The year is 1978. The city is Vancouver. The scene is New Wave. Enter Pointed Sticks; five rather average nerdy looking guys sporting beaten boots or converse sneakers, clad in black jeans, smoking on cigarettes, and standing with one hand in their front pockets.The group blasts through 24 studio tracks on this fairly comprehensive compilation showcasing the band that once was; Pointed Sticks.



Pointed Sticks got their start when singer and songwriter Nick Jones returned from working in England having just heard the punk revolution picking up momentum. He teamed up with guitarist and friend Bill Napier-Hemy and then began to hire and fire rhythm sections until both were pleased with Ian Tiles on drums. Soon though he was changed to Robert Bruce then to Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery. Tony Bardach was a permanent member on bass. They then hit the studio with their ideas and cranked out music, which probably stands stronger because of history's toll.



The songs at first are fairly expecting. They dabble in Pop quite a bit, but they carry the rapid fire pace of punk with sensibility and sound like a cohesive unit churning out songs like the Bob Rock produced "What Do You Want Me To Do?" and "Somebody's Mom". Nick Jones voice is actually quite alluring, it sounds passionate and carries a sonic presence, he also writes fairly competently. What becomes the staying force in the band is only hinted at in the first few songs featuring drummer Ian Tiles. Once the song "Real Thing" comes on and we are introduced to Gord Nicholl on keyboards and Robert Bruce on drums, the sound opens up. Jones cuts through the song with much greater power and the drumming is more subdued while the keyboard layers the song with a greater complex of sounds. It only develops and broadens from here on.



The band reaches its apex when "Dimwit" is introduced on drums and songs begin to carry more weight to them, rather than being "I Want To Hold Your Hand"-esque new wave pop tunes. The first track he's featured on is "New Ways" which sounds something like Weezer, only less thoughtful. A strong bass intro leads into a crescendo of drumming tempo, a conjoined guitar, and then finally a rolling keyboard chord. It becomes more impressive still when songs like "Real Thing" and "The Witch" begins to become more sparing, less dense, simplified, and ultimately more focused. The band compliments each other nicely and starts sounding less like five guys and more like an interesting band.



This selection encompasses the career of the band, but does not include any live songs, except for three radio broadcast songs. It would be nice to have evaluated the band based on their live performances, judging by what is audible on the radio broadcasts, the band was less than exciting. For all the momentum they built nicely in the studio, they don't seem to deliver the same punchy tactics designed to develop their sound.



A strange little snippet at the end of "Automatic You" has a radio announcer saying "Pointed Sticks, Pointed Sticks, I must tell you, that music does nothing for me whatsoever, it doesn't move my soul, well actually it makes me take off my headphones" and I find myself agreeing with him. Although the music symbolizes a period in history, and the music scene of a city, it doesn't connect very well on a visceral level. The songs are hyper, fun, and nice to listen to, but after a while I could easily see this CD collecting dust.



Track Listing

1 What Do You Want Me To Do

2 Somebody's Mom

3 Real Thing, The

4 Out Of Luck

5 Lies

6 I'm Numb

7 It's O.K.

8 All I Could Take

9 How Could You?

10 Apologies

11 Marching Song

12 True Love

13 New Ways

14 All That Matters

15 Love Or Money

16 Witch, The

17 Real Thing, The

18 You Must Be Crazy

19 Care Less

20 Worse

21 Middle Age Teenagers/No More Love

22 Found Another Boy

23 Middle Class

24 Automatic You