Adrian Borland

Adrian Borland (6 December 1957 – 26 April 1999) was an English singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer, best known as the lead singer of post-punk band The Sound (1979-87). Following a substantial solo career spanning five albums he succumbed to the symptoms of schizoid-affective disorder ^[1] and committed suicide in April 1999.

Early career

Adrian Kelvin Borland was born in England in 1957, the son of Bob and Win Borland, an English teacher ^[2]. At primary school the young Adrian Borland was already friends with future Sound bassist (and Second Layer collaborator) Graham "Green" Bailey ^[3], and would meet Steve Budd, the first manager of The Sound, in his early teens. Budd would later recall, "We met when we were both 14. He was the only other kid I knew with an electric guitar. Even at 14 you could see he was a genius." ^[4]. His first band, the Wimbledon-based punk rock trio The Outsiders, was formed with Borland at its nucleus, manning vocals and guitar. Bob Lawrence was on bass, and Adrian 'Jan' Janes manned the drums. Their debut LP, Calling All Youth, was self-released on their Raw Edge label, and became the first English self-released album ^[5] and won them their first unfavourable reviews: "apple-cheeked Ade has a complexion that would turn a Devon milkmaid green with envy" reported the NME ^[6][7]. An EP that November, One To Infinity, was labelled as "Tuneless, gormless, gutless" (again by the NME ^[8] ) but was praised elsewhere ^[9] and was followed by a second album, Close Up the following year. This received better (but cautious) reviews from the press ^[10][11].

It was after this album that important changes took place that would decide the band's future: Lawrence left to be replaced by Borland's old friend Graham 'Greene' Bailey, and Adrian Janes' departure to go to college ^[12] allowed the band's manager to suggest 28 year-old Mike Dudley in his stead ^[13]. The Outsiders trio became The Sound, a quartet, with the arrival of Bi Marshall (real name Benita Biltoo ^[14]), an acquaintance of Bailey's and the band from around 1977 ^[12]. The new sound was augmented by her use of the clarinet (later saxophone) and synthesizer.

The Sound: 1979-1987

Borland became the kernel of The Sound, being the songwriter, main vocalist and guitarist, penning tracks for the early Propaganda sessions and the Jeopardy recordings (the latter to become The Sound's debut release) ^[15]. From this point on he would become critically acclaimed ^[16][17][18], if never a household name. The Sound's second album, From The Lion's Mouth was even more enthusiatically received ^{[19][20][21][22]}, selling over 100,000 units worldwide ^[23]. Borland's personal productivity was enhanced even more with two collaborations that year, one with Jello Biafra in "The Witch Trials" ^[24] and another with Sound bassist Grahem Bailey in "Second Layer", which spawned the electronic album World of Rubber. The Sound were caught on a downcurve, however, the following year with the release of All Fall Down (1982), an experimental and bitter album that represented the band's resfusal to make more commercial music in order to satisfy their label (Korova, a Warner Bros. subsidiary). Korova responded by dropping them ^[25], while the music press rapidly disowned them; a Sounds review called the album "virtually worthless" ^[26]. The Sound never recovered from this setback, although they did release a mini album (Shock of Daylight), a live album (In The Hothouse) and two further albums (Heads and Hearts and Thunder Up) over the next five years. These were all released on small independent labels, and never reversed the band's vanishing profile.

Although it is unclear as to when Borland was diagnosed with his condition, from 1985 onwards the symptoms of his depression became more and more apparent ^[27]. His problems would manifest themselves in many of the songs on The Sound's final album, Thunder Up, as well as in the schizophrenic layout of the piece; while the initial tracks deal with confronting issues (for example "Acceleration Group", "Barria Alta") the second half proceeds at an entirely different tangent, becoming either tortuous ("Shot Up And Shut Down"), frenetic ("I Give You Pain") or mournful ("You've Got A way"). The touring for Thunder Up culminated in disaster for the band when Borland left halfway through a set at Zoetermeer, the Netherlands. It would be the last Sound gig ^[28]. Dudley described the breakup in 2004:

"We had decided the three of us, Colvin, Graham and myself, to tell Adrian that the Sound needed a break and that he should get some rest and some help,

and that in the meantime we would go off and look at other things...but when it came down to it I sat there and listened to the others say “Yes, Adrian. No, Adrian” to Adrian, who wanted despite everything to go on, and I just said at that point “I’m leaving the band”, my intention being that the band would come to an end there and then." ^[29]

The band continued without Dudley into 1988, but soon collapsed. The Big Takeover lamented that it was "Like an old friend losing a long fight with a disease" ^[30]. Borland would later blame himself for the breakup of The Sound ^[23].

