When one thinks of the countries associated with major musical acts, the USA and UK top the list. Not often does Canada get brought up, though they do have a fair share of noteworthy acts, such as Ruch, Bryan Adams, Corey Hart, Men Without Hats, and Loverboy, to name a few most of them.
Among that crowd were guitarists David Millar and Mark Gane, who formed Martha And The Muffins in 1977. Of course, the name wouldn't come about until they brought lead singer and keyboardist Martha Johnson into the fold, who in turn invited her friend, bassist Carl Finkle. The lineup would be completed by Gane's brother, Tim, who took up the drums. Ironically, the name was only intended to be used temporarily until the band could come up with another that they all agreed on. They never expected to use it for their entire career.
By1978, Andy Haas joined the band as a saxophonist, but this was followed by Millar opting to step out of the spotlight, instead preferring to work on the band's sound engineer. He would be replaced by Martha Ladly, who stepped in as co-singer, and second keyboardist.
The band released the independent single, Insect Love, and a demo that same year, quickly garnering the attention of Dindisc, an offshoot of Virgin Records. The label would send them over to the UK in 1979, where they'd record the tracks for what would become their 1980 debut, Metro Music. The album would be met fairly well, peaking at number sixteen in their native Canada, as well as reaching the top fifty in Australia and the United Kingdom. Propelled by the lead single, Echo Beach, the album would also hit the Billboard 200 in the USA, with the album reaching gold certification. The single itself would perform well on multiple dance charts across the country.
Prior to the year ending, their second album, Trance And Dance would hit store shelves. Initial copies featured an additional four tracks of bonus live EP material. However, as a whole, it would perform poorly, spawning no hits, and failing to chart outside of Canada, where it also performed significantly worse than its predecessor.
For me, the only thing that Trance And Dance lacks over Metro Music is a single. Overall, it's more or less the same as the previous album, mediocre, but listenable punk / new wave. It's not awful by any means. It just doesn't have anything that stands out.
So far, the juice hasn't been worth the squeeze in my new endeavor of Martha and her Muffins. With an average buy in price of $70.00 per album, while I'm getting a unique listening experience, I'm not getting anything worth raving about. Meaning I'm also not getting any value out of my purchases. This is disappointing.
I will give credit to the instrumentation across it. There's no doubt that the members know how to play. Where they falter is with catchy choruses. Songs that stick in your head and have you humming along with them. Basically, they're talented musicians, but not hit makers. Maybe that's what makes them work for the fans that follow them, but for me, it's just not hitting the mark.
I'm not going to give up on them just yet, but I'm definitely reaching a point where boredom is setting in. We'll see how tomorrow goes when I jump into their most expensive album of them all, 1981's This Is The Ice Age.
Shortly after its release, Martha Ladly would depart, opting to follow an art scholarship. She would not be replaced by anyone, and instead, Martha And The Muffins would continue on with the reduced lineup. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be the last to depart, as leading up to the recording sessions for what would become This Is The Ice Age, Carl Finkle would also quit the band. That's where I pick up tomorrow.
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