THE BRAINS

“Money Changes Everything”

(Atlanta 1978)

Nothing touches this record’s epic hopelessness.

You probably know the cover version from the Cyndi Lauper album that sold 5 million copies. That’s good, because it means Tom Gray’s songwriting royalties were enormous.

But The Brains’ original version mixes Roxy Music synthesizer yearning with an incredibly blunt garage punk anger. That directness makes for a bitter alienation far more disturbing than anything in the Factory Records catalog.

“Money Changes Everything” came out on Gray Matter Records with two different silkscreen sleeves, each designed by Sean Bourne

The single got the band signed by Mercury Records in the UK and the first album featured a de-fanged re-recording of “Money Changes Everything.” A second album followed right away but neither record was a hit. The band didn’t dress like punks or new romantics, so they were doomed over there from the start.

The original lineup of the Brains featured Rick Price on guitar. Mauro Magellan became the band’s drummer for their last tour. Rick later switched to bass and joined the Georgia Satellites with Mauro.

As far as I can tell, this version of the song has never been reissued or compiled on CD. Even though I’m sure Tom Gray welcomes the money that came from the Cyndi Lauper version, the magnificence of this record has been almost completely obscured.

• Download “Money Changes Everything”

(Gray Matter Records GM 1)

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Rock, Georgia, 70s. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.