'I Am Always Touched By Your Presence, Leer.' (!)
Paul Ess. | Holywell, N.Wales,UK. | 04/24/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Thomas Leer's 'Contradictions' originally came out in 1982 as two 12" singles. This is a much expanded release and contains some of his early singles and b-sides, as well as the complete album.
And what an album it is.
Arriving right in the middle of an exciting time for British pop; 'Contradictions' took up the torch, lit by ABC, Elvis Costello, Orange Juice and Dexys, and crossed it over to the more esoteric sounds the likes of Scritti Politti, Blue Orchids and Sudden Sway were developing.
It's contagious, sweeping, all enveloping electro-music. Music that's deep and wide, despite it's supposed 'narrowing' (a trendy notion at the time, mainly by the brighter critics, though I thought it was a clever way of squeezing unfashionable or aesthetically unsound bands out of the equation), a light, breezy, textured array of ingenuity and influence.
Thomas Leer took dance, Latin rhythms, reggae, jazz and rock, infused the lot with a post-punk energy and intelligence, and welded them onto a resolute pop base.
The results were staggering. Said erstwhile reviewers wet themselves with excitement and admiration. Leer was on the cover of every music rag in this jolly old nation and beyond.
Unfortunately, the great unwashed weren't moved. Perhaps he wasn't handsome enough (Pop-stars were highly beautiful in the early 80's or they died), perhaps he was ahead of his time, perhaps it was thought his name sounded like a sex-pest. Whatever; Dj's passed him over for the likes of Tight Fit and the ghastly J Geils Band.
He drifted into 'underground', and while his music was still excellent, he began to attract the 'obscure' tag, pretty much a kiss-of-death at the time. VERY few of the simpleton rock-jocks and NONE of the catatonic day-time disc-spinners gave him time of day, and scandalously 'Contradictions' slowly disappeared from view.
Leer must have hurt like hell, he KNEW 'Contradictions' was a masterpiece; it can only have been soul-destroying to see it go gurgling down the drain.
He's re-emerged from time to time, most notably on ZTT with an act called Act in the late 80's. A superb single with Claudia Brucken: 'Snobbery and Decay' again failed to set the world alight and he became less and less visible.
He may have needed counseling; he must have been suicidal watching all the cretin half-talents bobbing about at the top of the hit parade while he languished in obscurity.
I've a naïve theory that genuine worthwhile talent will be recognized at some time. It may take hundreds of years, (Remember, they buried Mozart in a paupers grave), but one bright Spring morning some-one important is gonna exclaim: "Hey! This guy's great!!" Wonder what odds I'd get on that.
But you've got a chance oh brave, hardy reader, what a chance you've got. 'Contradictions' is just a few clicks away. A few days and you could be placing it in your chosen mode of audio signal retrieval; a few meager coins lighter, but much, much richer in real terms.
Let the brilliance that is 'Contradictions' live and breathe again. Let it bask in the sunshine, it's been hidden away in the darkness for far too long.
But don't do it for Tom, do it for you."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1