THE
INDIVIDUALS – Aquamarine/Fields (Bar
None)
The Individuals might not enjoy the same
name recognition as the Feelies or the Bongos,
but back in the early Eighties, they played
a major role in coalescing a music scene that
not only introduced a new genre of "college
rock," but helped revitalize (and eventually
gentrify) the city of Hoboken. In fact, they
were the second band I ever saw at Maxwells
(a week after I met the Bongos) back in 1980,
with a more urban sound that melded the melodic
drone of the Velvet Underground, the twitchy
pop hooks of the Feelies, and the nihilistic
funk of NYC’s “No Wave”
movement. Bassist Janet Wygal smoldered with
sultry sex appeal, counterpointed by baby-faced,
boy-next-door guitarist Jon Klages (barely
out of his teens at the time,) and the band
was fronted by the cool, confident hipster
persona of Glenn Morrow (who would go on to
run Bar None Records into the 21st Century.)
Now, nearly 25 years after this music first
went out of print, the Individuals are back,
with this reissue of the band’s long-lost
“Aquamarine” EP and Fields
LP, originally released on the European-based
Plexus label.
The music not only holds up surprisingly
well, but sounds briskly, strikingly contemporary;
you could well imagine four kids in Brooklyn
writing these songs today (albeit in far different
circumstances.) There’s a sense of wonderment
here, the joyful discovery of entering adulthood
and marveling at the odd mixture of urban
wasteland and suburban Utopia that Hoboken
represented back then. Imagine: Roomy railroad
apartments rented for $100 a month, the PATH
train cost a quarter to Manhattan, and the
whole world seemed right outside your door.
Even the band’s bright, trebly new-wavy
guitar sound has come back into vogue, and
Wygal’s funky basslines bring a soulful
strut that will never go out of style.
Back in the early Eighties, the rift between
punk and disco wasn’t as rigid as it’s
become; Maxwell’s had live DJ’s
spin records between bands then, and people
used to actually dance to rock ‘n’
roll music, strange as that might seem today.
The Individuals captured that vibe far better
than the speedier Bongos or the more ethereal
Feelies; a lot of these songs still make me
want to get up and shake it a little. With
their Bush Tetra beats and serpentine, Television-esque
guitar solos, the Individuals explored their
brave new world, the neighborhoods and the
dance clubs, the “technical fields”
and the tree-lined streets; a Hoboken without
luxury condos, frat bars, or Starbucks. And
now, a quarter century later, you can discover
that world too.
– Jim Testa
The Individuals will be performing at
Maxwells on Tuesday, July 22.
CD Reviews 
