SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE WATCHMEN – SILENT RADAR (SUPER DELUXE ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

The Watchmen
Silent Radar (Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition)
Universal Music Canada

25 years after the initial release of Silent Radar, Winnipeg’s The Watchmen, through Universal Music Canada, are releasing a Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition. The Watchmen haven’t released new material since double-album Slomotion in 2001, which consisted of eight new songs and ten ‘greatest hits’, including two songs from Silent Radar plus a remixed version of “Stereo”.

Since then, The Watchmen’s live music experience has been well-received, but sporadic, with the four band members, Daniel Greaves (lead vocals, piano, harmonica), Ken Tizzard (bass, vocals), Joey Serlin (guitars, vocals) and Sammy Kohn (drums, percussion, vocals), going about their solo music and other career paths.

Anyone familiar with The Watchmen will remember them as a Much Music and modern rock staple in the 1990s, and currently as a band who still get regular radio play, with Greaves’ distinctive dulcet tones and the band’s guitars and drums gracing the airwaves. The Watchmen released their first album in 1992 and amassed five studio albums, with Silent Radar being at the peak of their popularity. Silent Radar was produced, recorded and mixed in Seattle by Adam Kasper (Nirvana, Sound Garden, The Tragically Hip) and attained Gold sales in Canada. As a result, The Watchmen received their third Juno nomination for Best Rock Album in 1999. The Watchmen were also hailed for their forward thinking interactive special secret website, which was activated and accessed using the Silent Radar CD. As you can imagine, at the time, this was ground-breaking stuff.

Silent Radar, with 12 songs and clocking in at 58 minutes in length, was a generous album with multiple singles, including “Stereo”, “Any Day Now”, “Say Something” and “Brighter Hell”. Silent Radar Super Deluxe registers at 46 tracks, over 3 hours and 30 minutes long and boasts the original album, radio edits, a live acoustic version, live songs from The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, previously unreleased live studio recordings, a previously unreleased rehearsal take, alternate studio mixes, raw unmixed songs, and songs from The Lost Album.

There’s a lot to unpack here, with the plethora of music offered on Silent Radar Super Deluxe, but highlights include “I’m Blind” (song 13), “Say Something” (live from The Horseshoe Tavern in 1998), “75” (previously unreleased live studio recording), and “Where Am I” (The Lost Album).

It appears The Watchmen will be touring in support of Silent Radar Super Deluxe, with some dates already announced. This mega digital album is a special treat and a flashback to a decade when The Watchmen were teased as the next big Canadian act, and the music they produced reflects that.

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