Review:'Bates Motel' 'Bates Motel Live In LA 1980'
- Label: 'Think Like A Key Music'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
- Release Date: '24.9.26.'- Catalogue No: 'TLAK 1245'
Our Rating:
Bates Motel are one of the Lost bands of the LA Sunset Strip scene of the late 70's and early 80's, whose opening acts scored major deals while they were left on the shelf until become the backing band for Sparks, they apparently played loads of gigs all over LA and California with a big following but never put out any records while they were together. Bates Motel were Les Bohem, Dave Draves, Bob Beland, Bob Haag, Alan Slater and David Kendrick. I’m not certain who is on these recordings.
The album opens with a short introduction before Bates Motel fly into My Time a frantic slice of New Wave psycho pop, hoping to change the world around them for the better, know it is My Time to have it all.
Pretty Boys is for all the strutting and preening they are doing, the way the girls they are chatting up only want all those Pretty Boys, that will spend most of the next decade ruling the sunset strip, so this really should have more of a glam metal edge, then it could have been a huge hit.
Unexpected Overnighters is something almost every young man in LA at the time, was hoping would happen to them after the gig, there is nothing quite like having to go to work straight from an Unexpected Overnighter doing the walk of shame, showing up in last night's clothes, this is in celebration of what might happen.
New Suit is something every fashion-conscious kid always wanted, they are no different, making it in an Elvis Costello style way, while they describe the new boots and panties they want your baby to be seen wearing. Real Time is what they want to live their lives in, with harmony vocals and that new wave edge that has a good almost stop start rhythm.
Dedication is frantic Jam style new wave in search of a new love in the modern world they are inhabiting, hoping to share an explosion or two with you. The guitars battle it out sounding like they are having a ball and taking everyone in the room with them.
Live Among The Dancers rather than the fighters is a noble ambition, I wish more young Americans shared that vision with Bates Motel, spend your time hanging out with the party people and the graceful and convince them you are the American Nick Lowe, in love with tasty guitar solos and plies.
The Way Marlena Moves is full on, in lust with what she does to them, when they see her walking on by, I can almost imagine this with a sort of grease style video of the boys finger snapping as they follow her up Sunset Strip, the object of their New wave infatuations. A New Way Of Talking is some good new wave poppy action, in the vein of Elvis Costello but with an American twist or three, utilizing loud quiet dynamics and a guitarist ready to have a rave up.
I'll dedicate Only The Young Die Young to my childhood friend Adam Brent you died less than two years after this recording far too young, this just gets to me in remembering losing a friend far too young, in a tragic accident, that I still wonder if I could have prevented, if my mum had let me go swimming with him that day. They are not dewy eyed and are celebrating being able to bash out powerful songs like this one.
I Wake Up Screaming could of, should of been the bands Halloween hit, with a great sing along chorus and a good power pop edge, for all the things that make them Wake Up Screaming, making sure to take there chance when they appear.
Nowhere Else To Go But Tomorrow is making clear they are always looking forward to new adventures and wherever life will take them they aren't looking backwards. A Boy And A Girl slows things down to a more romantic pace, it chugs in places while they make clear the sort of good time they are hoping to have together.
I Want More is an almost too perfect set closer prepping the audience to sing it over and over at the end of the song, before that they repeat the title over and over with different things they want and need more of.
They encore with a great speedy version of Stop! In The Name Of Love that they are clearly having fun with, like they are rushing to play it at almost twice the speed David Johansen did, let alone The Supremes original, you can even hear a few audience screams on this during the short breakdown, before the total rave up blast through the second half of this classic cover.
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