Tommy Keene's major label debut on Geffen records came out in 1986, and it enjoyed full-time residence on my turntable and pervaded the local radio airwaves for weeks. I know some critics and fans weren’t thrilled about Geoffrey Emerick’s tendencies for heavy-handed production, but I honestly didn’t mind. The album sounded like a natural culmination of Tommy’s sparkling power pop performances from the two previous indie label ep’s. Indeed the consensus was this would be the record that would bring him the recognition that was long overdue. It never played out that way, but it should have. With its upbeat hooks and anthemic choruses, Songs From the Film was the perfect album to cherry-pick from when making the countless mix tapes that supplied the soundtrack to my post film-school days in Washington, DC. Years later when I was editing the video from his 9:30 Club show, I added film elements to the blank screen that hung behind the band on the stage. At first, Tommy didn’t even notice the embellishment. I would send him a link to review the edited video before we made it public on YouTube, and it wasn’t until about the fourth review session that he asked, “Hey did you add all that film stuff in the background? That’s pretty cool.”
Apparently Geffen re-released this album with some killer bonus tracks, but I didn’t know about that until after I had dusted off my original LP and digitized it. If you listen closely, you can still hear a few clicks and pops on today’s Happy Medium Song of the Day, “Listen Now.” From one geeky record collector to another, I think Tommy would approve of those minor analog defects.
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Tommy Keene
1958-2017
R.I.P.
1958-2017
R.I.P.