Monday, December 11, 2023

“See Who’s Laughing”, Swimming with Sharks-Get Smart!—NPA

This way: See Who’s Laughing

Near Perfect Album

Really a fantastic band, and plenty of near perfection to go around with this band. Great friends of mine from the Chicago days, saw them live a ton of times and always a great show. Is this record better than Action Reaction? I just listened to each a few times and it’s a toss up. But I landed here. Get Smart! is a three-piece post-punk band formed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1980 consisting of Marcus Koch, Lisa Wertman Crowe and Frank Loose. The band released 2 studio albums along with some singles and EPs over a 10-year career. The band re-united in 2020.

The band formed while at University of Kansas in 1980 and, along with bands like the Embarrassment, and the Mortal Micronotz, they were prominent in the alternative music scene in Lawrence. They released their first record in 1981, which was a flexi disc released with "Talk Talk" magazine. This was followed by a self-released 4-track EP called Words Move. They had 5 songs on the four band split cassette, released by Fresh Sounds Records, called Fresh Sounds From Middle America (vol 1) (the four bands being Get Smart!, the Embarrassment, the Yard Apes and the Mortal Micronotz). In 1982 they relocated to Chicago, Illinois. The group were signed by Colin Camerer to his Fever Records label (an independent label in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and released their first album, Action Reaction in 1984. Their second album, Swimming with Sharks, was released in 1986 on Enigma Records' "Restless Records" imprint.


[Spotify, album] Swimming with Sharks 

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