SSR Picks: Dominic - March 10 2022

What’s going on everyone? I write to you today as Jeff and I listen to the theme from Rocky and Beetlejuice playing. Some 45s that were brought in yesterday. The Rocky soundtrack with music by Bill Conti is a goodie and not to be slept on. Anyway, I didn’t really have any kind of write up on a favorite album to share this week, but did want to quickly tell you about an interesting 45 that I have been playing.

The record is credited to Made For TV, the song is called So Afraid Of The Russians, and it was released on Conflict Records in 1983. Recorded in New York City and produced by John Cale who also is credited on guitar, synth percussion and transatlantic telephone. Cool.

As someone who grew up in the shadow of the cold war where drills were held in schools to prepare for nuclear attacks and the government was telling us how to protect and survive, I had a weird fascination with Russia. The 80s were the Reagan Gorbachev summits and Frankie Goes To Hollywood singing Two Tribes, CND protestors, the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, Russian spies and poisoned umbrella spikes. James Bond and Rocky all took on the might of Mother Russia. I later visited the country several times in the 1990s.

If you have watched the show The Americans, you’ll know what I mean. They did a great job of recreating that time in history for those too young to have lived through it themselves.

So, on this track, So Afraid Of The Russians, the general theme is the Russians are spying on us and all the paranoia that causes. It’s a good post-punk type of production with added intercepted Russian radio messages for good measure. On the B-side, we are treated to a cover of Unknown Soldier by The Doors. All housed in a sleeve with a painting of the Kremlin or similar Russian architecture on one side and a guy wearing a gas mask on the rear. It’s all good stuff and of course still just as topical. The John Cale connection is cool and yesterday was his 80th birthday. His body of work is full of great recordings, and this is an interesting part of it. Check it out and see what you think.

Cheers- Dom


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