Vis:A:Vis - Heart and Soul

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...One of the most fascinating things about the 80's was the hundreds of tiny independent record labels that waged war against the corporate machine that controlled a stagnating music industry at the time. Hundreds perhaps even thousands of small and medium sized bands from all over the world took part in this backlash, assaulting the airwaves, the charts, and most importantly the club scene. Independent college and University Radio stations along with non-commercial radio like CFNY ( back when they were still good ) help make us aware of the existance of these bands. It became a weekend passtime to head downtown to small record shops in search of hard to find albums and 12'inch singles, both domestic and imported.

.....One of the smaller, but very talented groups involved was Vis-A-Vis a Canadian New Wave band that gained a relatively loyal following during the mid 80's. The album shown above belongs to me and it's in almost perfect condition, an incredibly rare find. My original copy purchase back in 86 received regular rotation at the bar I used to DJ, sadly that copy has long since disappeared. This copy I found about a year ago at a flee market and I was to say the least absolutely thrilled. Heart and Soul is a mini album, it only has four tracks, five tracks if you include both versions of "I am the night". They have a distinctively new wave sound, with multiple keyboard layers but also featuring a prominent bass line intertwined with strong guitar riffs throughout, Rude Van Steenes provides some great vocals to round out the project. I would describe it as a cross between INXS an Simple Minds, yet it still retains an original sound. An excellent piece of work by a band that's gone but not forgotten.

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Track List

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I am the night

Prison of eyes

Where angels tread

Dance with me

I am the night (version)

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Vis A Vis are...

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Ed Galati (drums)

Gene Donofrio (bass)

Rude Van Steenes (vocals)

Kurt La Porte (guitar, backing vocals)

Norm Brown (keyboards)

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additional musicians...

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D'arcy Pickering - drums track 1,2,4

Scott Humphrey - PPG programs trk 3

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Heart and Soul

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Produced by Garth Richardson, assisted by William Robertson

Recorded and Mixed at 'Phase One Studios' Toronto in the fall of 1985

Glamatron Publishing / CAPAC / Vis:A:Vis

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Vis:A:Vis also thanks the Spoons and their crew for support on this project.