From Billy's Revue (LP, Memoire,
1982)
Photo by Ken Winokur
Maps
"I'm Talking to You" b/w "My Eyes Are Burning" (45, self-released, 1979)
- The Maps: James Clements, Judith Grunwald, Daniel Salzmann, Robert C. Valentine.
- Produced by the Maps and Phil Tatro.
- Engineered by Tony Caputo at Music Designers.
- Photos (though not shown here) by Margie Politzer.
Grunwald's delivery vitalizes "I'm Talking to You" in particular. The number gives a rare glimpse of undeniable punk as over-the-top romanticism rather than as the usual roaming nihilism, and it's a corrective viewpoint that many wimps and thugs would do well to emulate today. The slinky, nimble licks that grace the arrangement and the cleverly surging harmony in the chorus are plainly derived from the Cars, who were as much a Boston accent in late-'70s rock as a flattened r. If "I'm Talking to You" sounds like the emotive seed of many Salem 66 tunes, Grunwald's nuances turn the key. She shows flair for mixing the silly and the somber in lines like "While you won't make me cry-yi-yi/I'll punch you in the eye-yi-yi"; she seethes with a tone that pervades her later band--that of the slavish and pleading lover who is also growing more distant and defiant. -- Milo Miles, Boston Phoenix, June 17, 1988
A female vocalist for a focal spotlight would seem to indicate a more traditional pop approach, but the Maps' music stays far from the processed routine you might expect. With a ponytail fountaining from the top of her head, the singer's coy affectations and oddly emotive voice were as original as they were endearing. Her pantomimes and gargoyled facial expressions were a positive addition to a set of imaginative pieces that included "Factories In Flight" and ended with their popular single "I'm Talking To You."
Blazing behind her was a tight, talented three-piece pressing out eccentric beats and guitar/bass ingenuities to stir up the appreciative audience, which had diminished considerably after MOB's set,5 due to the lateness of the hour. Those remaining took up the slack, dancing intently to the music.
There had been problems with the PA but none of the bands had it as bad as the Maps who were plagued by a muffled mix and faulty microphones, but their efforts and antics were enough to earn the group two encores before the evening came to a close. -- Pamela Noyes with contributions from Abraham Toyota, Boston Rock, June 1980, Issue 1
1. Salem 66, 1983-1987: Your Soul Is Mine, Fork It Over (CD, Homestead, 1987).
2. "I'm Talking to You" by the Maps
appears on the essential various artists compilation, Mass. Ave.: The Boston
Scene (1975-83) (CD, Rhino, 1993).
3. The Dangerous Birds: Karen
Gickas, Lori Green, Margery Meadow, Thalia Zedek. This controversial band is a
subject for another day.
4. Apologies to the members of Bound and Gagged. Our materials that name the individual members are not available to us at this time. Here, though, is Jim Sullivan's rather colorful description of the group. "Patterned musically after the Gang of Four and philosophically after the Slits, the six women of Bound & Gagged avoid any semblance of a pop sensibility, creating instead a sound that consists of grinding, rhythmic discordance and lurching, desperate vocals." This description actually sounds like some of the grunge and noise-rock of the 1990s, suggesting that the women of Bound and Gagged may have been well ahead of their times.
5. This notice reports and critiques a concert at the Modern Theatre around the first of April 1980, organized by Ted Lewis for the benefit of the Boston Alliance Against Registration and the Draft (BAARD). The Mission of Burma set was, officially or unofficially, the band's first anniversary celebration. Other acts on the bill included Someone and the Somebodies, V;, and Count Joe Viglione's Love and Flame.
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