Echo Beach / Martha and the Muffins Live at Ontario College of Art 1978

This early rendition of 'Echo Beach' comes from footage shot by Henry Dunsmore and Robin Cass of Martha and the Muffins performing for the second year at the annual Hallowe'en Dance at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto on October 27, 1978. (The band's very first gig ever had been a year earlier at the same event.) Video cameras were very cumbersome at the time, with open reel, black and white video tape being the standard. Several years later, the original open reel tapes literally started to fall apart as they were being transferred to VHS in order to view the footage on a more up to date format. Only a few songs remain in a viewable state although the badly damaged sections are interesting in their own right as they flicker intermittently between figuritive and purely abstract images. Within eight months of this performance, MatM was signed with Virgin Records in the U.K. and 'Echo Beach' would go on to become an international hit in 1980. In 2005, Toronto Star music critic Vit Wagner wrote, "...Echo Beach, 25 years after it became an international hit, is one of the most, if not the most, iconic new-wave touch-stone in Canadian history."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Martha and the Muffins
• Martha & the Muffins
• Echo Beach
• New Wave
• M+M
• MatM
• M&M

[Jandressa64]

Could you please post "Song In My Head" - or tell me where I can buy it??

[marthaandthemuffins]

@Jandressa64

Hi there, at this time, 'Song In My Head' is one of the few MatM videos we don't have a master for and we don't want to post an inferior quality copy. We're currently tracking down a master so we can get it up on YouTube asap. We will be reissuing 'The World Is A Ball' on CD in the not-so-far future which includes 'Song In My Head' but at this time it is not legally available for sale. Stay tuned for updates and thanks for asking. Martha & Mark

[thegoldenyear]

This is great. That rippling Haas sax solo was in place from the start! Damaged or not, this footage is NEAT.

Question to M or M: Carl Finkle's the blond fella on the right. Did he in fact go on to manage Spoons?

[marthaandthemuffins]

That is correct!

[neostriderbzk]

you should upload more songs from this venue =-)

[marthaandthemuffins]

Hey n,

Unfortunately, most of the footage is very badly damaged. There is very little of it that is in any kind of viewable condition but we may eventually post whatever we can save from the original reels. MatM

[emanuele6461]

One of the great pop songs of all time, Canadian or otherwise...

[AICXCNIKAO]

Really glad this video footage survived. You guys were getting a really tight sound even back then. Best wishes, Brendan, Ireland.

[helpanna]

Shit man, keep it coming and thnx

[rhymeandreasoning]

I FINALLY received the M + M 'World Is A Ball' (cassette) yesterday in the mail..I have been trying to find it on cassette for a long time..finally a guy had it on Ebay.. was very happy to finally have it in my collection.. :-) Kirk..Montreal, Canada

[PlanetNamedDesire]

cool, i would like to have gone to that

[jawkneekat]

To die for footage. Thanks for sharing.

[Jandressa64]

Thank-you so much for the reply :) It's worth waiting for a good quality recording. I will stay tuned and look forward to seeing it up at some point - and buying the CD when it comes out!!

[exDrBob1]

WOW!!