March 4, 2021.
Lawrence, Kansas in the 1980s must have been a great music town for music. I knew that The Embarrassment had come out of that scene, but I’d never heard of Get Smart!. Two great bands can easily make a vibrant scene.
Get Smart! has a punk sound reminiscent of Pylon and The Urinals/100 Flowers. Sometimes the vocals remind me a bit of Talking Heads-era David Byrne.
Get Smart!’s presence on Bandcamp consists of a couple of old physical releases (”Words Move EP” and the excellent “Live at CBGBs Singles”). But they’ve also recently released an “old” album (”Oh Yeah No”) - produced in the 80s but the final mixing was recently completed with the help of Steve Albini.
“Words Move” was released by Syntax Music in 1981. “Live at CBGBs Singles” was released by Fever Records.
