Classic Day – Spoonful Of Sugar

Even though it was released in 2021, the original recordings from Vitamin took place in 1981. The cleverly named record, Recordings 1981 is a 13 track mix of four studio tracks and nine tracks of live ensemble pieces.

The early DEVO-esque proto-sound is intriguing and sometimes, becomes comedic with the style of vocalization coming from basically children at the point of these recordings, the first real introduction to Vitamin comes from the track “Sarah’s Braid.”

The percussion which is shifty prays to the sky that is filled with scratchy guitars and an exorbitant amount of hiss to the bites from Vitamin. The four-piece on the mixes spawns from Jason Shapiro and Mike McGlinchey who maybe played an instrument for less than a year and in Recordings 1981, that style is prevalent. When Margie Politzer joined as the violinist and keyboardist, the band begins to take shape as the art-rock band of yesteryears’ dreams.

Other tracks like “Black Sheep” which later returns as a live version from The Underground which was a venue in Vitamin’s home of Boston. Chris Gill who follows in to conclude the percussion omits this frame of being fresh to the set but also gives a real rejuvenation to the instrument too. Most of Vitamin’s performance on Recordings 1981 can be articulated as raw vigor into the musical vein of sound.

Especially some of the live performances like “Mouse Trap” which was recorded again, at The Underground, and continues to give the idea of a basement or small staged show with kids stomping about for their friends. The low-fidelity recording is a god-send from the Boston wrecking crew, giving purpose to all those afterschool dreams of starting a band and eventually putting wax to the name.

While most of the lyrics are nearly impossible to decipher from the real unfiltered style of the recordings, almost every track on Recordings 1981 gives the isolative factor of youth in sound. The ideas, the progression, almost every element that Vitamin pushes forward just screams an experiment to sculpt sonic power under base components.

The drums are there, the bass and guitar, even the distinguishable vocals, almost everything that combines to be a cocktail for one of the more obscure punk loves of a local scene. A band gone simply too soon before they could flourish under the damp floorboards of some dive bar.

Listen To Recordings 1981 Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/iTunes