For this reissue of 7Seconds 1986 release New Wind, original producer Ian MacKaye and Inner Ear Studios’ Don Zientara ‘reimagined’ the album, delivering Change In My Head. The effort removes some songs, remixes the full record, plays with the track order and unearths a few unreleased gems from the original recording session.
New Wind, the title alone declared a change was coming, and it is the 7Seconds album that most original fans felt started moving the group too far from their punk/hardcore roots. MacKaye and Zientara worked to perk up the sound a touch, yet this restored effort still clearly displays a band in transition. 7Seconds, Kevin (Seconds) and Steve (Youth) Marvelli, along with drummer Troy Mowat, were moving away from their punk hardcore youth, growing up, finding jobs, having babies, and looking to expand their sound.
They looked towards artists like U2 (who they thanked in the original liner notes), The Replacements, and more indie rock of the time for inspiration. “Expect to Change” has the Irish band’s influence running through it while still staying heavy, and “Somebody Help Me Scream” would not have been out of place as a Tim outtake. For a band that was pivotal to the straight edge Youth Crew movement, this shift was a bit too mainstream for fans, yet the album has become incredibly inspirational for future pop-punk artists.
That’s where the meat of the record lives, the melodic “Grown Apart” could speak to the scene or life itself, the gang vocals and layered sounds of “Put These Words To Music” had a direct effect on bands like Pennywise and “Man Enough To Care” displays lyrics that influenced future emo artists. 7Seconds kept things rumbling on the bright “New Wind” with its “woah-ho” yells, the bumping “Tied Up In Rhythm” and the anthemic “Still Believe” which slams excellently. A few efforts like “The Inside” and “Just One Day” sound like love children between Dinosaur Jr’s aggression and Soul Asylum’s catchy indie rock.
MacKaye and Zientara’s best work finds them completely (and thankfully) cutting the original album’s experimental closer, the eight-minute “Could Blind Jam,” while unearthing two tunes, “Compro” and “Change In My Head,” that are the heaviest, most hardcore offerings on the album. Clearly, with the original release, 7Seconds wanted to excise these raw bangers for more polished tunes, but now these newly delivered songs add much-needed grit to the record, elevating the project.
Long time 7Seconds fans will likely stick with New Wind (which is also being remastered and released), however Change In My Head will bring a fresh perspective to an album that could certainly benefit from it.