Post-Sound: 1988-1999

Early Solo Career

While his former bandmates discontinued their musical careers, Borland moved to the Netherlands in 1988 in order to found yet another band, after initially going there on holiday and to meet his manager (Rob Acda) ^[31]. Adrian Borland and The Citizens was formed there, taking advantage of the popularity of The Sound on the continent, and the relative inexpense of venues in the Low Countries ^[32]. Musically, this was a period of unprecedented collaboration for Borland; for instance, he worked (albeit under the pseudonym "Joachim Pimento") with the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils right up until their final release Psychic Hit List Victim in 1991 ^[33].

In 1989 Adrian Borland and The Citizens released Alexandria, a huge departure musically from Thunder Up and featuring four backing vocalists, bass, cello, clarinet, drums and kettle drums, piano, saxophone, harmonica, tambourine, viola, violin and guitar. Some continuity was provided by former Sound bandmate Colin 'Max' Mayers collaborating by reprising his role of keyboardist, while Nick Robbins again engineered and co-produced the album with Borland.^[34] The album featured much calmer, lighter tracks than those on Thunder Up, such as "Light The Sky" and "Rogue Beauty". As always, some tracks deal with Borland's own precarious emotional state, such as "No Ethereal" and "Deep Deep Blue". In an interview with Melody Maker the same year, Borland said of the title:

"I think The Sound suffered from this image of being blunt and straightforward and hitting you in the face with what we wanted to say, right from "who

the hell makes those missiles?" So I wanted something more vague, something almost without reason."^[35]

The album, however, suffered from poor sales, selling an estimated 10,000 copies on the continent and a mere 1000 in England. Borland attributed this to poor distribution ^[23]. Although Borland expressed an interest in re-forming his old band, The Sound never re-formed: bassist Graham Bailey moved to the United States in the early 90s; keyboardist Max died on Boxing Day 1993 from an AIDs-related illness; and an undisclosed antagonism had caused an irreparable rift between Borland and drummer Mike Dudley. Speaking of a possible reformation in 1992, Borland said:

"it's my fault 'cos I started this rumour at an Iggy or Kraftwerk gig earlier this year, it's definitely not happening, for a

start the person who probably won't do it is the drummer. But even Graham & Max have gone off the idea now. Graham & I are going to do something in the future, but we're so busy you know? When I'm not busy he's busy, we never find the right moment." ^[23]

1992 saw the release of Brittle Heaven, which would later lend its name to the (now official) Adrian Borland website. With a menagerie of 14 songs with little difference in style to those of his previous release, the real difference now lay in the composition of the Citizens, which was by now almost exclusively Dutch. Don Victor now co-produced with Borland ^[36]. Although Allmusic described it as 'one hour of finely woven tapestry, of gorgeous music' and proclaimed it to be 'Not quite as good as 1989's Alexandria', both albums shared three stars out of five ^[37]. The album benefits from lavish investment in production, although this puts it in a similar position to The Sound's Heads & Hearts album in that it is much more polished than Borland's other solo material. Critical reception ranged from the noncomittal to welcoming; David Cavanagh spoke of 'a strange, dizzy optimism' pervading the album, which he gave 4 stars ^[38]. A 3 star review provided by Dave Morrison argued '[Borland's] reflective writing remains as good as ever' ^[39]. The Big Takeover went further, proclaiming it 'inspired' ^[40].

