The vinyl LP will feature eight tracks from the final show of the group’s period at Columbia Records (1982-1986). The CD and download will include an additional four live tracks, including the previously unreleased “Puzzles,” as well as two brand-new songs mixed last year by renowned producer Ed Stasium. All formats are distributed by MVD Entertainment Group (USA) and Wienerworld (UK).
The album is available for pre-order at Bandcamp. A digital single, “These Days to Come,” is out now.
Formed in Los Angeles in 1979, Translator began as the trio of Steve Barton (vocals, guitar), Larry Dekker (bass), and Dave Scheff (drums). After playing a handful of shows, the lineup was solidified by the addition of Robert Darlington (vocals, guitar). Translator relocated to San Francisco and was quickly signed to local label, 415 Records. The timing was fortunate as Translator became one of the first groups to benefit from 415’s manufacturing and distribution deal with Columbia Records. Debut album Heartbeats and Triggers arrived in 1982 and was greeted with critical praise and solid airplay for the career-defining tracks “Everywhere That I’m Not” and “Everywhere.” A video for the group’s anti-nuke statement, “Sleeping Snakes,” received airplay on MTV.
Between 1983 and 1986, the band completed three more albums for Columbia Records. They received significant airplay for "Un-Alone,” from No Time Like Now, which was their second album produced by David Kahne (The Bangles, Romeo Void, Fishbone). For their third and fourth albums — the self-titled Translator and Evening of the Harvest — the group worked with producer Ed Stasium (Ramones, Talking Heads, the Smithereens).
The 1980s were a slightly strange time for a guitar-based group like Translator, as the charts were loaded with synthesizer bands and larger-than-life pop stars. In the first half of the decade, they shared stages with the Kinks, David Bowie, R.E.M., Psychedelic Furs, ABC, Sparks, Romeo Void, Echo & the Bunnymen, Gang of Four, and many others.
Translator had always wanted to release a live album. The closest they came during their Columbia years was 1986’s Evening of the Harvest. Stasium only made subtle additions to the live-in-studio recordings. Between-song ambient sounds and a few other embellishments are among the few ingredients that separate the album from an audio verité recording.
Near the end of the tour in support of Evening of the Harvest, the four members of Translator had decided to go their separate ways.
“We just got back from being on the road, so we were quite warmed up,” said Darlington. “It was an incredibly emotional show for me. You can kind of hear it in the first few songs.” The band opened with “Beyond Today” (from No Time Like Now), establishing a tone — uncertain of the future but unbowed — that carried the entire evening. Steve Barton added, “We tied colorful balloons to the amps to make it a sort of celebration — but it was very bittersweet at the same time. We knew it was the end. I dressed in all white instead of my usual dark clothes…ready for a fresh canvas, I suppose.”
Beyond Today: Live at the Farm – San Francisco 1986 marks the first time this concert has been available as a physical release. For a brief time in 2020, the recording had been available to stream on the group’s website, Translator-Band.com. “The Farm was our last show of the ‘80s and as far as we knew at the time, our last show ever,” recalled Scheff. “It was recorded on a Sony cassette machine sitting on the board near our soundman Floyd Solders. It picked up talking, crowd noise, and exactly what we played in the moment… it captures all the energy we were feeling that night, and all the noise we made!”
To mark the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the band’s breakup, Translator delighted fans with reunion shows in 2006, including performances at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Since then, the band members have continued performing and recording, both together and separately. A fifth Translator studio album, Carriage of Days, was released by the band in 2017.
Beyond Today is rounded out by a special treat for purchasers of the CD or download. The final two tracks, “These Days to Come” and “With Your Dreams,” are newly written band compositions recorded over the past two years by Translator. Both are mixed by Stasium. “It was so cool to work with Ed again,” said Barton. “We have remained close friends throughout the years, and he understood immediately what we were going for with these songs.”
In addition to a new liner notes essay, the package includes a wealth of photographs from The Farm concert.
TRANSLATOR – Beyond Today: Live at the Farm – San Francisco 1986 (LP: LIB-2106; CD/DL: LIB-2105)
CD TRACKLIST:
1. Beyond Today * | 2. Necessary Spinning * | 3. Everywhere # | 4. Nothing Is Saving Me @ | 5. Gravity # | 6. Standing in Line # | 7. Drum/Puzzles/Favorite Drug @ | 8. O Lazarus # | 9. New Song * | 10. These Old Days * | 11. Everywhere That I’m Not * | 12. Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) | 13. These Days to Come @ | 14. With Your Dreams @
* Written by Steve Barton.
# Written by Robert Darlington
@ Written by Steve Barton, Robert Darlington, Larry Dekker, Dave Scheff
All tracks previously unreleased.
Tracks 13 & 14 are studio tracks recorded in 2023/2024 and mixed by Ed Stasium.
# Written by Robert Darlington
@ Written by Steve Barton, Robert Darlington, Larry Dekker, Dave Scheff
All tracks previously unreleased.
Tracks 13 & 14 are studio tracks recorded in 2023/2024 and mixed by Ed Stasium.
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