Vs. (Mission of Burma album)

Vs.
Studio album by Mission of Burma
Released 1982
Recorded January–April 1982 at Normandy Sound, Rhode Island, United States
Genre
Length 41:30
Label Ace of Hearts
Producer Richard W. Harte
Mission of Burma chronology
Signals, Calls, and Marches
(1981)		 Vs.
(1982)		 ONoffON
(2004)

Vs. is the debut studio album by American post-punk band Mission of Burma. It was released in 1982 by record label Ace of Hearts.

Content

Vs. features a rougher, more difficult sound than the band's debut release, the 1981 EP Signals, Calls, and Marches.

Release

Vs. was released in 1982 by record label Ace of Hearts. It is the only full studio album the band released during the 1980s, as soon afterward they disbanded due to Roger Miller's worsening tinnitus.

Track listing

All tracks written by Roger Miller, except as noted.

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Secrets"   3:22
2."Train"  Clint Conley3:31
3."Trem Two"   4:10
4."New Nails"   3:00
5."Dead Pool"  Conley4:05
6."Learn How"  Peter Prescott3:56
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Mica"  Conley, Holly Anderson3:34
2."Weatherbox"   3:29
3."The Ballad of Johnny Burma"   2:00
4."Einstein's Day"   4:34
5."Fun World"   3:40
6."That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate"  Conley2:04
Note: The Matador Definitive Edition CD has the same bonus tracks, but they are in a different order: "Laugh the World Away", "Forget", Progress", "OK/No Way".

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Austin Chronicle[2]
Pitchfork Media9.5/10[3]
PopMatters9/10[4]
Q[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[7]
The Village VoiceB+[8]

Vs. has been well received by critics.

In his retrospective review, Mark Deming of AllMusic opined that Vs. saw Mission of Burma "[mature] into a band whose sound was as distinctive as anyone of its generation. [...] It's daunting to imagine just how far Mission of Burma could have taken its music had Roger Miller's hearing problems not caused the band to break up the following year, but regardless of lost potential, very few American bands from the 1980s released an album as ambitious or as powerful as Vs."[1]

Legacy

The album ranked at number 49 on Pitchfork's "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s" list.[9] In 2016, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album number 25 on their list of the 40 Greatest Punk Albums.

Personnel

Mission of Burma
Technical

References

  1. 1 2 3 Deming, Mark. "Vs. – Mission of Burma". AllMusic. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  2. ↑ Schroeder, Audra (May 2, 2008). "Signals, Calls, and Marches, Vs., The Horrible Truth About Burma". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ Masters, Marc (March 24, 2008). "Mission of Burma: Signals, Calls, and Marches / Vs. / The Horrible Truth About Burma". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  4. ↑ Gatian, Natasha (July 30, 2015). "Mission of Burma: Signals, Calls, and Marches / Vs.". PopMatters. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Mission of Burma: Vs.". Q (190): 132. May 2002.
  6. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 546–47. ISBN 0-743-20169-8.
  7. ↑ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  8. ↑ Christgau, Robert (March 29, 1983). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  9. ↑ Dahlen, Chris (November 20, 2002). "Staff Lists: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s | Features | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
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