Mars - The Complete Studio Recordings: NYC 1977-1978
(G3G/Spooky Sound)
The collection of bands and fans that made up the no wave scene in New York in the late 70s may not have ever really made significant waves outside of their home city during the existence of the original scene's heyday, but, more than twenty years later, the legendary status that today's younger generations of fans (this writer included) have bestowed upon the groups of No New York and their contemporaries must be fairly mind-blowing to those involved. The term "no wave" is tossed around so easily in today's music culture that it has surely lost much of its original meaning, and something that was a very specific aesthetic and philosophical reaction to a specific time and place has become, to many, nothing more than a highly collectable LP and an often horribly misused descriptive term. While the original purpose or aim of the no wave bands was to truly erase the limits of rock music, and create something truly new, for the people and by the people, such anything-goes attitudes and philosophical underpinnings have been lost behind two words that have surpassed their original meaning by far, as clangy, dissonant post punk with a noisy edge masquerades as no wave in 2004. Mars didn't exist for very long, and never played outside of New York City, but, as the no wave band who personified the movement's attitudes and ideals in the most complete and extreme manner, they deserved far more.
This isn't the first reissue of Mars' music. Atavistic Records reissued the band's LP as part of the label's salvo of no wave recordings in the mid to late 1990s with some added live material, and France's Disques Du Soliel compiled a CD of lo-fi live tracks in 1994. However, this disc is the definitive Mars document currently available on CD. Mark Cunningham, the quartet's bassist, spearheaded the release of this disc after the discovery of a cassette master of the original binaural mix of the band's last studio recording, a self-titled EP. And while it's nice to hear clearer versions of the two excellent sides of the band's debut 7", and have their four contributions to No New York together with the rest of their material, it's the versions of the five tracks on the EP that make this such a special release. Listening to the tracks in order, one can hear the rapid progression of Mars from damaged, post-Velvets art rock of the first 7" to the completely unhinged and chaotic sounds of the EP, music that truly took rock to the edge of a stylistic cliff. When "N.N. End" kicks in, and, suddenly the music becomes completely enveloping, the dropped jaw of even the most seasoned Mars fan is forgivable, as the new master allows the music to be heard as never before. The EP was recorded on a stage in an empty theater, and the original releases of the tracks made it sound that way, distanced, and part of a bigger open space inside which the actual music almost seemed to fight to be heard. Now, there's no distance between listener and music, and one can more fully comprehend and assimilate the sheer cacophony that was spewing from the mouths and instruments of the band. Overlooked or inaudible nuances of the music can be discovered, and the experience of hearing Mars' music come to life in the binaural setting, to this listener, seems to finally be a feeling befitting the band's music, and, in retrospect, it's only now that these tracks have really come alive.
The Complete Studio Recordings doesn't take the place of any previously issued Mars CDs, as the completist will need to buy all three to collect all of the live material available. However, it's easy to imagine that, now that this disc has been released, none of the others will ever sound quite as good. Only now has the raw power and staggering brilliance of Mars truly been unleashed, and, amazingly, the band's music is even more impressive than it was before.
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