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Translator burst onto the music scene in 1982 with its Modern Rock radio/MTV hit “Everywhere That I’m Not.” Success continued to grow through the band’s four major label-distributed releases. Twenty-five years later, the band regrouped, played the SXSW festival, and made another stellar record, once again selling out shows. But, how did it all come to be?
Translator formed in 1979 with singer/guitarist Steve Barton, bassist Larry Dekker and Dave Scheff on drums. The core trio was soon joined by Robert Darlington and Translator was signed to Howie Klein’s Sony Music-distributed 415 Records imprint (also home to Romeo Void, Red Rockers, and Wire Train) on the strength of its demo tape. Their first two releases were produced by David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Bangles, Tony Bennett, Sublime), while Ed Stasium (Ramones, Living Colour and The Smithereens) helmed the next pair. The recordings made a big splash on college radio and MTV, but the band called it quits in 1986.
On March 31, 2015, Omnivore Recordings will proudly translate this story with Sometimes People Forget, a collection of Translator demos that span from 1979 through 1985. The package contains 22 tracks from the band’s critically lauded canon and beyond, only two of which have only previously been available on a rare compilation.
Aside from early versions of hits like “Everywhere That I’m Not,” Sometimes People Forget depicts the group at its creative best — with sessions produced by not only the band, but by David Kahne, Phil De Lancie and Elliot Mazer — crafting the material that would make up Translator’s revered catalog.
Produced in conjunction with the band, Sometimes People Forget tells the Translator story — not only through music, but also via photos, ephemera and liners from the group’s Steve Barton (the set’s co-producer) and notes from producers David Kahne and Ed Stasium, as well as Steve Berlin (Los Lobos).
This is the final piece of the puzzle that Translator fans have been waiting for, an essential document of a time and place that needs to be (re)discovered and (re)assessed. And (re)treasured.
According to Barton, “We are so thrilled about this album. It is a collection of 22 demos, all handpicked from the band’s personal archives, including tracks from when we were a trio in L.A. in 1979. Listening to the record in sequence, I really get the scope and diversity of Translator. What an amazing little band. The four of us make a pretty glorious noise together.”
Track Listing:
1. Translator *
2. Lost
3. Everywhere That I’m Not
4. Fiendish Thingy *
5. Optimism
6. Necessary Spinning
7. Eraser
8. Get Out
9. Everything Is Falling
10. Gravity
11. We Fell Away
12. Winter Crying
13. Inside My Mind
14. Is There a Heaven Singing
15. My Restless Heart (French Version)
16. These Old Days
17. Friends of the Future
18. Fall Forever
19. Breathless Agony
20. Brouhaha
21. Standing in Line
22. I’ll Be Your Summer
All Selections Previously Unissued Except *
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