“Sometimes I wish I was blind.
I thought I saw,
a whole lot more,
than this.”

The Book Song (1992) :: Frente!

“The Book Song” was one of my favorite tracks off of one of my favorite TV show soundtracks, “My So-Called Life”. I played that soundtrack to death, both the official one, and the unofficial one that made its way through the fandom (and mailing list) that I once was an active part of.

Frente! was one of those 90’s bands that I came to know through mix tape exchanges. Their cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”, “Labour of Love”, and this song – “The Book Song” — often made their way into the tape track lists.

Though, I cannot quite recall the scene this song played over on the show, “The Book Song” does bring back the memories of falling in love with the show, and being a part of such an amazing community as the one I found among the fans of the show. Some of my best friends came out of that time in my life.

Listening today to the song, I’m realizing how sad it is. It is very much a break-up song, and not just a break-up, but a broken heart/disappointed in love kind of song. Those last two lines (quoted above) really lay a punch, and resonate in that place we all have where we’ve been let down by love before.

Frente! are an Australian band which originally formed in 1989. The original line-up consisted of Simon Austin on guitar and backing vocals, Angie Hart on lead vocals, Tim O’Connor on bass guitar (later replaced by Bill McDonald), and Mark Picton on drums (later replaced by Alastair Barden, then by Pete Luscombe).

In August 1991 they issued their debut extended play,Whirled, which included the track, “Labour of Love”. In March 1992 they released a second EP, Clunk, with its featured track, “Ordinary Angels”, which peaked at # 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

It was followed in October by “accidently Kelly Street” (unintentional misprint of “Accidentally Kelly Street” was retained) which reached No. 4. Their debut album, “Marvin the Album”, issued in November, peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. “Labour of Love” was released as an EP outside of Australasia in 1994 as a CD single with a cover version of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” included.

“My So-Called Life” Soundtrack, from Atlantic Records, originally released on August 25, 1994, then re-released on January 24, 1995.