BOYS BRIGADE

BOYS BRIGADE was a Canadian New Wave band formed back in 1980 in Toronto from the ashes of punk band called ARSON. It started as a four piece band and later on became a six piece band which consisted of MALCOLM BURN (vocalist and keyboardist) , TONY LESTER (guitarist and vocalist) ,WAYNE LORENZ (bass guitar) , BILLIE BROCK (drummer/bu vocals) and DAVID PORTER and JEFF PACKER (percussionists/ bu vocals). I first heard of Boys Brigade when I purchased this CD compilation entitled "HARDEST HITS Volume 2" back in 1993. The band didn't really had the radio exposure here in the Philippines back in the 80s but the song "THE PASSION OF LOVE" was played by 103.5 K-LITE's Legendary New Wave Program "LITEWAVE" back in 2004 thus the awareness of the band among PINOY NEW WAVERS came into place. Well, they should not be mistaken from the interdenominational Christian youth organization called "The Boys Brigade" that was conceived by William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun activities with Christian values. It's the equivalent of "Boy Scouts". Being a Boy Scout myself I remember the old Pilipino saying of "Ang Boy Scout ay laging.....HANDA!!". In English "Boy Scouts are always ready".This band has the distinguish of performing on eclectic venues back then and their singles "THE PASSION OF LOVE" and "MELODY" made it to the Canadian charts. They toured as opening act for The Romantics, The Stray Cats, and Gang Of Four. I definitely like their brand of music!!


The band's 1983 self-titled album "BOYS BRIGADE" was their one and only album and definitely I didn't missed out buying the Vinyl Record of it. YUP!! That's my record on the photo. The album consists of 9 well crafted synth-base songs that's really very New Romantic I may say. This album was produced by RUSH's GEDDY LEE after their manager Howard Ungerleider (Rush's lighting designer back then) introduced the band to him. The album was engineered by NICK BLAGONA (Rolling Stones) wherein the recording sessions were stretched over six months just to accommodate Geddy's touring schedules. Nice album to listen to from start to finish and of course it contains my all time BOYS BRIGADE favourite and I guess their trademark song from the underground scene none other than "THE PASSION OF LOVE". The album included also the song "MELODY" which achieved the success in the Canadian Charts. Their song "MANNEQUIN" appeared on Q107's annual compilation album of Homegrown local bands back in 1981 and their song "INTO THE FLOW" on the other-hand was included on the soundtrack to the Canadian film Heavenly Bodies starring Cynthia Dale the following year. All songs mentioned are included in the album. Internal tensions led the band to break up before releasing another album. It's one great album that should be in your music collection.

BOYS BRIGADE (Self-titled)
TRACKLIST:

SIDE A
1 The Passion Of Love
2 Melody
3 Exodus
5 The Cut-Up (Breaking Glass)

SIDE B
1 Into The Flow
2 Africa
3 Mannequin
4 Anger (The Hunter)



I didn't upload the entire album anymore but decided only to upload the song "INTO THE FLOW" from the film "HEAVENLY BODIES" for your listening pleasure. I also uploaded the two Music Videos of the songs that made it to the Canadian Charts namely "Melody" and "The Passion of Love". ENJOY THE MUZIC GUYS!!


LISTEN TO "INTO THE FLOW" HERE:


WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO OF "MELODY" HERE:



Of course, my finale!!! Here's "The Passion Of Love" by BOYS BRIGADE!!


WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO OF "THE PASSION OF LOVE" HERE:


I hope you enjoyed my "BOYS BRIGADE" blogpost for today. THANKS for dropping by again!!

It's just THE PASSION OF LOVE!!
-DR. STIRRING RHOD