Artist: Slow, Album: Against The Glass EP, Song: Have Not Been The Same

Slow were a punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia.  They were Ziggy Sigmund, Christian Thorvaldson, Tom Anselmi, Stephen Hamm and Terry Russell.  They formed during the early eighties under the name Sifu before signing with independent label, Zulu Records.  The band released their first single in 1985 and the popularity of it led to an EP release in 1986 entitled, Against The Glass.  This six song release caught on with a number of listeners and rightfully so, it was groundbreaking.  If you haven't heard the lead off track to this album entitled, Have Not Been The Same, you need to.  It is a key recording in Canada's punk history and just maybe, the best ever.  You can check out the song on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RzA0VHcsBY).  Sadly, their career as a band ended abruptly as a result of an incident at Expo 86.  The details are best known specifically to those that were there and I'd hate to embellish or misrepresent them.  Needless to say, they were escorted off stage by the Vancouver police and the incident led to the cancellation of The Festival Of Independent Recording Artists at Expo 86.  That decision touched off some angry protests all over the city.  This is one of those albums that just needs to be remastered and re-released because it is extremely rare.  At the time of this blog, there was 1 copy trading on Discogs for $40.  Anselmi and Thorvaldson would go on to release a number of albums as the  band, Copyright (see blog 1/5/11).  Hamm and Russell would form the band, Tankhog.  Anselmi's most recent project is entitled, Mirror (http://www.myspace.com/mirrorav).  Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode was featured on Mirror's debut in 2008.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!