The Reds -

The Reds were an American hard-rock/punk band from Philadelphia that released a 1979 self-titled album on A&M, followed by the 1981/82 albums Stronger Silence and Fatal Slide on Stony Plain Records.

Members: Rick Shaffer (guitar, vocals), Bruce Cohen (keyboards), Tommy Geddes (drums), Jim Peters (bass)

Background

The Reds formed in Philadelphia as a unit built around guitarist-vocalist Rick Shaffer and drummer Tommy Geddes, who first worked together in the blues-rock band Freight Train, which released the 1971 album Just the Beginning on Fly By Night Records.

By 1977, Shaffer and Geddes formed a new band with keyboardist Bruce Cohen and bassist Jim Peters. Their name made dual reference to red lights and Bolsheviks. They linked with producer Joe McSorley, a soundman on local private-press folk albums by Tim Davis and Scott Hardie-Birney, both recorded at Veritable Studio, the recording site of the 1974 classic Be Thankful for What You Got by soul singer William DeVaughn.

1978 Singles

The Reds debuted with the single “Joey,” an eventual album track backed with the exclusive “Automatic Boy” (3:00), both Shaffer compositions. The back-sleeve contains the punning quote “The Reds are my favorite white band” with a photo of an incognito black man. “Joey” was the inaugural release on GO GO Records (0001), which issued subsequent new wave singles by Helen Wheels, Chandra, The Shades, The Dance, and Crash Course In Science.

They closed out the year with two further Shaffer originals, “Self Reduction” (5:52) and “Victims” (2:51), again produced at Veritable Studio with Joe McSorley. The single appeared on Eke The Record Co., a one-off venture of Larry Wright Productions.

The Reds secured a deal with A&M, which included “Joey” on Propaganda, a new wave multi-artist comp with cuts by Joe Jackson, The Police, Shrink, Squeeze, and former World of Oz keyboardist David Kubinec. The Reds’ inclusion was ironic given the Propaganda album art, which depicts Chairman Mao as the leader of a rock band during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

The Reds

The Reds released their self-titled debut album in July 1979 on A&M. It contains nine tracks, including “Joey” and re-recorded versions of “Self Reduction” and “Victims.”

Musically, The Reds assert a trebly guitar/synth attack shaped by guitarist/singer Rick Shaffer and keyboardist Bruce Cohen, where sustained layers and sharp, short figures rise, break, and fold back into the larger texture. Bassist Jim Peters and drummer Tommy Geddes hold the backbone on shorter cuts and break loose on open passages.

“Lookout” stretches into a long, sustained build, while Shaffer’s lyrics to “Victims,” “Luxury,” and “Over & Over” focus on strained relationships and personal conflict. “Self Reduction” closes the set on its most severe, inward turn.

A1. “Victims” (2:36) – Shaffer
A2. “Luxury” (4:56) – Peters
A3. “Joey” (4:09) – Shaffer
A4. “Lookout” (6:56) – Shaffer

B1. “Whatcha’ Doin’ To Me” (3:21) – Peters
B2. “Not You” (2:38) – Shaffer
B3. “Talking” (3:17) – Shaffer
B4. “Over & Over” (3:09) – Shaffer
B5. “Self Reduction” (5:28) – Shaffer

Sessions took place at Veritable Studio, where A&M soundman David Kershenbaum produced The Reds in sequence with the first two Joe Jackson albums (Look Sharp, I’m the Man) and the 1978/79 Tarney/Spencer Band albums Three’s a Crowd and Run for Your Life.

A&M issued The Reds on green vinyl, the opposite, complementary color of red. The record appeared in a plain red sleeve, housed inside a cover with a bold black-red-white scheme. It shows a slanted down-shot of a stark red table with a pair of red-rimmed shades next to a copy of the famous LIFE magazine photo of the 1952 3-D screening of the Arch Oboler adventure film Bwana Devil. The band name appears in Deco type in the black upper-left margin. Graphic artist Amy Nagasawa designed the visual along with 1979 covers for Head East, Magnet, and Yellow Magic Orchestra, all with comparable use of color and striking imagery.

The Reds (EP)

“Self Reduction” and “Whatcha’ Doin’ to Me” reappeared on a separate EP release, also titled The Reds, released by A&M in November 1979 with two new recordings: “Destination” and the Doors cover “Break On Through,” both produced by Joe McSorley.

A1. “Break On Through” (2:36) – Jim Morrison; originated as the opening track on the 1967 debut Doors album.
A2. “Self Reduction” (5:28)
B1. “Whatcha’ Doin’ to Me” (3:21)
B2. “Destination” (4:32) – Peters, Shaffer

The Reds EP appeared in a xerox-photo picture sleeve that inverted their three-tone scheme with green in lieu of red.

