The Call -- c/d?

RIP Michael Been - Call bassist/vocalist

Head is spinning here, I'd seen the mention of his passing given the BRMC connection but I hadn't realized he was *that* guy.

Saw The Call several times back in the day (couple times opening for both Peter Gabriel and Simple Minds lol) and always liked them. Been had a pretty long music career. He was in a couple psychedelic bands in IL during the 60s, most notably H.P. Lovecraft along with Aorta (which was Peter Cetera's pre-Chicago band).

R.I.P. :(

Crap, I had just written about the Call in my piece about 1986 a couple days ago. I really liked Reconciled and picked up tapes of their earlier albums, which weren't as consistent. There were sort of cheesy but still a good band.

like the OP, i saw them open for simple minds in '86. they were pretty boring, tbf. but this was a decent new wave-era single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kX8lqXAONg

(oops left out the obligatory r.i.p.)

as i said in that other thread. i feel bad for his son, this must be really tough for him.

RIP

loved that song/album/band to death once upon a time, tho i haven't heard it/them in ages. sounds way better in the here & now than i'd ever have guessed. woop! woop! and r.i.p.

Unfortunately most of my opinion of Michael Been was shaped on issue #2 of Bananafish where there were numerous unflattering stories of him as recounted by Greg Freeman, based on his tenure in The Call for their first 2 records/tours.

it's funny how garth hudson is just sort of over on the side in that video, doing his garth hudson thing.

xpost -- Was thinking of that article and trying to remember where it ran so thank you for that info.

greg freeman was in the call? so weird. I was never fan but I did like "when the walls came down" and I had been lead to believe that Been was regarded as a really nice guy.

uhhh, some unfortunately chosen language in my last post. main point is that i'm sorry to see you go, MB.

i like the call i think! i haven't heard much of their music, though. i've heard been's work for the soundtrack to 'light sleeper', which i enjoy in the film and am probably very nearly alone in that sentiment. i like how it's moody and totally in keeping with the particular time period and kind of cheesy and pretentious and ponderous. i remember reading somewhere that someone thought michael been was the scott stapp of the '80s? probably not 100% inaccurate.

dunno about been being stapp of the 80s. not at all evident in walls come down (though yeah, moreso elsewhere). been lacks the requisite combo of ooze, emotion and nipples. live dude is the most obvious pre-stapp stapp.

It seems Michael Been's ego helped Freeman (ex Call bassist) and Spalding (ex Call soundtech guy) bond and helped propagate greatness in the Pell Mell camp.. sorry the two had to suffer for it, beforehand. I remember, from that Bananafish article, Greg was apparently seen as "the devil" in Been's eyes.. so during a live show in Canada, I guess the audience just wasn't enthusiastic or responding, so Michael walked over to Greg, STEPPED ON HIM (because you see, Greg was The Devil, so Michael had to stomp on The Devil to make things better.. did we mention Been's vision for The Call was for it to be Christian rock?), then walked back to the mic and screamed "ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF, CANADAAAAAAAAAA?!!!"
To this day, some friends of mine in Portland and I scream, to break any quiet point in a conversation:

"ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF, CANADAAAAAAAAAAAAA???!!!"

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, March 29, 2005 10:42 AM (5 years ago

not sure this is the time to tear down the monument

okay, so whether or not michael been was a dick (thank you steve shasta), the new romans album is pretty damn impressive. been meaning to revisit it for a couple weeks, and picked up a used copy for 99 cents today. i guess i can see why one might be moved to invoke the the hideous stapp as a reference point: the christian zeal and self-righteous earnestness are similar, but the delivery is very different. been comes across all geeky, like a smartass holy roller version of stan ridgeway. to his credit he never pushes stapp's oily/gross i-am-your-redemptive-superman libido aspects. and in spite of the bummer lyrical pretensions, i'm kinda loving this record. it's nostalgia in part, but if i've gotta take some snooty medicine with my pop-leaning post punk, i'd rather hear this than easterhouse or whatever. dig the combination of hard-driving western sparseness, crazy passionate vocalizing, and uptight dance rhythms.

garbage hero proclamations like "back from the front" and "violent times" are absolutely unforgivable, no argument, but the title track slays. and while the lyrics of songs like "turn a blind eye" sometimes cringe me with their hysterical self importance, been delivers them with an intensity and rhythmic drive that makes me wanna jump around and raise a sympathetic placard anyway. really bummed that there aren't good youtubes of "time of your life", "modern romans", "destination" and "face to face" (heavy savage republic vibes) to share along with the classic "walls came down".