| The Call | |
|---|---|
The Call in 1990, from left to right: Tom Ferrier, Scott Musick, Michael Been, and Jim Goodwin |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Santa Cruz, California |
| Genres | Rock, new wave |
| Years active | 1980–2000 |
| Labels | MCA, Mercury, Elektra, Fingerprint |
| Website | the-call-band.com |
| Past members | |
| Michael Been Tom Ferrier Scott Musick Jim Goodwin Greg Freeman |
|
The Call was an American rock band from Santa Cruz, California active from 1980 to 2000.
Contents |
The Call formed in Santa Cruz in 1980 by vocalist/guitarist Michael Been, Scott Musick, and Tom Ferrier. Been and Musick were originally from Oklahoma. Been was previously a member of Chicago band Aorta, and then, between 1969 and 1971, of Lovecraft, the successor band to the psychedelic rock group H.P. Lovecraft.[1]
Beginning with their self-titled debut in 1982, the Call went on to produce a total of 10 albums by 2000. The eponymous premiere album was recorded in England, and Been later recalled that the band was in an exploratory phase at this point. Been noted in a 1988 interview, "The Call was a compassionate album, but it probably came out as anger." Peter Gabriel liked the band so much that he asked them to open for him during his 1982 "Shock the Monkey" tour.
The next album, Modern Romans, was notable for its political content. Been later stated, "There was a great deal happening politically - Grenada, Lebanon, or the government saying the Russians are evil and the Russian government probably saying the same about us. That kind of thinking inspired me to write the last lines of 'Walls Came Down'."
This was followed by Scene Beyond Dreams. Been referred to it as The Call's "metaphysical" album. With a strong poetic sense to the lyrics and a change in instrumentation, the change in sound is notable. Garth Hudson of The Band played keyboards on these first three records.
Reconciled was recorded during the summer of 1985. At this point, the band had not had a recording contract for two years, due to what Been described as "legal bickering" between The Call's former record label and their management company. However, once the deal was signed with Elektra Records, the band resumed playing and produced their most commercially successful album to date. Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds' Jim Kerr, and Hudson and former Band mate Robbie Robertson all guested the album which was released in 1986. Several tracks from the album became hits on the Mainstream Rock Chart, and one of these tracks, "I Still Believe" "I Still Believe" was covered by Tim Capello and Russ Taff, and appears on the soundtrack of the 1986 film The Whoopee Boys.[2] The following year, "I Still Believe" was re-recorded by singer/multi-instrumentalist and long-time Tina Turner sideman Tim Cappello for the 1987 movie The Lost Boys, and Russ Taff also recorded a version that appears on his 1987 self-titled album.
Next came the band's 1987 release Into The Woods, which Been referred to as his favorite album.
In 1989 they released Let the Day Begin, whose title track reached No. 1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Red Moon, which included background vocals by U2's Bono, was released in 1990.
In 1996, Warner Bros. Records. released The Best of The Call, which featured a selection of old favorites and few new songs. Two of the songs, Us and To Feel This Way, were different versions of tracks later to be seen on Been's solo album, and in the case of "To Feel This Way", the "Light Sleeper" soundtrack as well.
In 1997 To Heaven and Back, was released by Fingerprint Records, followed by a live album, Live Under the Red Moon, in 2000. The Call disbanded that same year.
The band had a fan club called "Notified" and the information contained in their newsletters is in the file section of the Yahoo! groups list.
Al Gore used "Let the Day Begin" as his campaign song in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election and Tom Vilsack used it as his song during his brief 2008 U.S. Presidential Election campaign.
A 2009 temporary exhibition at the Oklahoma History Center about rock music in the state was called "Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Exhibit". The name of the exhibition was taken from a line in The Call's song "Oklahoma", which was also one of the ten finalists in a 2009 vote for Oklahoma's official state rock song.[3][4]
Michael Been died on August 19, 2010 after suffering a heart attack backstage at the Pukkelpop music festival in Hasselt, Belgium, where he was working as sound engineer for his son's band.[5]
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Mod | US Main | UK | ||||||
| 1983 | "The Walls Came Down" | 74 | — | 17 | — | Modern Romans | |||
| 1986 | "Everywhere I Go" | — | — | 38 | — | Reconciled | |||
| "I Still Believe (Great Design)" | — | — | 17 | — | |||||
| 1987 | "I Don't Wanna" | — | — | — | — | Into the Woods | |||
| 1989 | "Let the Day Begin" | 51 | 5 | 1 | 42 | Let the Day Begin | |||
| "You Run" | — | — | 29 | 78 | |||||
| 1990 | "What's Happened to You" | — | 25 | 39 | — | Red Moon | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||