Library Rock's Backpages

The Sound: From The Lion's Mouth

Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981

THE SOUND'S second LP carries on where Jeopardy, their first, left off, with a search for contact or (non-religious) communion of some kind. It's a simple hope, expressed with deceptive simplicity, but then the present-day socially aware rock'n'roll group-refuses to die when things get tough. What some may see as pessimistic wallowing is actually a confrontation and shaking-off of despondency, a determination to face facts rather than hide in escapism. As the single 'Sense Of Purpose' would have it, it's "a call to arms, a call to use arms/ a call to brains, a call to use some brains/ a call to the heart, a call to have a heart/ to have a sense of purpose again." Simple, see?

Total word count of piece: 468

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.