Vs. (Mission of Burma album)

Vs. is the debut album by the Boston post-punk band Mission of Burma. It was a fully realized follow-up to their EP Signals, Calls, and Marches. It was the only full studio album the band released during the 1980s, as soon afterward they disbanded due to Roger Miller's worsening tinnitus.

The album is hailed as one of the classic examples of the post-punk movement and is ranked number 49 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1980s. Pitchfork writer Chris Dahlen states, "Boston's finest art-punk trio-plus-tape-guy recorded just one studio full-length, and it's a massive legacy. Assessable not in tunes but in grinding velocity, it's texturally complex and high-energy. Roger Miller's guitar varies from hypnotic repetition on "Trem Two" to sounding like a power line flailing in a pool of rain, while the rhythmic noise divides into shards for Martin Swope's tape manipulations; Miller as vocalist is prone to outbursts and declamations, while Clint Conley sings with his vulnerabilities in barbed wire on his sleeve." [1]

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam has stated that the group's 1993 album Vs. was titled as a tribute to the Mission of Burma album.

Track listing

All songs written by Roger Miller except as indicated:

Side one

1. "Secrets" – 3:22
2. "Train" (Clint Conley) – 3:31
3. "Trem Two" – 4:10
4. "New Nails" – 3:00
5. "Dead Pool" (Conley) – 4:05
6. "Learn How" (Peter Prescott) – 3:56

Side two

7. "Mica" (Conley, Holly Anderson) – 3:34
8. "Weatherbox" – 3:29
9. "The Ballad of Johnny Burma" – 2:00
10. "Einstein's Day" – 4:34
11. "Fun World" – 3:40
12. "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate" (Conley) – 2:04

Compact Disc reissue

13. "Forget"  – 2:59
14. "OK/No Way" (Conley) – 1:58
15. "Laugh the World Away" – 3:54
16. "Progress" (Conley) – 3:06

The Matador Definitive Edition has the same tracklisting but the bonus tracks are in a different order. They are as follows:

13. Laugh The World Away

14. Forget

15. Progress

16. OK/No Way

Personnel

• Martin Swope – Tape manipulations, loops, percussion
• Clint Conley – Bass, vocals, percussion
• Roger Miller – Guitar, vocals, piano, trumpet, percussion
• Peter Prescott – Drums, vocals, percussion