This article relies largely or entirely on a single source . (December 2015) |
Surveillance | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1979 | |||
Recorded | Sounds Interchange, Toronto | |||
Genre | Space rock | |||
Length | 36:09 | |||
Label | Passport, Arista | |||
Producer | Keith Whiting | |||
FM chronology | ||||
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Surveillance is the third album by FM, a progressive rock group from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, released on Passport Records in summer 1979, the first to be "widely issued." It has been re-released for the first time in CD format on Esoteric Records in March 2013.
FM is a Canadian progressive rock music group formed in 1976 in Toronto. The band existed from 1976 to 1989, 1994-1996, 2006, and 2011-present. They have had periods of inactivity during their existence. Their music has been categorized as space rock, and lyrics are dominated by science fiction themes. In November 2011, Cameron Hawkins reformed the band with two new players.
Progressive rock is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the mid- to late 1960s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
The album continues the space rock lyrical theme introduced on Black Noise; the opening track's chorus is a chant of "Sci-fi rock, rocket roll".
Space rock is a rock music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centred on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction.
Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, time travel, parallel universes, fictional worlds, space exploration, and extraterrestrial life. It has been called the "literature of ideas", and often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations.
The group's first cover version appears on this album: "Shapes of Things", originally recorded by The Yardbirds in 1966. FM (and Nash the Slash) would frequently pay tribute to their favourite songs, mostly from the 1960s, in the years to come. This song was also issued as a single (Arista 0477 in the USA).
"Shapes of Things" is a song by the English rock group the Yardbirds. With its Eastern-sounding, feedback-laden guitar solo and anti-war/pro-environmental lyrics, several music writers have identified it as the first popular psychedelic rock song. It is built on musical elements contributed by several group members in three different recording studios in the US and was the first Yardbirds' composition to become a record chart hit. When it was released as a single on 25 February 1966, the song reached number three in the UK and the top-ten in the US and Canada.
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell-Smith. The band is known for starting the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including "For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down".
An unusual song on Surveillance is a mostly instrumental track titled "Sofa Back", which the group performed live without its brief vocoderized chant of "Moe, Larry, cheese", a quote from the Three Stooges short film "Horses' Collars", expecting the audience would not understand it. Much to the group's surprise, audiences usually chanted the phrase during performance. This song also has a copyright date of 1966, and is presumably an old composition of Mink's which he brought to the group.
A vocoder is a category of voice codec that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption, voice transformation, etc.
Horses' Collars is the fifth short film released by Columbia Pictures in 1935 starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges. The comedians released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959.
"Random Harvest' is featured on a 2006 benefit album titled After The Storm for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. [1]
A remastered edition of Surveillance was released by Esoteric Records (ECLEC2383) on March 25, 2013.
All compositions by Cameron Hawkins, Martin Deller, Ben Mink, except as noted.
Triumph is a Canadian hard rock band formed in 1975 that was popular in the late 1970s and the 1980s, building on its reputation and success as a live band. Between the band's 16 albums and DVDs, Triumph has received 18 gold and 9 platinum awards in Canada and the United States. Triumph was nominated for multiple Juno Awards, including Group of the Year Award in 1979, 1985, 1986, and 1987. The band was inducted into the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame in 2007, into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2008, and into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2019.
Ronald Hawkins, OC, is an American rock and roll musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, where he was born and raised. He found success in Ontario, Canada, and has lived there for most of his life. He is considered highly influential in the establishment and evolution of rock music in Canada.
Harvest Moon is the 19th studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released on November 2, 1992. Many of the musicians appearing on it also appeared on his 1972 album Harvest.
Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group the Band, he was a principal architect of the group's sound. Hudson has been called "the most brilliant organist in the rock world" by Keyboard magazine. As of 2019, Hudson and Robbie Robertson are the only original members of The Band who are still alive.
Honky Château is the fifth studio album by English musician Elton John. It was released in 1972, and was titled after the 18th century French chateau where it was recorded, Château d'Hérouville. The album reached number one in the US, the first of seven consecutive US number one albums for Elton John.
