Saturday, June 16, 2007

Polyrock

Polyrock emerged in the late 1970s as pioneers of post-disco and new-sensibility dance music in New York. The band comprised vocalist Catherine Oblasney, guitarist Billy Robertson and Tommy Robertson, drummer Joseph Yanece, and keyboard player Lennu Aaron. 

During their brief existence, they released two records on RCA in 1980 and 1981, Polyrock and Changing Hearts and an EP entitled ‘Above The Fruited Plain’. Polyrock’s self-titled album was released in 1980 and produced by Philip Glass. It was influenced by Television and Brian Eno and the 70s art rock scene. Their only two single releases from their debut album were "Romantic Me" and ‘Working on my Love’.

Their second album Changing Hearts follows the same basic pattern but loosens up the sound, occasionally breaking away from austere dance music for a taste of straightforward pop, including a reworking of the Beatles' "Rain." 

Their third release was an EP entitled ‘Above The Fruited Plain’. The five songs on this EP had more character and melody than any other previous Polyrock release and featured one of Polyrocks best songs "Call of the Wild". Their final release No Love Lost was a compilation of Polyrock’s songs which was released on cassette only and which included a collection of  Polyrock’s live performances, plus unreleased demos dating up to 1984. The band disbanded in 1983.

In 1990, Billy Robertson and Catherine Oblasney formed the group 9 Ways to Sunday and released a self-titled album. Robertson died in September 2018.

Their music was never released on CD until 2007, when it was reissued on Wounded Bird Records.

Related Post