Group 87 - s/t

Name: Group 87
Album: s/t
Year: 1980
Style: Classical Jazz, Prog Fusion, New Age
Similar Bands: Brand X, Spaces, Weather Report, Brian Eno
"One-Word" Review: Jazzy Classical-Prog Instrumentals
Based Out Of: San Fran, Cali
Label: Columbia

Cover, Record

Record, Back

Group 87 (1980)

1. Future of the City 5:01
2. Magnificent Clockworks 4:30
3. Frontiers: 1856 3:16
4. Sublime Feline 6:25 /
5. The Bedouin 3:21
6. While the City Sleeps 2:25
7. Moving Sidewalks 4:24
8. Hall of Glass 2:34
9. One Night Away From Day 5:55

Album Rating (1-10): 5.0

Members & Other Bands:

• Ed E. Thacker - Producer, Recording, Mixing
• Brian Leshon - Second Engineer
• Phil Jost - Second Engineer
• Greg Calbi - Mastering
• Terry Powell - Masteting
• Steve Hiett - Cover Photo
• Robert Steve Bauer - Back Photos
• Nancy Donald - Design
• Terry Bozzio - Drums (Frank Zappa, Missing Persons, Bozzio Levin Stevens, Lonely Bears, UK, Vai more)
• Peter Wolf - Piano (Frank Zappa, Starship, Fatty George Crew, Gipsy Love, Music and Fin Is All, Objective Truth Orch, The Mothers, Reform Art Unit, Vienna, Wolf & Wolf more)
• Mark Isham - Brass, Electronics, Keys (Sons of Champlin, Rubiza Patrol, Taj Mahal, Van Morrison, Boz Skaggs, Secret Police more)
• Peter Maunu - Guitar, Keys Violin (Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Airto, Arsenio Hall Band, Bernie Krause, LA Express Claus Ogerman Orch, Simon Stokes, OC Smith, Flower, Gary Brooker, Bobby McFerrin, Heller, Morak, Ludwig Hirsch, Ed Nottle, Grace Slick, Wire Train, Commodores, Sylvester, Starship, laura Branigan, Warren Zevon, Marianne Faithfull, Al Gromer Khan)
• Patrick O'Hearn - Bass (Frank Zappa, Missing Persons more)

Unknown-ness: Never heard of this band, but from the angular lines and basic colors on the cover & negative images on the back, it looks like it may be some sort of new wave or post punk, reminding me of Wire's artwork. Even with the ocean themes: beach towel on the front and beach/water on the back, it still has a cold feel, enhanced further by the robotic factory name like Group 87.

Album Review: The album is all instrumental Jazz...but multiple forms of it: sometimes ambient, sometimes classical, sometimes video game or tv theme sounding, but much of the time futurist-prog. The music contained feels like it is breaching the gap between old-style songs while incorporating "modern day" production techniques and smooth synths. Their song titles do relate to the moods and soundscapes that the music creates. This was the first album for the trio Isham, Maunu, O'Hearn, but they forged a path into instrumental new age after this band, who actually had one more release in '84. Isham having the most illustrious and prolific career of the three, with award winning music and stemming into tv & films

Stand Out Track: Magnificent Clockworks

Links:
Mark Isham Music
amazon
Prog Archive
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allmusic
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american archive