The Scene Is Now

The end of the The Scene Is Now reissue line: going backwards from 1988s Tonight We Ride to 86s Total Jive and right on through to their extremely rare 1985 debut, Burn All YourRecords. Recorded in 1984, BAYR was laid to tape when the band was still musically pretty raw and yet to blossom into the melodic powerhouse they became over their subsequent two LPs. For many, this is also its greatest assett. A parallel Ive often used in the past is the musical evolution of the not-too-dissimilar Meat Puppets throughout their first three discs: from an almost amelodic chaos through to a streamlined pop band in three shakes. On BAYR, The Scene Is Now were tearing out a ramshackle brand of Dada-infused post-No Wave folk-rock which was part DNA, part Fall, part Fugs and equal doses of Pere Ubu and the Red Krayola. Theres been nothin likeem before or since. BAYR is twenty tracks of primo slop-pop in just under 40 minutes. Its the sound of four NYC gentlemen kicking against the pricks in Reagan-era America. Its some of the best hardly-discovered underground rock n roll being made in the 1980s. Its finally available again, remastered from the original tapes and featuring a full-colour 16-page booklet with liner notes by Wire/Uncut scribe Jon Dale and Dave Lang and awealth of exclusive photos from the period. And, yes, it does feature "Yellow Sarong", as later covered by Yo La Tengo.