were aligned to the anti-authoritarian stance that inspired post-punk bands like the Gang of Four, the Mekons, Au-Pairs and even the Clash in the late Seventies.

The 2004 release of "Onoffon" on the venerable indie label Caroline, Mission of Burma gives faith to the jaded skeptics who believe that lightening cannot strike twice. From the opening chords of "The Setup" the trio plays with the same intensity, inspiration, clarity and creativity as their farewell gig in the Bradford Ballroom in 1983.

If anything the refinements in digital technology has enhanced the chugging leviathan rhythms of Peter Prescott and Clint Conley's signature drum and bass sound. Roger Miller's knotty riff driven guitar that inevitably resolved the dramatic tension with squalls of feedback remains intact. This is not a watered down, chilled out, lounge lizard version of Burma. Mission of Burma 2004 remains unafraid to enter the eye of the hurricane.

Burma rages against the New McCarthyism of the current George W. Bush era with the same vehemence as they did in opposition to the New World Order of the Reagan/Bush years of the early Eighties. The egalitarian experimental spirit of the early Eighties when Mission of Burma played seedy Boston punk rock circuit in clubs like the Underground, the Rat and Cantones has risen from the ashes. The resurrected Burma can still deliver deadly blows against the empire and inspire shock and awe.

Bands that reunite after 20 plus years aren't supposed to sound like this. On OnOffOn, Mission Of Burma sound like they've unleashed a lost record from 1983. All of the passion, energy, and chops are still here; this is by far the most incredible reunion record I've ever heard. It's just as good as all of their previous output, and although it won't replace Vs. or Signals, it's beyond worth owning. I mean, really, how many bands sound like this after remaining stagnant forever? Come on, even Gang Of Four and Television put out crappy reunion albums, both incredible bands. Even if the Pixies gave a new album a go, could they write anything on par with "The Setup," "Falling," or "Wounded World"? Mission Of Burma's 2004 opus is proof that sometimes getting the band back together won't inspire groans. This'll bring a tear to your eye.