WAS's Awesome New Wave Song Of The Week #29: D.L. Byron - Get With It

As New Wave (as we know & love it) was coalescing in the late 1970’s and early 80s, it drew upon many different styles and musical influences.  Many artists emerging at the time were rooted in other styles .. but still had an element of New Wave to them.  Many touched upon New Wave just for a bit, while others went whole hog into it.  In the late 70s UK “male singer-songwriter” realm, everyone knows Elvis Costello - his first 3 albums (his best!) had elements of punk and a heavy reliance on synth’s cousin, the Hammond organ.   We saw pub-rock acts like Graham Parker and Nick Lowe incorporate New Wavery things into their music every now & then.  Eddy Grant did pop-reggae with a new wave edge.  Joe Jackson definitely fit the bill - his first two albums in 1979 were fantastic … the title track of his second album “I’m The Man” was even good enough to score #147 on Marc’s Top 200!   

On the other side of the pond, New Wave was a little later in fully forming… and most of the male innovators in the pre-new-wave-period were front men for bands, like David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jonathan Richman (Modern Lovers), Rik Ocasek (The Cars) etc.  While not are all thought of as pure New Wave today, at the time their music was definitely part of the new wave of sound that was happening, and most of it was coming from groups in North America.  There was however one notable exception, a New Jersey talent very much in the vein of the Englishmen mentioned above.

In 1980 a fellow named D.L. Byron released his first album, an edgy power-pop gem called “This Day And Age”.  It had the manic energy of Joe Jackson, new romantic yearnings and that wonderful sense of urgency that makes such music great.  No synths here - the new wave is all in the attitude - just like the other artists in England at the same time.  We could literally pick any song off D.L. Byron’s first album as the Awesome Song of the Week. I’ve been listening to it in full for over 35 years now and I still never get tired of it!  I’ve been calling it “The Best Album Never Heard” for a while now, and incredibly it still stands up to the test of time.  

Trivia: D.L. Byron wrote “Shadows Of The Night” (Pat Benatar) and was on the soundtrack of the “trying too hard to be punk” movie “Times Square” in 1980 as well.

Let’s rock out in This Day And Age with D.L Byron … and if I have to pick one, well, we’ll have to just “Get With It” !

-WAS

Bonuses (all off "This Day And Age"): 

"Love In Motion"

"Listen to the Heartbeat"

"21st Century Man"

"No Romance, No Weekend, No Love"

"Big Boys"

"Lorryanne"