Blacklands

Let's face facts. The overwhelming majority of obscure bands deserve to remain obscure. There is the occasional pleasant surprise to be had and some that after some re-assessment could move from being C-listers to B-listers. However, those who reside on Olympus reside there for a reason, so looking for some overlooked gem is often a fool's errand. After giving Music For Pleasure's "Blacklands" a couple of listens, I came to the conclusion that this was a band that with a few tweaks and a little luck could have been a solid B-List post punk band. The musicianship and the song writing are pretty solid and their sound tends to hover in that darkened, gothy, drama zone bands like The Mission or The Sisters Of Mercy liked to skulk in. Unfortunately, MFP's vocalist Mark Copson croons and growls unconvincingly through most of it, dragging a lot of the material down to an all-too-familiar level of mediocrity. However, when he pushes more toward the theatrical rather than the dramatic like on "Grey Parade", things get a little more interesting and engaging, sounding a lot like a sootier version of "New Gold Dream"-era Simple Minds. Sadly, those moments are few and far between, leaving you with what this album ultimately is a forgotten C-List curio to investigate if you're digging deeper into this vein of post punk. Meh Plus

Jbolavirus

Ripped from the original vinyl album, by someone else, for a blog somewhere on the interweb that I can’t remember, to MP3 @ 320kbps. To make up for this over sight, I’m including rips of  Music For Pleasure’s last 7” and 12”EP on Whirlpool Records to MP3 @ 320kbps to round out almost all of their entire recorded body of work.

Music For Pleasure; Disconnection 7”

A.     Disconnection

B.     Whiplash Caress

Music For Pleasure; Blacklands

A1.  Remember The Sun

A2.  Disconnection (Part 1)

A3.  Look Around You

A4.  Blue

B1.  Grey Parade

B2.  Drive

B3.  Whiplash Caress

B4.  Disconnection (Part 2)

Music For Pleasure; Chrome Hit Corrosion 12”

A1.  Grey Parade (Version 2)

A2.  The Rise

B1.  Walking

B2.  Pleasure Ride

Music For Pleasure’s debut album and singles have been re-upped here