Gleaming Spires: “Welcoming A New Ice Age” (1985/2021) CD Review

As we got into the second half of the 1980s, pop music began to go downhill. At least, that’s how it seemed to a lot of us. But that didn’t mean there weren’t some interesting albums still coming out. In 1985, Gleaming Spires released what would end up being their final LP, Welcoming A New Ice Age, which featured all original material, written by Leslie Bohem and David Kendrick. This was the same year that gave us Talking Heads’ Little Creatures, The Hooters’ Nervous Night, John Fogerty’s Centerfield, Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs, and The Pogues’ Rum Sodomy & The Lash, so there were some other bright spots. But soon after Welcoming A New Ice Age was released, Gleaming Spires came to an end. In the liner notes for the new expanded re-issue of the album, Les Bohem and David Kendrick talk about the planned tour which never happened and brought about the band’s demise. This new edition was remastered and includes a lot of bonus material, including songs from the movie School Spirit and the two tracks recorded by Eleven Blue Men. None of the bonus tracks had been previously released. The band for this album was made up of Les Bohem on vocals, bass, acoustic guitar and synthesizers; David Kendrick on drums and percussion; Bob Haag on guitar and backing vocals; Jimbo Goodwin on keyboards; and Greg Penny on synthesizers, guitar, and backing vocals. They also had some guests joining them, including Bobby Moore on saxophone, Dana Wylie on trumpet, Jonathan Gold on cello, and several backing vocalists.

There are moments in the opening song, “Mercy,” that will remind you of the band Big Country, and in the new liner notes both Les Bohem and David Kendrick mention the influence of that band. The music is certainly pop, but the song’s lyrics, as you’d expect from these guys, are better than most of what was being heard at the time. Here is a taste: “For we want no more/Than to bask beneath your warming sun/We want no more than to thank you/For a life that will not drag us down.” That’s followed by the album’s title track, “Welcoming A New Ice Age,” a delicious pop number about the end of the world as we know it, and welcoming it, just as the title says. “Not a sign of animal life/Not a sign of all mankind/Ice age, ice age/White, white blinding rays/Welcoming a new ice age.” I guess maybe it’s always felt like things were going wrong, but of course the 1980s were a terrible time politically, with that demented rat bastard Reagan in office. This track is one of my favorites.

“Tearaway” is a slower, rather pretty song with a really nice vocal performance. It is also a twisted sort of love song that opens with these lines: “I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear/That I’d kill anything for you.” I love how this band can surprise you with its particular take on a subject, with its unusual lyrics. Then “No One Coming Over” is an odd and kind of wonderful song about creating a certain appearance in an effort to appeal to others, just in case someone shows up. This song reminds those folks that it’s not happening. “I know you’re going to like my living room/My records, my wardrobe/My life.” That’s followed by “Your Secret Room,” which features some nice work on bagpipes toward the end, an excellent addition. Then as the other instruments fade, the bagpipes are what remain at the end. That’s Campbell Naismith on bagpipes.

In “Bigger Than Life,” they sing “More people have to know I’m just a fraction of myself/I am only a minimum of what I can become.” Don’t most of us feel that way? That we all have greater potential than what we’re displaying, that we are capable of bigger and better lives, that those bigger lives are ready to leap out at any moment. And the energy of this song, particularly of the vocal performance, seems to say that moment is at hand. That’s followed by “The Things I Have Done To Our Love.” The lines from this one that stand out for me are “Times we live in make love so very hard/When we both work for thieves/And every little grief is a major problem/By the end of any week.” Those are excellent lyrics. Then “Blowing Up My Life” is an interesting song about a demolition man who brags as the song begins, “I can blow up anything/Schools go up like rockets.” He is now questioning his own life, and turns his skills on himself, the song presented with a wonderfully dark humor. This song ends with a frightening thought, particularly in these days of rampant gun violence: “Everything will go, everything explodes/I’m blowing up my life (blowing up my life)/Celebrities in houses (blowing up my life)/Families on vacation/Everything will go, everything explodes.”

“What’s Coming Next” has a great punk edge and energy, and features a really good bass line. Also, it feels timely with lines like “We’ve all achieved a great uncertainty/Only senselessness/Sinks through the mesh/Through the repetition and consistent stress.” But I think what I love most about this track is that intense instrumental section in the second half. It’s fantastic. This is another of my personal favorites. That’s followed by “Unprotected,” which begins with vocals and a beat, and soon takes on a rather haunting vibe, while featuring an excellent vocal performance. Check out these lyrics: “I was made to touch your quiet parts/And the ritual bed/And the cold but gentle night/Are the slowly fading secrets/That might help me save my life.” The original album concludes with “Harm,” a weird one that begins with the word “harm” being chanted. And it just goes off from there, showing just what this band was capable of. It is another of the disc’s highlights.

Bonus Tracks

This expanded edition of the album contains eight bonus tracks, all previously unissued. The first five come from the movie School Spirit, which came out in 1985. Was there really no soundtrack released for this film? Crazy. The first of these tracks is “Here Comes Mr. Funhog,” and with a title like that, how it could it not be fun? There’s not a whole lot to it, but it is an enjoyable rock tune. Then “Dedication” comes on strong. This is a song that they originally recorded when they were still Bates Motel, and that earlier version is included in the expanded edition of Gleaming Spires’ first album, Songs Of The Spires. That’s followed by “I Want More.” Unlike most of their songs, this one doesn’t have all that much going on lyrically. But it is a catchy rock song. Then “A Boy And A Girl” is a fairly straightforward rock song. “I’ll get it right tonight/I’ll tell you what/I’ve got to find a good time.” The last of the songs from School Spirit is a cover of “Suspicious Minds,” one of only two covers on this disc. They deliver a seriously good, energetic rendition.

Then we get the disc’s other cover, an unusual take on Bob Dylan’s “It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding.” It has a punk edge, with a certain amount of anger in the vocal delivery. And the energy seems to build even more as it goes. It is a captivating rendition. This is the first of the two Eleven Blue Men tracks. Eleven Blue Men was to be their next band after Gleaming Spires was done, but only these two songs were recorded. The band was made up of Les Bohem on vocals and bass, David Kendrick on drums, and Paul Cutler on guitar. It’s followed by the other Eleven Blue Men song, “Crumbling,” an original composition by Bohem and Kendrick. Check out these lyrics: “These eyes are sad and red now/They’ve never come to grips/With mistakes I’ve made now/Now nothing seems to fit/Let my entire life happen to me all the time/And at the very end I’ll be left clinging to the land/Just a smoking ruin of a man.” This disc then concludes with “That’s It, Forget It,” a strange track that, according to the liner notes, was assembled from taped conversations.

CD Track List

1. Mercy
2. Welcoming A New Ice Age
3. Tearaway
4. No One Coming Over
5. Your Secret Room
6. Bigger Than Life
7. The Things I Have Done To Our Love
8. Blowing Up My Life
9. What’s Coming Next
10. Unprotected
11. Harm
12. Here Comes Mr. Funhog
13. Dedication
14. I Want More
15. A Boy And A Girl
16. Suspicious Minds
17. It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding
18. Crumbling
19. That’s It, Forget It

This special, expanded edition of Welcoming A New Ice Age was released on September 17, 2021 through Omnivore Recordings.