Thursday, September 4, 2008

THE HUMANS (BEAT)

Humans were a well entrenched Santa Cruz, California semi-surf band, that had played in the area since 1976, originally as The Mysterious People. In 1979 they took the name Humans. Interestingly, the three mainstays (Sterling Storm, Eric Gies and John Anderson) have played together in some fashion since the 1960's in Southern California (Eddie and The Showmen(1963) are the earliest known recordings of the three), working their way up the coast to the idyllic Santa Cruz area.
Sterling Storm's lyrics and voice were reminiscent of Wall Of Voodoo's Stan Ridgway, while bassist Eric Gies' (responsible for some of Humans' other material) wrote mostly quirky love ballads. Most of their songs centered around paranoia, big cities and personal identity crises with a dash of zany love and sex. The playing of both the writers as well as guitarist John Anderson (no, not that John Anderson), and drummers Jerome Deupree and Jim Norris (who rotated through during Humans' I.R.S. period) were top notch. Keyboardists David Larstein and Lee Stewart provide the frantic rhythm that gave their 'near-hit' "I Live In The City" it's dynamic one two punch. While nominally a "surf-band" their style embodied touches of Reggae, R&B and pure bubblegum pop and rock.
Storm, Gies and Anderson were rounded out by a rotating assortment of drummers and sometime keyboardists. They continued to play around the Bay Area into the late 80s and even managed to make a long-form video to accompany their full length I.R.S. LP before calling it quits. Storm is now producing records and one of the two drummers who "rotated on through" during their I.R.S. stint is now in Boston, drumming for both a jazz trio and an alternative rock band.THIS INFO CAME FROM, http://www.rudyscorner.com/irscorner/h/humans.html THIS VERSION OF THE SINGLE IS PROBABLY A LITTLE MORE RARE AND HAS 2 TRACKS THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE IRS VERSION THAT CAME OUT A YEAR AFTER THIS. I LIVE IN THE CITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A FAV. I HEARD THE ALBUM ONCE AND DIDN'T REALLY LIKE IT. CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF. I THINK YOU CAN STILL FIND THEIR STUFF PRETTY CHEAP.
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1 I LIVE IN THE CITY
2 EARTHLING
3 ELECTRIC BODIES
4 PLAY
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BEAT RECORDS 1979
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