Mission Of Burma "The Obliterati" (Matador)
By Dave Schutz
Monday. May 22, 1:20 AM
Exceeds more expectations than the Mars Rovers.

Mission Of Burma have now been reformed longer than they were together in the first place and have released a comparable amount of material, but the default impulse is to judge them based on their original incarnation. The Obliterati takes great steps toward putting that frame of thinking to bed for good. While 2004’s ONoffON, for all of its vitality, showed evidence of a band getting back on its feet, The Obliterati exhibits a singular identity to an even greater degree than Burma had accomplished by 1982’s Vs.

This shouldn’t seem like a strange development: the third LP is where bands often hit their stride, but Burma’s 17-year sabbatical served to set in stone their identity as three near-schizophrenic pursuers of new ideas, pushing and pulling each other around like bloodhounds chained together at the legs. And even though instances of synthesis were achieved on songs like “Fame and Fortune” and “Secrets,” these were largely missing on ONoffON. Granted, it was a thrilling album merely for its existence, but bassist Clint Conley’s songs, save for the ones he culled from the old days, sound more like Consonant, guitarist Roger Miller’s bear the mark of No Man, and drummer Peter Prescott’s work more on the formula of his Kustomized stuff than the brilliantly unconventional “Learn How,” for instance.

All of that awkwardness is gone on The Obliterati. Each member’s identity is still present on his respective songs, but less so than ever before. On Miller’s “Spider’s Web” and “Donna Sumeria,” Conley’s infectious bass lines take turns in the driver’s seat, but his own “2wice,” which resurrects his knack for writing jaw-dropping anthems, is more guitar driven. Prescott’s tunes were always skeletal enough to allow plenty of outside contribution, and “Let Yourself Go” is no exception. The real payoff comes on a near-perfect three-song stretch in the middle of the record. Producer and tape-looper Bob Weston shifts gears on “Good, Not Great,” cranking the sound quality knob back to the “boombox practice tape” setting, shifting this Joy Division-ish one-parter from potential transition into one of the most adventurous tunes on the record. “13” fits the reflective, orchestral profile of ONoffON’s “Prepared,” but instead of serving as a mid-point respite, it builds gorgeously on an upward curve before melding directly into “Man in Decline,” the high point of the album and arguably the best song Conley has penned since “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver.” Seemingly a stab at improving on his song “Progress,” he melds similarly verbose verses with a fist-pumping “hey hey hey hey” chorus, leading into a brilliant ending vocal collaboration with Prescott: a vital aspect that’s been mostly absent since the rounds on “Fame and Fortune” and “Progress.”

The rest of the album occasionally slips back into individual tendencies (“Is This Where,” “Period”) but generally maintains its momentum. Bob Weston’s production, meatier and less muddy than ONoffON, complements the thumping riffiness that pervades, especially on “Spider’s Web” and “Birthday.” For the first time in Burma, Miller seems to be letting out the part of him that grew up on Cream, The Stooges and, I’d suspect, early Grand Funk Railroad. Meanwhile, “The Mute Speaks Out” recalls the lush instrumental “All World Cowboy Romance” and Conley, perhaps taking a cue from Prescott, injects “Nancy Reagan’s Head” with an uncharacteristic dose of humor. I don’t think Prescott could even come up with a line as priceless as “I’m haunted by the freakish size of Nancy Reagan’s head. No way that thing came with that body.”

I’m hesitant to say that I’d rather listen to The Obliterati than ONoffON, because the latter is a fine album. But this offering is definitely a more important landmark on the band’s path. For all the talk of Burma stepping right back into form upon reuniting, they prove it here to a degree that no one expected. Many said Burma were at the top of their game when they quit in 1983. It’s clear now that they weren’t even close to the top then and are still rising today.
www.missionofburma.com
www.matadorrecords.com

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Dave Schutz

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