OTR: Bill's Band - Basic Tracks

[illusionofjoy]

It is long overdue that I took a break from the political posts. We get enough of that shit everywhere else, do we not? Not to say that I won't be right back at it tomorrow...

Bill's Band is (was) a group from New York City who have since seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth (much like Bankhead). The only evidence that this group ever existed is a sparse entry on allmusic.com and a few scattered MP3 sites featuring paid downloads of the Basic Tracks album.

This is one of many CDs in my collection sporting the "For promotional use only" stamp. I came into possession of this particular album when the group played SUNY Potsdam for their annual Spring Festival in 1999. Usually the organisation (then known as CUB, an abbreviation of College Union Board) who put the event on would get three large bands and try to fill up the gymnasium with swooning pop fans (for example, the year before I failed out of college, they booked Nickelback). However, in 1999 they attempted to draw people with a free outdoor show behind the Student Union featuring lesser known groups. On the advice of WAIH's then music director and several DJs, Bill's Band was one of the groups booked.

Bill's Band is effectively frozen in time. They unashamedly wear their 1970s classic rock influences on their collective sleeves. Someone hearing this album for the first time, just introduced to the group's sound - a hybrid of Neil Young and The Eagles - might have trouble believing it was recorded in 1997. This sound did not resonate with the students at SUNY Potsdam in the Spring of 1999.

I was a member of both WAIH and CUB at the time. CUB would eventually change their name to Student Entertainment Services (SES) in an attempt to boost perceptions of their relevance on campus. Meanwhile, I soon found myself leaving the group due to internal strife. But I digress...being a member of CUB afforded me the opportunity to play "roadie" for Bill's Band when they were booked to play that Spring. All of the guys in the group were really nice and acted as consummate professionals, ignoring the mockery of those yelling "play some Skynyrd" from the audience.

As I've grown older, I've found myself drifting away from classic rock. The apple from the Tree of Knowledge that was college (and subsequently internet) radio pretty much ruined me for the music of my teenage years. Basic Tracks doesn't sound bad, but the 27-year old me doesn't dig it like the 18-year old me did. Also, I was probably more enthusiastic because these guys were the first real band whom I'd ever met. Prior to that, musicians were people who had somehow managed to get played on the radio - mysterious and untouchable. I wanted to be one of those mysterious and untouchable people...I ended up just weird, creepy and jaded.

Still, even now I confess that "In Her Eyes" (an overused title if ever there was one - and there's no relation to Peter Gabriel here) and "Nothing Lasts Forever" are lovely songs. Meanwhile "That Door" is quite good, but far too earnest in it's desire to be Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane." Interestingly, not only are the lyrics printed in the liner notes, but the chords for each song as well.