Who here likes (or even knows) Mission of Burma?

[BurtWorm]

I saw their movie on Netflix last night. I think it's called This is Not a Photograph, and it's about their reunion in 2002, almost 20 years to the day after their last show, when they dissolved because of Roger Miller's tinnitis.

I dug MoB in the day, as they say, saw them many times in Portland, ME, and Boston, partied with them a bit with a band from Portland called the Stains, whose demo Roger Miller produced and he and the other Burmas played on. I remember them as being amazingly grounded people, very generous toward fledgling bands, really bright, very personable. Just the perfect band from Boston. But I wasn't sure this movie would be very interesting. After all, MoB's catalog is tiny. They didn't last long. They were 'uge in Boston and New England, but though I knew they had a rep everywhere, especially after their records came out, I didn't know if they could hold the attention for a whole feature-length documentary. Well, they do.

Here’s the premise: guys my age (40s), leading lives more or less similar to mine, get the idea to revive the beloved band they had 20 years ago. Can they do it without making it look and feel like an oldies act? One of them (bassist Clint Conley) hasn’t even touched his instrument in almost 20 years. His wife never saw him perform, never even knew about the band before she met him. He moves in a circle (at a local TV station in Boston (WCVB)) that wasn’t in his circle in the 1980s. Miller has been making music but in small, obscure avant-garde little groups that get little or no attention. Peter Prescott, the drummer, manages (maybe owns?) a record store in Boston, but he’s lonely and unhappy (he confesses in the film). Martin Swope, the loop guy, isn’t interested and makes no appearance in the film (he's replaced by Robert Weston).

The upshot is, they pull it off. Their music hasn’t aged a second, and they add more songs in a similar vein. It’s an unusual rock movie. Unusually quiet for such a loud band. Quiet and thoughtful. Very much worth seeing if you know who they are, or even if you don't but lived through that era and experienced one of the music scenes it spawned.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

1. I do

I've actually seen them a couple of times on these reunion shows they're doing. They're incredibly tight live; I almost can't believe that the bass player didn't play for 20 years.

Might have to check this film out...thanks for the recommendation!

[BurtWorm]

3. You didn't see them back in the 1980s?

They sound really tight in the movie. I wasn't interested in seeing them again because I've seen reunited bands and they usually really, really suck. I hate the idea of original punk turning into oldies. As you know, these guys transcend that entirely. They're lucky to have good hair, as someone in the film says, and to have maintained excellent BMI for older dudes. But it's a real tribute to their musicianship and the music itself that they can pick up where they left off.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

6. If I'd seen them in the 80s...

I would've definitely had the most cred in my kindergarten class!

I was roughly 5 or 6 when they originally broke up, so...yeah...

I agree with you on the reunion shows, though. I've seen a couple, and, frankly, I wasn't that thrilled. I mean, it was cool seeing The Pixies, but they didn't really seem that into it. The only ones that I've felt have been worth it were Mission of Burma and Dinosaur Jr. The guys in Dino, Jr. still play one hell of a set!

On edit: I saw The Feelies last summer and they were also pretty great. Gotta give props where props is due!

[BurtWorm]

8. Glenn Mercer, I think, has been acting like the Feelies were still a band

even without the band. They were great. I saw that same show.

[enigmatic]

2. Roger Miller is a genius

Mission Of Burma was one of the great bands from the Golden Age of "College Rock", and "Acadamy Fight Song" will always be played on my show often.

I saw them twice in Cleveland back in the day and they were incredible.

[BurtWorm]

4. Aye, that he is.

There's a funny scene (probably uinintentional) in the movie when they have all these shoe-gazing guitar players, like Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth--even Moby--come on stage to jam on All World Cowboy Romance, and Roger Miller's the only one who's actually moving more than his right hand.

[enigmatic]

5. LOL

I have to see this film now...

[DS1]

7. It was better when it was called John Rambo

:D