Search - Translator :: Heartbeats & Triggers

I thought I saw you, out on the avenue....

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 05/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have always felt that Translator's debut, "Heartbeats and Triggers," was a classic of the 80's that somehow escaped the plaudits it so richly deserved. Appearing roughly the same time as REM's debut, it was one of the groups that heralded the oncoming wave of bands to concentrate on acoustic and more "rootsy" sounds. But unlike the southern mood that predominated REM, Translator mixed both San Franciscan and a distinct Beatles sensibility.



Translator's signature song, "Everywhere That I'm Not," captured this mixture perfectly. It's a super-catchy downbeat song that encapsulated that period of the 80's. This album was released in the height of the Reagen years, when many of us feared he would either throw us into a war or back us into one. So the mixture of optimism/cynicism the song evoked was flawless and timeless. Robert Darlington's terrific "Everywhere" was written for John Lennon; he wrote it the day after Lennon's murder as a mixture of his feelings about that event and other things he was going through at that time to also capture a perfect mood.



Translator had two vocalist/songwriters - Darlington and Steve Barton - that meshed in a beautifully brittle sort of way, again giving that band their edge. There was the anger of "Sleeping Snakes" (an anti-war song) and "Nothing Is Saving Me," but also hopeful songs of love and want, like "My Heart Your Heart" and "Everything You See." There isn't a single lesser song on "Heartbeats And Triggers," which is something many eighties bands of this era can't lay claim to. Given the number of artists that eventually adopted this kind of sound (including Tranlslator's 415 labelmates Red Rockers and Wire Train), "Heartbeats and Triggers" can be given a lot of credit for getting there first. I can't believe it took so long for the band's library to finally make it CD. Get them all while you still can."