The Seventy Sevens: The 77's (1987)

Tracks:

1. Do it for Love
2. Frames Without Photographs
3. What Was in that Letter
4. Pearls Before Swine
5. The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes & The Pride of Life
6. I Can't Get Over It
7. Don't Say Goodbye
8. Bottom Line
9. I Could Laugh 

 In 1987, the Seventy Sevens were Island labelmates of U2, and of course, this was the year of The Joshua Tree.  While they weren't marketed as a Christian band, the Dublin rockers frequently spoke of Jesus Christ and the church in their songs, and proved that one can be a believer and top the charts as well.  Still, the Sevens were even more overt about their faith, and The 77's (or The Seventy Sevens, as the cover never really clarifies the correct spelling) represents their lone release by the Label That Signed U2.  Not that the profession of one's religious beliefs should make one more or less marketable on a mainstream label, but it would've been nice if a little of Bono's magic dust had flaked off on Mike Roe & the boys.

It's too bad, because the self-titled album (or first self-titled album, but that's another blog entry) is a brilliant summation of the music that the Sacramento band had been crafting over the previous eight years.  All of their facets and strengths are displayed: pop hooks, strong melodies, straight-on rhythm playing, twangy but bluesy leads, folky edges, and a bit of '80s electronics all swirl together to portray a band not unlike the blurry shapes on the cover: A band in motion, hard to pin down, but strangely familiar all the same.

The band has toned down the New Wave edges from All Fall Down and went back to its roots as a bluesy rock machine.  Roe's vocals range from passionate pop ("Do It For Love," "Frames Without Photographs") to rootsy twang ("The Lust...") to bellowing histrionics ("Pearls Before Swine") to trippy stream-of-conscious mumbling ("I Could Laugh").  
All nine tracks are strong, but the heaviest hitters in this line-up are the breezy leadoff track, the live blues workout "Pearls," and the folky confessional "The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes, and the Pride of Life." 

"Do It For Love" has a bright melody that sounds like it would fit on any given Tommy James song, and yet it has clean but brisk guitar from Mike, with some great surfy bent notes accentuating the chorus.  It's quite an optimistic song from an artist that hasn't always been known for its sunny disposition.  "Pearls" is a long blues jam in the tradition of "You Don't Scare Me," with cranky guitar lines, long rappy vocals, and lyrics repeated for dramatic effect.  But whereas "Scare" is almost cocksure in its bold faith, the latter track is a lament about lost innocence and its consequences.  

But the gold medal has to go to "The Lust, The Flesh..."  It's a folk rocker right out of the Byrds' playbook, which is fitting because its demo version features none other than Chris Hillman on mandolin.  This confessional song about the follies of physical gratification features an oddly out-of-kilter vocal delivery, as Roe slides words between notes and beats as if he were a drunken patron crying in his beer at the local watering hole.  The whole song is great, with almost stream-of-conscious lyrics, but the last verse is killer, concluding with the great line, "And every single word they say makes me think I could live forever/Never knowing/They probably won't remember what they said tomorrow/Tomorrow I could be dead."  Quite simply, it's the best song the man ever wrote.

For many fans, this was the high point of the band's career, and deservedly so.   The band would still come up with great songs, awesome rock arrangements, unique guitar playing, and more attitude, but not all on one record like this.