Compilation Nation: Today Brooklyn: Tomorrow The World
Or, Thrashing Through Park Slope
Stats
Year: 1988
Country: U.S.
Genre: Rock
Purchase
When it comes to my local scene I’ve always been somewhat out of the loop. The trendy parts of Brooklyn are relatively disparate when it comes to a concrete music community, where small pockets of individual taste and clout rule. That’s New York for ya, everyone thinks they’re doing something special. And while such a crowd loves to wax poetic on the once-was of downtown in the 70s, in efforts to recreate that indefinable magic, there’s always been more to art in this city beyond that. Today Brooklyn: Tomorrow The World chronicles the late 80s in Park Slope Brooklyn, an area even I’m unfamiliar with.
Here’s what I know about Park Slope today:
It’s by the park
It’s populated by young families with organic market bags and baby buggies
It’s lined with stunning brownstones that my generation will never be able to afford
Like everything in this good city, things weren’t always so quaint. The center of “the Brooklyn Beat” was Lauterbach’s: a grimy greasy dive where “real bands play real music.” Current Slopers would probably turn their nose up at the place on their way towards a glass of natural wine. The bands that played Lauterbach’s would in modern times fall victim to noise ordinances, as the New York Times once wrote of their sound as:
Old-fashioned, unpretentious, noisy rock-and-roll that blares like a New York subway.
Most of the acts were local, some made the trip from the bridge and tunnel parts of metropolitan area, but they were all connected by a common passion and locale. I can’t seem to find a single song from this comp on YouTube, but if my write up piques your interest you can always order a cheap copy for yourself! It can be your own special bit of local history with some pretty cool cover art.
Content
Today Brooklyn: Tomorrow The World sits outside of the sound you’d most associate with the city. The late 80s was notable in its the rise of college rock bands, with straightforward pop rock sensibilities from midwest and south, and this group of bands clearly draws their inspiration from that crowd. Squirrels From Hell helm a strong Replacements sound on “Cinderella Girl’s” quick and poppy alt rock, which can also be heard on Woodpecker’s “25 Years” with a jiggly vocal performance to the mix. You can also hear some R.E.M-eque whine on The Fields’ “Beautiful” and its crooning folkiness.
Of the more typical bar rock variety, Frank's Museum bring in a shock of heavy with “Baby's Got a Thang for Nasty Weather.” The strutting pop rock of Chemical Wedding exhibits on “We Are Not Afraid” with a sing along style chorus, and Medicine Sunday’s “Conviction” is speedy but slight.
The Original Rays’ cover the fascinating and unlikely radio hit “Ballad of the Green Berets.” as the compilation’s most politically complicated selection. One of the few successful pro-military songs during the Vietnam War, the song is warped faster and faster by the band to total breakdown and destruction of its message. They “dedicate” their cover to the song’s original writer Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, who after murdering a fellow songwriter “moved” to Guatemala where he was later shot in an armed “robbery” in 1988, leaving him a quadriplegic until his death the next year. It’s kind of a crazy story. Clearly, the event captured the attention of the band and their creative lens, resulting in a truly wild piece of cover.
Most unusual in this mix is the strong country representation, perhaps a result of midwestern and southern transplants to the New York scene, or just a tendency in the group towards the twangy. When People Were Shorter and Lived by the Water (great name) give us “Shortnin' Bread.” Their live theatrical hoedown runs at warp speed, breathlessly screaming and thrashing through the drums. They’re the wildest band of the bunch by far, and their bold humor persists through their nonsensical inclusion on the album insert that cites B&H Dairy as their place of origin. Formaldehyde Blues Train sing a sort of gunslinger’s anthem with “St. Louis”, a grimy piece of boot-stuck dirt, while The Moe jangle on with a country folk sing-along about “drankin’ whisky” with “honky tonk angels.” We may be in Brooklyn, but we’re much further from New York than I thought.
Further Listening
The Brooklyn Beat bands had been known to play at CBGB’s in its post-post-punk era, and in 1991 they released a CD of live performances recorded there that year. The Brooklyn Beat Live At Cbgb's (Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture) might have had a filmed component as the title suggests, but no footage was ever released. Instead, these 15 tracks commemorate the inter-borough occasion, featuring many of the same from Today, Brooklyn as well as many new equally obscure acts. Whatever this compilation may sound like may just have to be a mystery, as even if I did manage to find I copy, I don’t have a CD player!
Score
Variety: 3/5
Quality: 2/5
Cohesion: 2/5
Creativity: 4/5
Final Score: 11/20