Forgotten Records: Owada – Nothing
What do you get when an experimental installation artist records a rock album? Nothing. 1997’s Nothing is the first album by Martin Creed, and his rock power trio, Owada. It is also the last album by Martin Creed, and his rock power trio, Owada. 1 Everything he’s done since has been under his own name. Creed’s artwork is often extraordinarily simple and minimalist–take, for example, his most well known piece, the Turner Prize winning Work No. 227: the lights going on and off. It consisted of an empty room with lights going on and off. When an artist with this sort of sensibility attacks rock music, one might expect something along the lines of either Phillip Glass minimalism 2, Laurie Anderson’s spoken word stories and treatises, or possibly Terry Riley’s proto-ambient electronic music–only done with rock instrumentation. That is, after all, what we’ve come to expect from “art music,” right?
![Cover of "Full Circle [Vinyl]"](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61AJCQv0GZL._SL300_.jpg)
It’s a story older than Rock ‘n’ Roll itself. A band makes their bones around a charismatic frontman. Maybe he writes the songs. Maybe he just sings them. In either case, he’s the face of the group, the one the people come to see. Then, something happens. Maybe the frontman dies. Maybe there’s an argument over money. Maybe his own inflated ego causes him to start a potentially ill-fated solo career. Whatever happens, the band decides they don’t need their charismatic frontman any longer, and they’ll go on without him. Sometimes, this works. After Buddy Holly died, The Crickets went on with different frontmen for years. Joy Division lost the iconic Ian Curtis, and went on with a name change to become even more popular and successful as New Order. AC/DC had more success with replacement vocalist Brian Johnson than they did with Bon Scott. Yet, for every band that goes on with their new frontman and succeeds, many more fail. These are some of their stories.
With the recent release of 
If there was any period in music I wish I had been around for, I would have to pick the period from 1975 to 1985. Though, I technically was around for the last two years of that grouping, I was far too young to actually know a damn thing about the world around me, especially in terms of music. So, why ‘75 to ‘85? Well, those were the prime years for the development of a couple interesting genres: punk, 
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was far from the upbeat, quirky pop that the big single would seem to suggest, but Magnets, their followup left behind almost any attempt at being misinterpreted as a silly pop band. Not surprisngly, it got lost. A shame, as it’s actually even better than New Clear Days highest points.
Well, it’s certainly been a while. If it’s any consolation, the downtime has allowed me to dig in the stacks and find a real rare gem. You won’t find this little bugger on CD on Amazon.com any time soon. No, friends, this one’s a vinyl-only (or ripped MP3) New Wave gem from 1981: Suburban Lawns.