Mark Freeland
Electrospective 1976-96 (1996)

review by: Mike Spinney
Date: 2/7/03

Think back a few years… say twentyfive, give or take.

Experimentation was rampant. In the world of pop culture, everything was up for grabs: hairstyles, clothes, drugs, sex, music. Most of us survived those heady days, along with an embarrassing photograph or two, with enough sense to leave the trappings of excess behind. Spiked hair, big hair, Mohawks, rattails, mullets and other shameful coifs have given way to more conservative hairstyles. Narrow ties and pegged pants won't get you far these days, nor will a single bejeweled glove. Drug use and blatant drug culture isn't in vogue anymore, and the advent of AIDS put a damper on that whole sex thing.

But the music endures.

Admit it, when channel surfing your radio and something from the '80s catches your attention - say the Clash or Frankie Goes to Hollywood - you linger. And slowly, methodically, you've amassed a collection of pirated MP3 files to serve your secret yearnings. Who can blame you?

Don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong. Fact is, when the high tech sound first found its way into the recording studio, the result was an explosion of creativity that took many forms. Happily, one of those forms came in the guise of a group called Electroman. The Electroman sound is a curious amalgam of styles reminiscent of Kraftwerk, Kool Moe Dee, and Howard Jones. Brilliant, fun stuff that later inspired the Goo Goo Dolls. It's just a shame this band from the City of the Beautiful River wasn't better known outside of Buffalo, New York.

Thank your lucky stars that the band's founder and creative force, Mark Freeland, was thoughtful enough to press a 20-song CD that captures some of Electroman's best efforts and, admittedly, a few that will leave you scratching your head.

Cuts like Pay day, Girl Power, and The vegetarian Song punctuate a collection of enjoyable rockers and anthems that were ahead of their time.

For anyone who's ever done time as a slave wage, or struggled during tough patches for enough scratch to make it through another day, Pay day is the thing. A definitively Electromannish tune, Pay day grabs the listener by the ear, then tells the pathetic tale of a guy struggling to make it happen while the Man works to keep him down.

The answering machine sample that kicks off Girl Power is a humorous spark to a controlled ferocity at works here and throughout the disc. The electric beat machine was never so well employed, and the screaming guitar riff that draws the listener into the lyrics is tremendous.