Around this time also Borland began working on music production; he produced albums by Felt, Into Paradise and Waiting Sound. ^[23]

Mid-Nineties

In 1994 Borland recorded his third album, Beautiful Ammunition in the Survival Studios, Acton, breaking with Play It Again Sam to release it on Resolve Records ^[41] and without the and the Citizens tag. While the album departed little from the style and standards set by Alexandria and Brittle Heaven, the money invested was meagre in comparison: '"Beautiful Ammunition" is very simply put together, only acoustic guitar, synthesiser and a few drum machines. Everything is very basic, which I like", Borland said in 1998 ^[42]. One notable change between Brittle Heaven and Beautiful Ammunition is rise of dark, introspective songs, particularly "Lonely Late Nighter" and "In Passing". This is not to say, however, that more confident tracks are banished from the album: "Ordinary Angel" and "Someone Will Love You Today" are perfect examples of this. Critical reception was as muted as always, and mixed where evident; Big Takeover complained that it was 'too light and airy', but vaguely appraised the work as 'finely honed and pleasant' ^[43]. 1995 was to be an important year for Borland; not only was the album Cinematic written and released, but his work with Carlo van Putten, Claudia Uman, Florian Brattman and David Maria Gramse in The White Rose Transmission came to a head, with the side-project's self-titled debut appearing that year. They would continue to perform intermittently throughout the 1990s, Borland being a major contributor ^[44].

Cinematic was a stablemate of Beautiful Ammunition in that it was also created in the Survival Studios and under the Resolve label ^[45], yet demonstrated a further evolution in Borland's musical career. Despite being similarly funded to its predecessor, Cinematic benefited from much better, integrated production as well as punchy tracks such as "Bright White Light". A dream-like atmosphere pervaded the album, establishing itself in indolent, moody tracks like "Dreamfuel" and "When Can I Be Me?". It was, overall, a more coherent attempt than its predecessor, but -predictably- did not win over the public. Critical reception, however, was even more welcoming. With an Allmusic.com ranking of 4 stars the album was lauded:

"Generally quieter but no less intense than much of his '80s work, Cinematic lives up to its name more than once, with mysterious atmospheres

matched by often understated but still sharply realized songs and lyrics." ^[46]

Simon Heavisides stated: 'Isn't it great when your old favourites don't let you down?...[it] leaves you with the feeling at the end that you want to hear the whole damn thing over again." ^[47] Mitch Myers wrote in 1997: 'Everybody is a star, but Borland's cinematic life is well worth watching.' ^[48] Glenn McDonald, however, offered up a less enthusiastic summation: 'The music had an impressive sweep to it, but the production seemed to me to emphasize the mechanical repetitiveness of the arrangements' ^[49] . The album also lent its name to Cinematic Overview the following year, a compilation album of Borland's work reaching all the way back to the mid seventies.

Also in 1996 the newly-formed Renascent Records label reissued Sound records Heads & Hearts (with Shock of Daylight) ^[50] and In The Hothouse ^[51], complete with new packaging, and liner notes by Borland himself.

Later Years

Borland's last release during his lifetime was the album 5:00AM. A switch to Earth Records and a slight change of crew -Tim Smith of The Cardiacs now co-produced with Borland ^{[52] [53]} - were the only ostensible differences between the new work and Cinematic. However, the money invested in the album allowed for much better production, a direct result of which was the recording and inclusion of "Baby Moon", a song which Borland had held onto since 1993 but did not want to waste 'on a lo-fi production' ^[54]. The songs are generally punchier and more radio-friendly, such as opener "Stray Bullets", "City Speed" and "Redemption's Knees", but containing indolent tracks which, at this point, Borland had made his solo trademark: "Vampiric" is arguably the best example of this in all of his discography. The album is also representative of earlier work in that it does not fail to neglect his mental state, dealing with it in an optimistic, confrontational fashion in "Over The Under": 'Under this roof, under the sky/I want to live, at least I'm going to try/But I'm over the under now' ^[55]. That song would prove to be Borland's last single release. The critical reception was, perhaps, the best of any in his lifetime. Glenn McDonald produced the following glowing review:

"5:00am turns out to sound exactly the way I wanted Cinematic to. Borland's voice, when he sings like he means it, is a glorious amalgam of

Burgess, Ian McNabb, Ian McCulloch, Mike Peters, Jim Kerr and Then Jerico's Mark Shaw, the breathy intimacy that for me misfired on Cinematic here filling, elegantly, the roll that hoarse fervor played in his singing with the Sound." ^[56]

Allmusic.com list the album at 3 stars, but give no explanation ^[57]. Borland himself was excited by 5:00AM, and was keen to draw lines between it and his most successful period: '"5:00 A.M" takes up, where "Thunder Up" - which was the last Sound album - left off...It's still the same person, who writes the songs, only a little bit less in love with himself and more worldview orientated." ^[58].