James Jeffrey "Jeff" Plewman, better known by his stage name Nash the Slash, was a Canadian musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he was known primarily for playing the electric violin and mandolin, as well as the harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments.
Bad for Good is a 1981 album by American songwriter Jim Steinman. Steinman wrote all of the songs and performed on most, although Rory Dodd contributed lead vocals on some tracks.
"Have a Cigar" is the third track on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. It follows "Welcome to the Machine" and on the original LP opened side two. In some markets, the song was issued as a single. The song, written by Waters, is his own critique of the music industry at the time, and the hypocrisy of the band's record label to continue releasing more material.
"I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song written and composed by Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, whose own recording of it was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was also included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings—published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)—and ranked No. 313 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The selection became a classic cult song covered by a variety of artists and was his greatest commercial success, reportedly surpassing a million copies in sales, even though it failed to make the Billboard pop or R&B charts.
Head First was the 15th studio album from British rock band Uriah Heep. It was released in 1983, on Gerry Bron's UK label Bronze Records.
"It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by Jack Nance and American country music artist Conway Twitty, and produced by MGM Records' Jim Vienneau, released by Twitty as a single in July 1958. The single topped both U.S. and the UK Singles Chart, and was Twitty's only #1 single on the pop charts of either country. On a segment of Pop Goes The Country, Twitty states the single was a hit in 22 different countries and sold over 8 million copies. It is believed that Twitty wrote his part of the song while sitting on a fire escape outside his hotel room, to escape the summer heat, in Hamilton, Ontario. Twitty had gone to Canada on the advice of another American singer, Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins, because Hawkins had told Twitty that Canada was the 'promised land' for music.
Surveillance is the ninth studio album by Canadian hard rock band Triumph, released July 27, 1987. The album was recorded at Metalworks Studios, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. This is the last Triumph album to feature Rik Emmett until his return to the band in 2008.
The Electric Light Orchestra is the eponymous debut studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in December 1971 in the United Kingdom by Harvest Records. In the United States, the album was released in March 1972 as No Answer, after a misunderstood telephone message made by a United Artists Records executive asking about the album name; the caller, having failed to reach the ELO contact, wrote down "no answer" in his notes, and this was misconstrued to be the name of the album.
"The Bitch Is Back" is a rock song by Elton John, written with lyrics from Bernie Taupin. It was the second single released from his 1974 album Caribou, and reached number 1 in Canada, number 4 in the United States and number 15 in the United Kingdom. With lyrics parodying John's celebrity lifestyle, the song has been identified as one of his best hard rock cuts. In the U.S., it was certified Gold on 13 September 1995 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Black Noise is the debut studio album by Canadian progressive rock group FM. Released in a limited edition by CBC in 1977, it didn't receive widespread release until the following year. In 1978 GRT/Passport Records did a full release of the album and it shot up the Canadian record charts fueled by the hit single "Phasors on Stun". The B-side was the instrumental song "Slaughter in Robot Village". A second single was released, "Journey", with the B-side, "Hours". It didn't sell as well, and barely charted.
Con-Test is the fifth album by FM, a progressive rock band from Toronto, Canada, released in 1985.
Direct to Disc is the second album by FM, a progressive rock group from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, recorded late 1977 and released May 1978. It was also issued under the title Head Room. It was the first FM album to feature Ben Mink, who replaced founding member Nash the Slash on electric violin and electric mandolin, instruments which Nash also played.
City of Fear is the fourth album by FM, a progressive rock group from Toronto, Canada, released in 1980 on Passport Records and distributed in Canada by Capitol Records, catalogue number PB-2028, and in the USA on Passport distributed by Jem Records, catalogue number PB-6004. It was produced by Larry Fast who was notable for his Synergy series of electronic music albums. A remastered edition was released by Esoteric Records (ECLEC2383) on March 25, 2013.
Tonight is the sixth album by FM, a progressive rock group from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, released on Duke Street Records in 1987. It was their last studio album for 28 years. Further albums of live and demo material were issued between this period.