Description
Boys and Girls – Renounce the World! is the third album by the American alternative rock band Undercover, released on A&S Records in 1984, a sub-label of Maranatha! Music distributed by Word. (Also released by A&S Records in Europe the following year, distributed by Word. The European edition actually as well features the Broken logo on the back of the album sleeve.) The album was recorded by Ron Leeper, Gord Driver, Dan Willard, and band member Joey Taylor at Sound Affair Studios in Costa Mesa and Whitefield Studios in Santa Ana, California; with Taylor producing assisted by Willard. Mixed by Taylor and Derri Daugherty of The Choir fame. Arranged by the band.
Featuring lead vocals and sax by Bill Walden, Gym (Jim Nicholson) on guitar, O-Joe (Joey Taylor) on keyboards, with Gary Olson behind the drums. (Former Martus vocalist Sim Wilson joined Undercover immediately after Boys and Girls – Renounce The World! was recorded to replace Bill Walden who had just departed to form The Fourth Watch. The remaining members of Martus renamed their band Adam Again.)
The album track “One Of These Days” was as well featured on the multi-artist compilation What’s Shakin’ released on M-RC Records in 1984, another Maranatha! Music imprint. Another album-track, “Talk to God”, was included on the multi-artist 7-inch vinyl EP Broken Samples, released on Broken Records in 1985.
Trying to keep up with modern music trends can be a good thing. Knocking out half-hearted, musically and vocally anemic songs is not. Hence, there’s a problem with several of the tunes on Undercover’s third album. Fortunately, though, there’s some quality material here as well. Let’s get the bad news out of the way so that the positive can be played up.
When will Christian bands learn there’s more to playing punk than simply hyping up the tempo? Punk is a slap-in-the-face musical style, perfect for conveying thoughts about Jesus. The world needs to be jarred awake. But when you churn out songs at thrashing punk speed without the slamming passion and fervor of the punk mentality, then you’re left with just a hollow, silly-sounding, ineffective form of expression. This album’s production frequently seems to hamper the song’s energy rather than feed it.
«Talk to God», for instance, could be an all-out basher. Instead, the staccato words are backed by tame drumming and guitars that sound more like buzzing bees than roaring engines. In other words, it’s pseudo-punk.
There are some problems with vocals, too. The band pulls a neat trick with «Holy Holy Holy», putting a punk top spin on a traditional hymn and giving it a supercharged delivery. But Jim Wilson zips through those sweet, majestic words as though he’s reading the back of a cereal box. Where’s the sincerity, much less the excitement and joy one presumes Wilson feels about knowing God? It ain’t in these vocals, that’s for sure.
The same problem is even more apparent in «Three Nails». When you try to pack the whole salvation plan into a single simplistic line (“Three nails, three days, one way to God”), you’d better sing those eight words like your listener’s life depends on it – because it well might. Unfortunately, Wilson sounds downright bored here.
Now, the long-awaited good news. The group must had its Wheaties before it laid down the tracks for side two. Everything (with the exception of the out-of-place march, «The Anthem») gels, activates, and blasts off here. Maybe it’s because the songs are pure, upbeat pop – something Undercover seems more comfortable with. At any rate, these are simple yet stirring tunes. The vocals have suddenly become full of conviction, and the guys are playing like they mean it, too.
«He Lets Me Know» is an especially pretty, poignant song telling how God wants to “…wrap His loving arms all around you.” Other first-rate songs packed with feeling are «Is Anyone Thirsty?» and «I’d Rather Stay».
Undercover would seem to be a band that’s still shaping and defining its music. Ten to one, its next album will be far more consistent than this spotty, but still worthy, effort. [Lori E. Pike, CCM, July 1984]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Boys And Girls” – 3:37
A2. “Talk To God” – 2:49
A3. “Holy, Holy, Holy” – 1:45
A4. “One Of These Days” – 2:23
A5. “Three Nails” – 3:23
Side Two
B1. “The Anthem” – 2:24
B2. “He Lets Me Know” – 2:00
B3. “Glorified” (Instrumental) – 2:38
B4. “Is Anyone Thirsty?” – 3:05
B5. “I’d Rather Stay” – 3:05
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by A&S Records. Re-issued on CD by Broken Records in 1989 as a part of the compilation album Undercover Vol. II (which also features Branded, the band’s fourth album). The band also released the non-album track “Slaughter Of The Innocents” as a 7-inch vinyl single on MRC Records in 1984, with the album track “Boys And Girls” as the B-side. (The vinyl single was advertized with the LP when it came out.) The single-only track “Slaughter Of The Innocents” is actually also included on the double disc compilation album Anthology Volume 1 released on Innocent Media in 1996, which features the band’s first four full-length albums. (The song is listed as Track 2-0 on Disc 2, a pre-gap track. Per the booklet, “To hear Slaughter of the Innocents, manually “rewind” the CD once Boys & Girls starts. There is no song ID for it because some may not want to hear it every time they listen to the record.”)
A full-page advertisement for the new Maranatha! Music associated imprint Broken Records – a progressive label featuring artists like Undercover, Youth Choir, Crumbächer, and Altar Boys – was featured in the March 1985 issue of CCM Magazine.
“Talk to God,” Live at the Exit Festival, 1984
CREDITS. Produced by Joey Taylor. Production Assistance: Dan Willard. Recorded at Sound Affair Studios and Whitefield Studios. Engineered by Joey Taylor, Dan Willard, Ron Leeper, and Gord Driver. Mixed by Joey Taylor and Derri Daugherty. Mastered by Bernie Grundman at A&M Records. Album Designed by Undercover and Al X. Artwork by Debby Edwards. Art Uncoordination by Al X. Photography by Linda Dillon Baley and Ken Baley.
Musicians: Bill Walden (Lead Vocals, Saxophone), Turner Burn – a.k.a. Joey Taylor (Keyboards), Dave Hackbarth (Trumpet), Neel Down – a.k.a. Gym Nicholson (Guitar), Gary Olson (Drums). Backing Vocals by Undercover.
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