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"Redux"

1991 Rave On Records TGP-1005

This CD is a compilation of material from Reducers singles, EPs, and LPs, plus one track that only appeared on a Various Artists compilation LP and four previously unreleased tracks.

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Track Listing

#
TITLE
TIME
VOCAL
COMMENTS
1 Out Of Step 2:18 Peter From "Out of Step" b/w "No Ambition" 45rpm
2 No Ambition 1:57 Hugh From "Out of Step" b/w "No Ambition" 45rpm
3 Blowing The Whistle On Your Friends 2:09 Hugh From "Towers of New London - Vol. I" various artists compilation LP
4 Scared Of Cops 2:32 Peter From "The Reducers" LP
5 Black Plastic Shoes 1:36 Hugh From "The Reducers" LP
6 Life In The Neighborhood 2:46 Steve From "The Reducers" LP
7 Invisible Rain 1:47 Hugh Previously Unreleased
8 Better Homes And Gardens 2:37 Peter From "The Reducers" LP
9 Small Talk 3:17 Peter From "The Reducers" LP
10 All About You 2:54 Peter From "The Reducers" LP
11 Company Man 2:12 Hugh From "The Reducers" LP
12 So Civilized 2:43 Steve From "The Reducers" LP
13 Let's Go 2:36 Peter From "Let's Go" LP
14 Bums I Used To Know 2:45 Hugh From "Let's Go" LP
15 Fashion Of The Times 3:28 Peter From "Let's Go" LP
16 Your Mother 2:37 Hugh From "Let's Go" LP
17 Closing Time 2:55 Peter From "Let's Go" LP
18 That'll Be Just Fine 2:17 Peter From "Let's Go" LP
19 Rocks 1:52 Hugh From "Let's Go" LP
20 Stand Over There 1:29 Hugh Previously Unreleased
21 Fistfight At The Beach 2:55 Hugh From "Cruise To Nowhere" LP
22 Little Punky Hood 1:35 Hugh From "Cruise To Nowhere" LP
23 Spaghetti Western #6 3:20 Instrumental From "Cruise To Nowhere" LP
24 Sound Of Breaking Down 2:31 Peter From "Cruise To Nowhere" LP
25 Boys Will Be Boys 2:37 Steve From "Cruise To Nowhere" LP
26 Didn't We Have A Time 2:34 Roger From "Wake The Neighbors" EP w/Roger C. Reale
27 Tiger 2:34 Hugh Previously Unreleased
28 I Call That Living 3:14 Steve Previously Unreleased
29 Nothing For Christmas 3:15 Peter From the "Nothing for Christmas" b/w "Auld Lange Syne" 45rpm
 
  
  
  
  
- Total Time 73:53 - -
 
  
  
  
  
 

All songs written by Birdsall/Detmold/Kaika/Trombley (Reducer Music-BMI) except:
  "Little Punky Hood" written by Wentworth/Birdsall/Detmold/Kaika/Trombley
  "Didn't We Have A Time" written by Reale/Birdsall/Detmold/Kaika/Trombley
  "Tiger" written by Ollie Jones (Rambed-Roosevelt Music-BMI)

Tracks 1-25 Produced & Engineered by Ron Bacchiocchi and Earl Cohen
Track 1-12 Remixed by Richard Brukner, James MacMillan and Jon Rosenberg
Track 26 Produced & Engineered by Jon Tiven and Jon Russell
Tracks 27 & 28 Produced & Engineered by Richard Brukner and Jeff Canatta
Track 29 Produced & Engineered by Richard Brukner and Rick Leopoldi
Remix by R.B. and Al Houghton
Mastered by Rick Essig

Photography by: Roger Christiansen and Martha Conn
Design by: Sharon Butler

CD Liner Notes

Last summer, on a night whose swelter barred any chance of sleep, a pal and I took off for a drive through the woods to catch a breeze. With us was a tape marked "The Tempest," the plan being that Tchaikovsky's huge drama would give us something to focus on while we cooled off. And it did, for about two minutes. Then, out of nowhere, came the four keening bar chords that signal the start of "Let's Go." Someone had taped the second Reducers record over the classical stuff. There, at top volume, were the New London rockers, riding on the psychological bullet train, tickling themselves with a wish list of global destinations, fully realizing that not one was within their meager budget. They weren't prowling or investigating, they were careening - scratching an itch, treating boredom as a nemesis. We began honking the horn at nothing, swerving through both lanes, playing dash board drums to help the guys climb the Pyrenees. There would be no cooling off for us that night my friend, but the heat no longer seemed oppressive.

"Let's Go" is no isolated incident. In varying degrees the same kind of urgency sparks almost every song that the Reducers have recorded during their 10-plus years together. Vehemence has long been their hallmark, and it's surely the common denominator of the 29 tracks that make up this compilation. Of course back at the end of the '70s, when the band first got together, such vigor was a must. Punk rock was determined to slay everything grandiose in pop music, and like many of their contemporaries, the Reducers were adept at lancing vexations with one or two quick slices at an electric guitar. Hankering to find a system of values worth respecting, the band became proficient at articulating their frustration ("Out Of Step"). By both poking both fun at the conventional ("Life In The Neighborhood") and directing their fury at those who didn't agree with them ("Small Talk") they honed a point of view. Inspired by the comaraderie heard in music of the British pub rockers (who never discounted the worth of rockabilly), they came up with an unadorned style that was bursting with a truly American sense of determination. Playing local gigs, making their own records, gaining regional popularity, turning that success into a national recognition - with guitars, bass and drums the Reducers found a way to empower themselves. No ambition? Don't make me laugh.

So here it is a decade or so down the line, and the fierce demeanor of their rock 'n roll has withered very litle. In fact, in some cases, there's no dissipation at all. That's not only reassuring, but inspirational. You listen to these songs and you don't think "hey, pretty good for the time," you think "Yikes!" While many punk bands stressed attitude over chops, the Reducers found use for both. Though certainly not virtuosos, the foursome are highly competent players, whose forte - yes even more valuable than the distinctly memorable hooks that these songs are built on - remains the way they lock together to get their point across. There are fascinating individual moments of course. Check the way Steve's bass flies over "Blowing The Whistle On Your Friends," or the acute downstrokes by Hugh on "Little Punky Hood." Hear Peter's last-gasp plea ("tell me the sun will shine again!") on "Closing Time," and stand back, stand way the hell back when Tom starts to roll on "Black Plastic Shoes." In "Rocks" they churlishly claim that New London "hardly ever does," but on nights when the Reducers are at the El 'N Gee Club that just ain't true. Years ago I overheard a fan there explain to his pal that the band was a cross between Wire and the Supersnazz-era 'Groovies. I guess he meant the Reducers are minimalists who still give you something lush to listen to. Or maybe he meant that their craft seldom gets in the way of their impetuousness. Either way, comparisons are short term fun these days. As anyone who has seen the band lately will attest, their music is more concentrated and agitated than ever. Their "always let 'em see you sweat" philosophy has never been shelved.

That kind of candor is what you can hear ringing through this compilation. It reminds me of the Buzzcocks' Singles Going Steady, where a scad of bite-size nuggest are loaded into one package. Keep beer handy, set volume levels on stun. These super-charged tracks - a "honky imitation of the blues" according to one tune - will not only provide you with everything necessary to understand the Reducers' frustrations and achievements, but also offer enough incentive to smash your doldrums to bits, realizing that your town ain't so different than theirs, they focus on the ordinary, constructing a world view from inside the city limits of Nowheresville. Tension abounds. But when they're squeezed, they squeeze back. Like I said: fierce. And way fun too.

-Jim Macnie