(Melodic Rock/AOR) The Difference - Groundswell - 1991, MP3, 320 kbps

very hard to find cd, THE DIFFERENCE - GROUNDWELL, 1991, 14 tracks on Bad Dog Records, for fans of lite 80's aor, like early journey, blvd, etc...
Local Bands he Difference rocks Ann Arbor n March of 1986, Ramsey Gouda, Randy Martin, Tom Cambell, Marty Heger and formed one of Ann Arbor ' s hottest bands, The Difference. Aside from Ann Arbor, The Difference has played in Detroit, Indianopolis, Chicago, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and New York, and it plans on touring much of the rest of the country in the future. " We ' re long term, " says Campbell, the drummer for The Difference. If The Difference could tour with any of today ' s bands, each member has his own idea of with which group their music is compatable. Their diversity and differ- ent personalities show in their music. " Tina ' s abstract, she ' s theoreticial and conceptual, " explains Ramsey Gouda, the band ' s lead guitar and vocal. plays keyboards for the hot local group. Tom sees himself as " a wild man. My music is all guts, and very physical; it ' s a primal level of music. " Randy Martin plays bass guitar and does vocals. " Randy is musically amaz- ing, " said Ramsey, " He ' s (Randy is) gift- ed, " adds Tom. Randy is the shyest of the group until he is on stage, then he comes alive, much to the crowd ' s delight. Ram- sey strives for the unusual whereas Marty simply plays an awesome guitar. To com- bine these different personalities and styles of music into one sound is difficult, but the result is sensational. To describe the music of The Difference in one word is impossible because the band ' s " purpose is to communicate " to everyone and everyone gets something different out of their music. Tina summarizes that " to some people we ' re red, to other people we ' re blue, but at least we ' re a color. We ' re unique because we mean so many different things to so many different people. " Perhaps the most incredible fact about the band is that its members continue to be students at U-M. is in the School of Music. Gouda is an LSA sen- ior. Campbell is a graduate student in Rackham. Again, the backgrounds are different, but they all point toward a common goal. The Difference has already produced an album and with its popularity grow- ing, the talented group of local musicians may soon have the opportunity to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people in a lot of different places. That ' s what making a difference is all about. ^ By Susan Marcottej 172 LOCAL BANDS ”
In college, I spent many many hours in the used cd store, sitting on a stool in front of the disc-player, a stack of random cds at my side. Sometimes Adam & I were there together, sometimes I was alone with the music. In fact, if I'm honest, that may just be my faulty memory - Adam, or other friends, may have been there every time, and I'd still have been alone with the music once the headset was on.
Every spare dollar I had went to buying music, $7 apiece used. If I could get 10 seconds into most songs on an album and like them, then I was in. I'd listen to anything.
Music was a huge deal for me. The cd player was front and center above my dorm-room desk, with all my favorite cds within reaching distance. Music was played at top volume, the better to feel it wash all over me. I have loved re-finding these college-favorite cds, tucked away in boxes and shuttled from place to place ever since: The Cure's Wish, The Smiths, Tori Amos.
The album in question today is one of those CDs I picked up in the early 90s, a little indie thing put out by a Bad Dog Records in 1991 for a band apparently based in Ann Arbor. If I can be frank, the rest of the album is crap - or, if I'm feeling generous, highly not to my taste. But this song - this song is incredible, full of great harmonies, a free-wheeling tempo, and an exuberant and joyous melody.
I wanted to share it with you all, and not only am I unable to find a share-able you-tube or equivalent version, I struggle even finding mention of this band. Well, 1991 - a lot has changed since then, don't we all know. I sat down with the cd today to try to decipher the lyrics, with limited success. I can't quite unravel the story these lyrics tell. But the idea of "Back to your source": that, I can get behind.
Back To Your Source, by The Difference, off their album Groundswell
Lyrics by Ramsey Gouda, (c) 1991 RamsJams Music (BMI); music by The Difference (c) 1991 No Beard Music (BMI)
Walk across the water
There's the devil's daughter
And I sing it (for the change to my mind, I sing it for my __?)
And so we live (.............?)
with these bloodstains on our hands.
Once, I could walk to you; the solitude was more than we could share
But now you've gone away, and there you stand, cold naked and bare
Is there something you're searching for? I don't know.
If there's something you're searching for, let it show.
Have the years of discovery taken the toll?
Like the sheets of eternity, they unfold.
Go back in, go back in, go back in, go back to your source.
Once passion flowed through you like hoping(?) to your neverending seas
would carry me away, into that place where (?) grow.
Is there something you're searching for? I don't know.
If there's something you're searching for, let it show.
Was the (white) like the river when you're so (?)
With a tragic embrace, I ask: Where'd you go?
Go back in, go back in, go back in, go back to your source.
Time turns to windows through which we can see where we have been.
I've seen the broken face of empty spaces between you & me.
Is there something you're searching for? I don't know.
If there's something you're searching for, let me know.
Should the years come between us, I want you to know
I will love you forever, 'cause you're in my soul.
Go back in, go back in, go back in, go back to your source.
I'll be there for you.

Tom Campbell - Drums
Ramsey Gouda - Guitar, Vocals
Marty Heger - Saxophone
Tina M. - Keyboards, Vocals
Randy Martin - Bass, Vocals