Before attending to what would become his last solo recordings, Borland wrote twelve of the fourteen tracks on The White Rose Transmission's second release, 500 Miles of Desert, recording them with the band between November 1998 and January 1999 and producing the album himself. ^[59] Borland was proud of the work, and said so in his last public writing, dated March 18 1999:

"Everybody involved worked hard but enjoyed themselves immensely and the end result is better than any of us expected. It's hard to be objective

but I' II just say the final mastered slice of silver has rarely left my CD player." ^[60]

Death

By 1999 Borland had lived with severe depression for about 14 years ^[61]. He had still been denied commercial success or widespread popularity outside of continental Europe, and he had tried to commit suicide at least three times, the third (according to his mother Win Borland) when he jumped in front of a car. He had also developed a drinking problem ^[62].

His plans for that year were staggering. Not content with merely anticipating the release of 500 Miles of Desert he expressed the intention to record a sixth solo album with Heads & Hearts producer Wally Brill, a tour of Europe that June to promote the WRT album, a further tour later in the year to promote the new solo release, and 'a 12 song acoustic record with Wally Brill using percussion, trumpet, violin, viola and atmospheric electric guitar' for 2000 ^[63]. Meanwhile the remastering of several The Sound recordings, created at the very start of their career in 1976/77, was underway by Wally Brill. The finished product, Propaganda, was released by Renascent and featured linernotes by Borland, like all previous releases ^[64]. It would be officially released on the 26th of April - the very day Borland would commit suicide ^[65]. Of the plans drawn up by Borland over the winter, only his solo album was undertaken. It was recorded at The Premises, London over a number of months, although Borland himself recorded guide vocals and guitar in the space of about a fortnight ^[66]. After this point his disposition changed. In a letter he wrote to his parents shortly before his death he expressed fear at being sectioned in Springfield mental hospital ^[67]. 'He was returning home distraught and anxious...he had ignored the medical advice to pace himself', his mother, Win Borland, wrote ^[68]. At evidence given at Westminster Coroner's Court it was revealed that he had visited an ex-girlfriend in the days before his death and that his condition had worsened thereafter. The Wimbledon Guardian reported:

"She said: "His thoughts were coming out loud and at one point he said there's always the railway line". She called 999 but by the time

police arrived he had disappeared and was reported as a high risk missing person.

That night Mr Borland turned up at Kennington Police Station claiming he was being chased. Later he rang his mother to say he was in a curry house in Kennington. She alerted police and following a series of phone calls and hold-ups he was eventually dropped off at his mother's home at around 3.15 am by officers who described his state of mind as "lucid"." ^[69]

The night of the 25th Borland slipped away to Wimbledon Station. In the early hours of the 26th horrified commuters watched as Borland committed suicide by throwing himself under a train. He was 41 years of age ^[2]. and was interred at Morden Cemetery, London ^[70], In an account given by drummer Mike Dudley his funeral was attended by his parents, Bob Lawrence and Adrian Janes of The Outsiders, original Sound keyboardist Bi Marshall, early Sound manager Steve Budd and Wally Brill, co-producer of Heads & Hearts and Harmony and Destruction, among a multitude of others ^[71].

