The Couper Brothers / Gold Dust have renewed interest with their original Gold Dust vinyl going for megabucks on the web. Scott Couper and his brother Jay Couper are putting the finishing touches on their new CD – “Gold Dust – 29th Aniversery Deluxe Edition” which features their first critically acclaimed 1986 album “Gold Dust” in its entirety, bonus studio tracks, rare live tracks and a bonus DVD with live performances, rehearsals and other fun stuff.
Three of those bonus tracks not on the original release are “Fear of the Unknown,” “Try Again,” and “You’ve Got A Lot To Learn.” Here are reviews of those three “lost” songs re-mastered and ready to be unleashed upon the planet.
Fear of the Unknown
The Couper brothers, also known as Gold Dust, create simple songs with complex arrangements and straight-ahead themes. “Fear of the Unknown” is a different direction where the riff borders on Rush-like attitude with a Leslie West’s Mountain undercurrent on the drums, Jay Couper doing a couple of nice Corky Laing-ish runs. The two minutes and sixteen seconds don’t have keyboards of heavy production, as the duo has employed on some of its other material. This is no-nonsense in your face, snarling guitar taking the listener down a dark path, the rabbit hole that takes one to the world where the sentinels crawled through the Matrix. A nice song if the Wachowski brothers ever resurrect the series and do a Matrix IV.
Try Again
Guitarist Scott Couper is on vocals here on four minutes and two seconds of crunch rock. Scott uses the Richard Nolan lecture lyric (with, perhaps, some Nolan influence on the singing style) as the guitars build a framework, a rhythm buzzing while the lead notes blitz like red hot meteors showering down. Should help bring more attention to the earlier titles that were initially issued on the vinyl release.
You’ve Got a Lot To Learn
The three minutes and seven seconds of “You’ve Got A Lot To Learn” is about disagreement, circular guitars and a constant rhythm bolster the harmonies on this admonition not looking for a response. The intentional low-fi production from these two excellent musicians is what is back in vogue in 2014, so the timing is perfect as vinyl collectors to go wild on this classic material. Can’t wait to hear all the bonus stuff.
Scott Couper writes out the sheet music to their compositions, and the guys spend countless hours honing the material. Which is why there’s such a run on the first pressing making this impending reissue all the more exciting.
Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, and a variety of other media outlets. Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a seventeen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.
