Let's Active - Room With a View

[beaglehowl]

loving this song long time!

[AlamogordoNewMexico]

Wow, I had this on cassette and would listen to it on my Walkman in the train between Koblenz and Cologne. Looking out the window at rainy days anticipating seeing my girlfriend waiting for me on the platform. So bittersweet!

[thenameisbond]

@AlamogordoNewMexico Nice. It's a long way from there to NM. I have family in NM btw.

[cochranexyz]

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!11

[sjburnman]

Back in 1984 I was getting ready to drive from my folks house in Bowie MD back to Eglin AFB and I needed some tunes for the ride. I taped three hours of late night/early morning DJ selections from WHFS. I hadn't been listening while making the tapes so I had no idea what amazing stuff I had captured until I was on the road the next day. There were bands I had never heard of before playing some of the best songs I had ever heard. This was one of them. Thank you for posting this gem!

[thenameisbond]

@sjburnman It's amazing how songs can trigger such vivid memories when we hear them again.

[marker011]

Saw Let's Active quite a few times at the Brewery in Raleigh during the mid-80s. Mitch Easter and Don Dixon (Arrogance) were kind of big deals, back then (still are, IMO). They produced the first REM EP and album (at Mitch's Drive In studio).

I also had a friend in Baltimore around this time. HFS was a real good radio station - that's a true fact.

... brings back great memories!

[clayguy33]

simultaneously blissful and depressed that I am one of 2,300 people to listen to this song on youtube.

[thenameisbond]

@clayguy33 Tx for the comment. I see you are in Norfolk. I'm across the tunnel in Hampton.

[clayguy33]

@thenameisbond !!! Heyo. major geographical unlikelihood. :)

[drmollusk1]

@clayguy33 Don't be, taste is in short supply...

[roblr2006]

HOLY FLASHBACK! Heard this on 88.5 WMNF in Tampa today. Cannot believe I even remembered the words, dont think I have heard this since around 1987.

[nakedgun17]

wow... I live in So-Cal and I stumbled onto this band.. Had a few ladies swooning to these tunes along with the Connells; they must of thought me mysterous

[ryder92111]

I challenge anyone to post the lyrics to this song. They can't be found anywhere.

[progfan10]

@ryder92111 Here's a stab at lyrics: (1st line is tough...) Left a prison's life to prayer [?] Break it down to competing parts, and broken hearts Oh no, start again Wake up walking in fields of glass It breaks with each step, see where you were, but don't disturb No way to get back there [chorus] This is a room with a view See everything for what it is We wanna do what we want forever I wish I was invisible [remainder continued in next post - I'm out of characters!]

[progfan10]

@progfan10 Lyrics cont.: Picture windows against a wall / Its contradiction said nothing's wrong, we get along You know you're something else Broken records, the tune's still [...?] One revolution hides all the rest, the part that's best No crying now [repeat chorus] The sound reflects and tries again And sets itself till it echoes on, unheard along Too much that covers up See this picture from far away Leave out the details it's [...] but we don't care Too much about the rest

[kenricashe]

@progfan10 I always thought it was "House invisible." which also makes sense with the "Room" subject.

[progfan10]

@kenricashe Well, I guess it might be possible, although I don't hear it that way. We'll never really know unless we can find Mitch Easter and ask him!

[janetrex]

I was lucky enough to be living in Chapel Hill and working at a small but important music club called the Cat's Cradle when they first sprang to life. I remember standing there mesmerized when they played this song not believing that three people could produce this sound (and they DID, it sounded just like the studio version in that tiny club that night)! After that, I was a junkie, and went to all the shows I could, and collected all their EP's. Most people don't know what those are anymore.

[thenameisbond]

@janetrex So many great bands in the 80's started out playing in college towns - REM, B52s, etc., etc.

[TimmytheGeek2009]

@janetrex

I know the Cats Cradle because I live in the area now but back in '83 I lived in Jersey and saw them open for R.E.M. at my college pub. It still is one of my all-time favorite concerts.

[Ashes2evil]

@janetrex I used to live right down the street from Cats Cradle. I now live in Raleigh

[chapkaren]

are they still around? I live close to Winston-Salem and would love to see them play

[thenameisbond]

@chapkaren I don't think so. Mitch moved on to other projects.

[TimmytheGeek2009]

@thenameisbond

Mitch still plays in the area solo and with his wife in a band called Shalini or something like that.

[thenameisbond]

@TimmytheGeek2009 tx! good to know

[kevincormier1]

one of my favorite songs growing up