29. MR. ENCRYPTO & THE CYPHERS: "Home On The Radio"
The 1990s and early '00s gave us a brief but righteously enjoyable mini-surge of magazines nominally devoted to power pop. I doubt any of these sold in great numbers, and none of them survived for very long. I'm not talking so much about Jordan Oakes' now iconic Yellow Pills or the late Gary Littleton's Audities; I'm thinking of slicks like Amplifier, Popsided, even Pat Pierson's much-missed Yeah Yeah Yeah, though the latter mag was really about more than just power pop. I loved all of these. And it was in the pages of one of 'em that I first spied a 2001 ad for a new album called Hero And Villain In One Man! The real name behind this work was a Southern California musician named Bruce Gordon; as a recording artist, Bruce billed himself simply as Eclipso.
A little back story: in the '60s, one of the stars of DC Comics' House Of Secrets was Eclipso, "Hero And Villain In One Man." In these comics, a scratch from a mystically-powered black diamond cursed scientist Bruce Gordon, turning him into the super-villain Eclipso whenever an eclipse occurred. And lemme tell ya, there were a lot of eclipses in the DC universe. This Jeckyll-and-Hyde character never really caught in with readers; Eclipso's sole pop-culture immortality came via a battle with Batman in The Brave And The Bold # 63, and even that only because the book included a scene of the Caped Crusader publicly spanking the lovely Marcia Monroe.
Nonetheless, having the same name as a comics character inspired the real-life a-rockin' and a-rollin' Bruce Gordon to choose Eclipso as his own nom du bop. And, of course, the release of Eclipso's Hero And Villain In One Man! CD allowed Bruce Gordon to edge out The Shazam in the race to be the first 21st century pop act to receive a cease-and-desist from DC Comics. The album's title was shortened to Hero And Villain, and Bruce became Mr. Encrypto.
I don't recall the sequence of events that brought Bruce Gordon and This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio together. I think Dana had a copy of Hero And Villain before I did, but man, we both sure loved that album. "The Last Time," "Long After Long," and a dreamy cover of Len Barry's "1-2-3" were immediate TIRnRR faves. Bruce was appreciative of the appreciation, and we all became friends. Somewhere in this vague time frame, Bruce also hipped us to his way-fab concept Let's Be The Beatles, which explores the idea that The Beatles' influence has been so vast and pervasive that every single track The Beatles released has inspired one (or usually many) attempts by other artists to rewrite the song as a theoretical original: "I Saw Her Standing There" begets "She's The One" by The Chartbusters, "Taxman" begets "Start!" by The Jam, "She's A Woman" begets "She's About A Mover" by The Sir Douglas Quintet, and so on. The concept is so rich and rewarding that Bruce has visited Syracuse four times already to host "Let's Be The Beatles!" editions of TIRnRR--and we're still only up to late '64/early '65!
Bruce followed Hero And Villain with the likewise intoxicating Secret Identity Crisis in 2003. Secret Identity Crisis is highlighted by "Rock And Roll Is Killing Me (Softly)" and "Rock And Roll Is Killing Me (Loudly)," acoustic and electric versions of the same song, bookending another winner from Mr. Encrypto.
Sadly, this has been the last Mr. Encrypto album released to date. But don't despair! Through TIRnRR, Bruce met guitarist Joel Tinnel and Spongetones bassist Steve Stoeckel; with drummer Stacy Carson, these four became Pop Co-Op, whose debut CD Four State Solution is your favorite album of 2017. The fact that each of the band members lives in a different state has prevented them from playing live--or even in the same room--but Bruce and Steve played as an acoustic Pop Co-Op duo at the 2017 International Pop Overthrow in Los Angeles.
Right as This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1 was going into final production in 2004, Dana played a new track he'd just received from Bruce. It was an a cappella version of the Hero And Villain track "The Last Time," and it was just gorgeous. There had been a tease of this version as the virtual inner groove of Hero And Villain, but hearing the full version? I wailed and cursed, bemoaning the fact that the track arrived too late to include on TIRnRR # 1. We made damned sure to include it on Volume 2. It is now one of the dozen or so tracks that define TIRnRR's long and storied history.
Years later, Bruce also sent us an unreleased track he billed as by Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. "Home On The Radio" speaks to the raison d'etre of little mutant radio shows like ours: our signal may be weak and thin, but pick us up and we can bring you in. It is the perfect song to close This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4.
Hero and villain in one man? Bruce is always the former, never the latter. The music plays us out, and the people are safe once again: home on the radio, thanks to Mr. Encrypto.
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
No comments:
Post a Comment