Legacy

Although 500 Miles of Desert was released to minimal critical acclaim (but with three stars on Allmusic.com and four stars on eMusic.com ^{[72] [73]}) Borland's work has enjoyed an appreciative critical reception and a lasting fanbase, with sites such as brittleheaven.com and renascent.co.uk providing an online outlet for information and sales. In the Millenium a book of anecdotes written by his friend and colleagues was compiled and published, entitled "Book of Happy Memories ^[74], after the Brittle Heaven song "Box of Happy Memories". 2001 saw in a tribute album, titled In Passing - A Tribute To Adrian Borland and The Sound ^[75], as well as Renascent reissues of Sound albums Jeopardy, From The Lion's Mouth and All Fall Down . 2002 saw the release of Harmony & Destruction, the remnants of his sixth solo album patched up by Wally Brill and the session musicians. The BBC recordings of Sound sessions from the 1980s were released with linernotes by Mike Dudley in 2004 ^[76]. 2006 saw The Amsterdam Tapes ^[77], a demo album from 1992 that was rejected by his label also remastered and rerecorded by his friends; a band of them grouped together later that year under the moniker 'The Sound of Adrian Borland' in order to promote it. That same year five live albums, collectively known as The Dutch Radio Recordings, were released by Renascent. These garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews ^{[78] [79]}. His collaborative project with Graham Bailey in Second Layer was also resurrected in 2009 by Red Sun Records; their 1981 album World of Rubber was remastered and expanded ^[80] and received fan support ^[81].

Musical Style

Influences

Borland's initial influences can be traced through his work with The Outsiders into punk bands of the 70s, such as the Sex Pistols. However, it is clear that he had a broader appreciation for other forms of rock parallel to this; his admiration for The Stooges and Iggy Pop was reaffirmed on several occasions ^{[82] [83]}. Other influences included The Velvet Underground ^[84], Lou Reed ^[85], Jim Morrison and Joy Division ^[86] and David Bowie ^[87]. In terms of admiration for contemporaries, mid-show interview in 1984, he cited New Order, Soft Cell and Eurythmics ^[88]. His favourite bands from the eighties were The Waterboys and Talk Talk ^[82]. He also lauded Ride in the early 90s.^[89].

Popular Themes

Borland's earliest lyrics with The Sound showed a tendency toward introspection, even before their music was really influenced by Joy Division ^[90]. The song "Words Fail Me", was the earliest clear example of this. Many songs simply portray general themes of urban squalor, and political lyrics such as "Cost of Living", "Music Business" and the track "Missiles", which would reach infamy when included on their debut release, Jeopardy. The songs on Jeopardy would largely reflect inward tensions rather than political ones: a curious compromise is reached on "Unwritten Law", an attack on religious dogma surrounding suicide: 'A hand is a hand/A knife is a knife/Blood is blood/And life is life'. From The Lion's Mouth would also contain another reference to religion with "Judgement". Political songs would be largely absent from most further releases; only "Golden Soldiers" ("And I will drink to those who sacrifice and die for me/So I could be so golden") and "Shot Up And Shot Down" ("Most of England is sleeping in the sun/But not me") suggest political topics. In his solo work there are more stark examples, such as "Beneath The Big Wheel" and "The Other Side of The World" on Alexandria and the quasi-religious song "Station of The Cross" on Beautiful Ammunition. As Borland's condition got worse in the latter half on the 90s political themes were dropped as introspective ones once more took precedent.

While Borland denied that music helped him (he claimed it "doesn't make any difference" in an interview in 1992 ^[23] ), after his death his mother wrote that they were at least a cathartic form of therapy and "helped him to come to terms with his problems" ^[91]. Thus it is that we can frequently infer from the body of work he left what his state of mind may have been at various stages of his life. The Jeopardy opener "I Can't Escape Myself" would project Borland's dissatisfaction with himself, and serves as an early example of his more depressive lyrics. "Fatal Flaw", from the generally more confident album From The Lion's Mouth explores mental weakness, a theme repeated more frequently on All Fall Down in the schizophrenic "Party of The Mind" and "As Feeling Dies"; on Heads & Hearts the crazed "Whirlpool" and "Burning Part of Me"; on "Thunder Up" the whole second half of the album. In his solo career songs such as "Deep Deep Blue", "Lonely Late Nighter" and "Stranger In The Soul" parallel Borland's suffering with his condition - by "Harmony & Destruction" it is merely easier to pick out upbeat songs from the multitude of depressed ones.

