![]() The sound of Fall is a bit more polished, textured, evenly paced, and varied than Burning in Water/Brave Noise, in other words: a somewhat predictable pattern for the band to follow. The CD version of the record includes Burning in Water, making the collection a slam-dunk for fans of intelligent melodic post-punk. Bassist Chuck Freeman entered the fray as Leonard's replacement, the two sharing the workload for the band's follow-up LP, Brave New Noise, released in 1989. ![]() All the while, Chambers continued to write for Moving Targets. The disarray sidetracked the group and Chambers acted as a second guitarist for a few years with one of the first punk metal bands Bullet Lavolta. Alas, the volatile lineup was not meant to last, and was soon fractured. Bassist/vocalist Leonard showed an unusual melodic sense on the bass, somehow managing to keep up with the incendiary performances of his partners, while never sounding hurried and rarely approaching the bass like a guitar, unlike some power-trio bass players. Brady proved to be an untouchable drummer, fitting fills, rolls, and crashes into impossibly tight corners like a punk-rock Keith Moon or Neil Pert. Chambers shredded the guitar and his vocal cords on highly crafted songs. The original lineup was the best and most magical. Moving Targets were devastating in a live setting. Any mid-'80s underground rock & roll band in Massachusetts would have been affected by its release and the LP also resonated overseas, where the band toured to some success. The LP announced the arrival of an influential band. While akin to Hüsker Dü's output, the Targets possessed a distinctive and decidedly Boston flair. Burning in Water is its own beast, moving punk-rock songcraft into another class. The Targets do not come off merely as imitators they are eager students who have digested various influences and end up sounding like none of them specifically. Moving Targets learned a great deal from the 1984 Hüsker Dü record Zen Arcade and seem to almost anticipate New Day Rising, latching onto many of the same ideas on Burning in Water: combining the urgent energy and aggression of punk with the understanding and reverence for more traditional forms of music. It openly showed the influences of seminal art-punk-rock group Mission of Burma - a Boston band also capable of punk anthems - as well as another Burma-influenced group, Hüsker Dü, who released their legendary LP New Day Rising the same year as Burning in Water. The album is an essential piece of post-punk, combining the band's love of hardcore, '70s progressive rock, and classic rock. These demo songs form the basis of the band's explosive debut LP, Burning in Water, from 1986. Working with Giordano, the band continued to record, eventually finishing a 15-song demo, which led to their signing to the Boston punk label Taang! (which is also responsible for unleashing Lemonheads and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones on the rock world). Giordano had worked with the influential Minneapolis trio Hüsker Dü, who were clearly a major influence for the Targets. ![]() The LP included three songs recorded with Lou Giordano, one of the founding producers of Boston's legendary Fort Apache studio. After a few years of trying to scrape together gigs in the competitive early-'80s Boston rock club scene, Moving Targets' first significant exposure came in 1984 via Bands That Could Be God (Conflict/Radiobeat), a record of various Massachusetts punk and post-punk bands compiled by Gerard Cosloy, the soon-to-be head of the Homestead and Matador record labels. Forming in 1981 around the songwriting, blistering guitar work, and emotive vocals of Kenny Chambers, the original power trio included bassist/vocalist Pat Leonard and the strong-man drumming of Pat Brady. Read Full Bio Springing from the fertile grounds of Boston's parochial hardcore punk-rock scene, Moving Targets are a little-known but seminal link in a chain that joins hardcore and other early-'80s Boston music strains like collegiate art rock and folk-rock to '90s alternative rock. Springing from the fertile grounds of Boston's parochial hardcore punk-rock scene, Moving Targets are a little-known but seminal link in a chain that joins hardcore and other early-'80s Boston music strains like collegiate art rock and folk-rock to '90s alternative rock.
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