ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE
The Wanderers’ sole album, Only Lovers Left Alive was recorded in November 1980 but didn’t come out until 1981. As might be imagined from the title of the opening song “Fanfare for 1984” (which features sirens that might have come from a concentration camp), the album concerns a young man who becomes obsessed with the impending doom of civilization through his fascination (described in the track “A Little Bit Frightening”) and later disillusion (“Can’t Take You Anymore”) with the pronouncements of a conspiracy theorist. The two singles released from the album were the potent “Ready to Snap” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing”. As Allmusic put it: “This album remains one of the most foreboding records ever released and plunges the listener into a world of Bolshevik plots, duplicate Popes, and a third World War that is so close you can smell it.”
The name of the conspiracy theorist referenced in the album by the Wanderers, Dr. Peter Beter sounds like a weak masturbation joke. In actuality, however, Dr. Beter is a real person, an ex-CIA agent who brought news from the intelligence-community underground in a series of “audio letters”. (Oddly, the liner notes on the 2000 reissue never mentioned that, nor did those on the original album release). Not only that, Stiv Bators was obsessed with him in real life and used to regale anyone who would listen about the dangers of impending Bolshevism and the end of the world. The song “Dr. Beter” presents a synopsis of the endless conspiracies discussed by Dr. Beter and features an actual excerpt from one of his recordings. Talk about “Reality . . . What A Concept”: Only Lovers Left Alive had it all!
The title of the album by the Wanderers, Only Lovers Left Alive is taken from an apocalyptic 1964 novel called Only Lovers Left Alive by Dave Wallis about an uprising of British teenagers against not only the authorities but the entire adult population as well.
(February 2011)
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Twenty-three years after the release of the punk-rock concept album Only Lovers Left Alive by past UARB the Wanderers, Green Day released their classic rock-opera album, American Idiot. From Wikipedia: “American Idiot (2004) marked a career comeback for Green Day following a period of decreased success. It charted in 27 countries, peaking at number one in 19, and eventually sold 16 million copies worldwide. The album spawned five successful singles: ‘American Idiot’, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, and ‘Jesus of Suburbia’.”
(June 2017)