"Night Versus Day", a Jeopardy song that had also been part of the Propaganda sessions, is an example of Borland's fascination with dichotomy and the themes of light and dark, which were usually used as a metaphor for the polarizing effects of his condition. "New Dark Age" and "Winter" both link the night with fear or slowness. The most obvious Sound song with this idea is "You've Got A Way", the closing track on Thunder Up: "You've got a way/To shoot my night right through with the light of day". It is noteworthy that Borland's first solo single was "Light The Sky", the lyrics of which ae echoed in "Shadow of Your Grace": "You lit up my life and work/It was falling into place". The dichotomy is reversed on the 5:00am track Vampiric: "Before the dawn draws its first breath/Before the Sun destroys what's left/Of us". The album title should also be noted for being the time that dawn usually rises around the equinox. The theme of night and day is brought in as a central concept on the album Harmony & Destruction: the bright opener is "Solar", for instance, while "Startime" and "Heart Goes Down Like The Sun" are dark-named songs about depression. It may be significant that in "Last Train Out of Shatterville", which may be an act of suicide ideation, describes a train pulling out "in the cold morning light", and describes a previous suicide attempt as happening "last dawn as you slipped from curb to bonnet". The final track "Living On The Edge of God" contains the lyric "Strip me down, expose the man/Not a pretty sight in the morning light".

Trivia

• Once claimed his favorite song of all time was The Waterboys' "The Whole Of The Moon".^[92]
• The B-movie Psychomania from 1971 is said to have been a favorite of his.
• Once stated that The Smiths 'are shit' ^[93].
• During his time with The Outsiders he played on stage with Iggy Pop ^[5][23].
• Mark Burgess' song "Adrian Be" is dedicated to him.
• To commemorate his death ten years on, the Facebook group for Adrian Borland organised an 'event', and wrote condolences ^[94]. In addition, members created an unofficial tribute album ^[95].

Discography

The Outsiders Albums

• Calling On Youth (1977) Raw Edge
• Close Up (1978) Raw Edge

Second Layer Albums

• World of Rubber (1981) Cherry Red (reissued 2009, Pop One)

The Sound Albums

• Jeopardy (1980) Korova (reissued 2001, Renascent)
• From The Lion's Mouth (1981) Korova (reissued 2001, Renascent)
• All Fall Down (1982) WEA Records (reissued 2002, Renascent)
• Heads & Hearts (1985) Statik (reissued 1996 with Shock of Daylight, Renascent)
• In The Hothouse (1985) Statik (reissued 1996, Renascent)
• Thunder Up (1987) PIAS

Solo Albums

• Alexandria (1989) PIAS
• Brittle Heaven (1992) PIAS
• Beautiful Ammunition (1994) Resolve
• Cinematic (1995) Resolve
• 5:00 AM (1997) Earth
• The Last Days Of The Rain Machine (2000) Red Sun (Posthumous)
• Harmony & Destruction (2002) Red Sun (Posthumous)
• The Amsterdam Tapes (2006) Pop One (Posthumous)

All Compilations

• Counting The Days (1986) Statik
• Second Layer (1987) LD Records
• Vital Years (1993) Gift of Life
• Cinematic Overview (1995) Setanta
• Propaganda (1999) Renascent
• BBC Recordings (2004) Renascent
• The Dutch Radio Recordings, vol 1-5 (2006) Renascent

All Singles and EPs

• One To Infinity 7" EP (1977) Raw Edge
• Physical World 7" EP (1979) Tortch
• Flesh As Property EP (1979) Tortch
• State of Emergency EP (1980) Tortch
• "Heyday" Single (1980) Korova
• Live Instinct Maxi (1981) WEA Records BV
• "Sense of Purpose" Single (1981) Korova
• "Hot House" Single (1982) Korova
• "Party of The Mind" Single (1982) WEA Records BV
• "Mining For Heart" Flexi (1983) Vinyl Magazine
• "Counting The Days" Single (1984) Statik
• "Golden Soldiers" Single (1984) Victoria
• Shock of Daylight Mini-album (1984) Statik
• "Temperature Drop" Single (1985) Statik
• "Under You" Single (1985) Statik
• "Hand of Love" Single (1987) PIAS
• "Iron Years" Single (1987) PIAS
• Light The Sky (1989) PIAS
• Beneath The Big Wheel (1989) PIAS
• All The Words (1992) PIAS
• Over The Under (1997) Earth

References

External links

• Official website
• Adrian Borland at Allmusic
• Renascent Sound site