Band Of Susans – Love Agenda (Blast First, 1989)

The freshest forgotten albums of yesteryear. Not the usual fawned over suspects but albums that ‘net-trawlers and second hand record shop aficionados may come across and should snap up now.

This issue Guy Oddy digs out a cacophonic art rock classic…

I first came across the Band of Susans in the late ‘80s supporting indie-dullards Throwing Muses. They were loud, with three guitars laying down a wall of feedback, distortion and hypnotic sounds over a pounding beat, and they were emphatically not singing fey, little songs whose only distinguishing factor was their weediness. Even though the band looked like high school geography teachers, I came away with one of their tee-shirts and a determination to seek out their latest album, ‘Love Agenda’. I soon found it and became an instant convert to the dense cacophony of guitar sounds that somehow managed to stay just the right side of aimless noise and form themselves into songs that recalled both the post no-wave sound of Sonic Youth and the droning melodies of the Jesus and Mary Chain.

The Band of Susans formed in 1986 in New York and were basically an art rock band that were just as much about rock as were about art. The original line up consisted of mainstays Robert Poss (guitar and vocals), Susan Stenger (bass and vocals) and Ron Spitzer (drums) with Susan Lyall (guitar), Susan Tallman (guitar) and Alva Rogers (vocals) completing the group – hence the band’s name. This version of the Band of Susans released an EP, ‘Blessing And Curse’, and an LP, ‘Hope Against Hope’, before Susan Lyall, Susan Tallman and Alva Rogers left to pursue other projects. Guitarists Karen Haglof and Page Hamilton were soon drafted in as replacements, however, and the recording sessions for ‘Love Agenda’ began in earnest.

‘Love Agenda’ is built on the heavily guitar-centric sounds of the band’s previous discs and was variously described, when it was released, as the “soundtrack for an epileptic fit” (in Melody Maker) and reflecting “everything that is currently happening in New York” (in Sounds). That said, it’s certainly an album that has aged well.

Things open up with a wave of squalling guitar-noise and feedback, as the band launch into Susan Stenger’s ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ before hitting a droning groove that keeps expanding further into the sonic expanse, without losing any sense of melody. The likes of ‘It’s Locked Away’ and ‘Because of You’ are made up of layer upon layer of riffing guitars, backed with pounding drums and thumping bass, and vocals buried deep in the mix. There are no guitar solos, as such, though – the Band of Susans was certainly no Allman Brothers tribute band.

They were never tempted to go ‘unplugged’ either, and during the second half of the album, things get way more muscular as the band launch into ‘Hard Light’ (which was released as a promo and did receive some radio play, but was never released as a single), ‘Which Dream Came True’ and a thumping cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Child of the Moon’.

The Band of Susans recorded both songs and instrumentals for ‘Love Agenda’ and throughout their career, with their lyrics being, perhaps, the least noteworthy aspect of their performance. However, while the words rarely reveal any particular pertinent observations about the human condition, they do imply a cerebral, even reserved, rage. The vocals, however, are generally mixed so low in the mix as to be another instrument whose sound is more important than what is actually sung. One exception is the last song on ‘Love Agenda’, their anthem to New York’s public transport system, ‘Take The Express’, which is sure to raise a smile with anyone who has been stuck in an unreliable tube train.

After finishing ‘Love Agenda’, the Band of Susans toured Europe and the USA, recording a John Peel radio session along the way. Nevertheless, the line up was soon to change again, with Page Hamilton leaving to form the more commercially-successful Helmet and Karen Haglof leaving music altogether.

More replacements were found and over the next six years the Band of Susans recorded three more albums and continued to tour, before finally dissolving in 1995. Poss and Stenger did continue to work together sporadically and even collaborated with Wire’s Bruce Gilbert on the Gilbertpossstenger project in 2000. Long before the Band of Susans split, however, the likes of My Bloody Valentine had picked up the loud droney guitar batten, albeit with considerably less energy. Soon came the copyists, however, and the shoe-gazing scene was born. It is an unfortunate aspect of the Band of Susans’ legacy that they are frequently linked to this unloved movement. The Band of Susans were louder, more insistent and far more interesting than any of the Slowdives of this world.

When asked in 1993, what he thought about the Band of Susans’ lack of monetary success and widespread public acceptance, especially given the relative popularity of both their progeny, such as Helmet, and some of the shoe-gazers who took their lead from the band, Robert Poss replied: “People confer marketing success with musical success. That’s why everyone formed independents. Bands were successful but the music was full of crap. We feel successful because we’ve explored different areas, we’ve done records we’re proud of and we’ve toured with artists we respect”.

The Band of Susans: genuine sonic explorers or just underground realists? On the basis of ‘Love Agenda’, it was certainly the former.

Filed under: Great Lost Albums, Music by Flexmaster Nylon
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