Anyone who has been following this blog or who followed me over from Scenstars knows that I’ma big proponent of the band Polyrock. Consistently hailing them as one of the great lost bands of the post-punk/new wave era, this writer has always felt very strongly that their two albums produced by, and featuring, Philip Glass and Kurt Munkacsi provided a clear foundation and paved the way for a number of name artists today. They were dangerous, seductively fascinating, and completely inventive in their ways. The big crime that was committed with Polyrock was in how their records never made it into the CD era. The CD era, in fact, completely passed them by without ever seeing issuance of either of their excellent RCA releases.
Some 25 years after disbanding, thanks to Wounded Bird Records, both of the Polyrock original albums have been made available on CD, meaning these two benchmarks have finally seen the light of day. As I expected, the digital age did wonders for their sound; there is a fresh sense of immediacy to the recordings which only came through digital mastering. The new mastering donates a charitable sharpness and clarity to the original recordings revealing a warmth and depth previously missing in vinyl pressings. Normally, I’m a huge fan of vinyl and I will pick it over CD’s nine times out of ten. This is clearly a case where the new mastering brushed away cobwebs, uncovering the promise of their studio experimentation. It is truly like hearing these records for the first time.
Here’s a couple of examples from each of the Polyrock records that I think speak for themselves. Check out these songs, then go grab the CD’s.
from Polyrock – Polyrock (1980)
Polyrock -Go West
Polyrock – Romantic Me
from Polyrock – Changing Hearts (1981)
Polyrock – Like Papers On A Rack
Polyrock – The New U.S.
You can order Polyrock’s self-titled album from CD Universe by clicking here.
You can order Changing Hearts from CD Universe by clicking here.
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