Channel 69 - Channel 69 (c) 1994 Pure Music
Artist....: Channel 69
Album.....: Channel 69
Type......: Album
Source....: CDDA
Tracks....: 13
Genre.....: Synthpop
Label.....: Pure Music
Catalogue#: PM 0010
Encoder...: LAME 3.97
Quality...: VBR kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint-Stereo
URL.......: http://www.discogs.com/release/958655
Tracklist:
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01 Evensong 00:56
02 Promise Is Breaking 04:46
03 Believe 03:33
04 Can You Blame Me 03:52
05 To Save Me 05:08
06 Hold On To Yesterday 05:33
07 Panorama 05:13
08 Words (Go Away) 04:38
09 Exposure 06:24
10 Familiar Territory 04:15
11 A Day In The Life Of.... 02:52
12 Believe (Abductee Mix) 05:59
13 Words (Talk To Me Mix) 05:04
Total:68,6 MB / 58:13 min
Release Notes:
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Note: Part of these tracks also appear on 1 Min 50 Secs of Guilt but
this self titled release has several additional tracks not appearing on
that release.
This is one of the earliest cds from what became the Modern Synthpop
community, released back when it was the CAD network and A Different
Drum was in the infant stages of becoming the foremost synthpop store
in the US. The release year was 1995, and Channel 69 was one of a
handful of Synthpop bands coming out of Texas that helped revive
interest in synthpop after the rise of grunge music. This band
impressed me with their very melodic vocal harmonies the first time I
ever heard them, and this continues to be a group I look upon fondly to
this day.
There are some really great songs here, such as "Promise Is Breaking",
"Can You Blame Me?", "Familiar Territory" and "Believe". These are some
really anthemic songs that could easily work well as singles. In fact,
they remind me a little of the work of the band Intuition - super
pop-friendly, but no fluff. Mind you, this band does incorporate some
guitar work into their tracks, but it's mostly backing the tracks
instead of taking the forefront.
I really enjoyed the acoustic version of "Panorama", and the hidden
instrumental after it is a ambient piece of beauty that I really,
really liked. As opposed to the instrumental that opens the album,
"Evensong", which I've never really cared for all that much.
In short, though this album is somewhat hard to come by, it's worth the
effort. It's a very solid collection of pop songs, cast into a
electronic molding. If nothing else, you can enjoy hearing some history
and inspiration for the modern synthpop movement here...
Jason Baker - Synthpop.Net