Stronger Silence

The Reds released their second album, Stronger Silence, in 1981 on Stony Plain, a Canadian independent label based in Edmonton, Alberta.

The album contains twelve tracks by the same core lineup: guitarist-vocalist Rick Shaffer and keyboardist Bruce Cohen, who form the sonic frontline, driven by bassist Jim Peters and drummer Tom Geddes. Shaffer wrote seven tracks and co-wrote three with Peters. Cohen co-wrote “The Signal” and lone-wrote “It’s Not The Same Thing.”

A1. “The Danger” (3:05) – Shaffer
A2. “Stronger Silence” (3:36) – Shaffer
A3. “Try It On You” (2:30) – Shaffer
A4. “Don’t Let Go” (4:06) – Peters, Shaffer
A5. “It’s Not The Same Thing” (2:48) – Cohen
A6. “I Don’t Know” (3:10) – Shaffer

B1. “Do You Play The Game” (3:06) – Peters, Shaffer
B2. “Killing You” (3:27) – Peters, Shaffer
B3. “No More” (3:57) – Shaffer
B4. “Driving Me Crazy” (2:15) – Shaffer
B5. “Just A Second” (4:02) – Shaffer
B6. “The Signal” (4:20) – Cohen, Shaffer

Joe McSorley produced, engineered, and arranged the album, with assistant engineering by Mike Lafferty. Stephen Spera designed the minimal grey-scale cover, which uses vintage card illustrations. In the UK and France, Stronger Silence appeared on Kingdom Records with an alternate cover that shows an angled indoor shot of a flying model airplane.

Fatal Slide

The Reds released their third album, Fatal Slide, in 1982 on Stony Plain.

The album runs nine tracks and credits the band as songwriter on five titles, alongside individual and shared writing by guitarist-vocalist Rick Shaffer, keyboardist Bruce Cohen, and bassist Jim Peters, with drummer Tommy Geddes rounding out the core personnel.

Two tracks add horn parts—Louis Parente on “Mister Z” and Frank DiGiovanni on “Forget”—as the set balances shorter cuts against extended arrangements such as the title track and “Mister Z.”

A1. “Five Year Plan” (2:33) – The Reds
A2. “Fatal Slide” (4:15) – The Reds
A3. “Social Service” (2:48) – Shaffer
A4. “Mister Z” (6:10) – Shaffer; features horns by Louis Parente

B1. “Do What You Want” (3:32) – Cohen
B2. “You Don’t Know” (3:26) – The Reds
B3. “Slippin’ So Tight” (5:57) – Cohen, Shaffer
B4. “Gone Too Far” (3:54) – Peters, Shaffer
B5. “Forget” (3:54) – The Reds; features horns by Frank DiGiovanni

Sessions took place at Veritable Studio with producer Joe McSorley and assistant engineers Mike Lafferty and Tom Kaine. Stephen Spera handled cover concept, design, and photography, and the inner sleeve prints as solid black on both sides.

After this release Shaffer and Cohen carried on the Reds nameplate as a duo.

Shake Appeal (EP)

In 1984, The Reds resurfaced with Shake Appeal, an EP on Sire. The EP contains five tracks and centers the same front line—guitarist-vocalist Rick Shaffer and keyboardist Bruce Cohen—now framed by producer Mike Thorne, a prior soundman for Wire and The Shirts. Drummer Mike Spain backs the duo as an auxiliary player.

A1. “Laughing” (3:12) – Shaffer
A2. “Don’t Say It” (3:13) – Cohen, Shaffer
A3. “Waiting For You” (5:09) – Shaffer

B1. “Till The End” (6:09) – Cohen, Shaffer
B2. “Beat Away” (4:44) – Cohen, Shaffer

Sessions took place at Howard Schwartz Recording in New York City with Thorne and engineer Michael Laskow, assisted by Jeff Levy and mixed by Carl Beatty with assistants Phil Wagner and Wayne Yurgelin; Jack Skinner handled mastering.

Stephen Spera designed the cover, which displays a yellow-red image of the duo angled in blue framework.

Shake Appeal caught the attention of Miami Vice producer Michael Mann, who licensed Reds tracks for the popular modern crime drama, which premiered in September 1984 on NBC.

Manhunter (OST)

Michael Mann — who directed the 1981–83 thrillers Thief and The Keep (both scored by Tangerine Dream) — commissioned The Reds for his next film, Manhunter, the 1986 crime thriller adopted from Red Dragon, the 1981 psychological horror novel by American author Thomas Harris.

Manhunter stars To Live and Die in L.A. actor William Petersen as FBI agent Will Graham, a retired profiler pulled back into service to track the “Tooth Fairy” killer, Francis Dollarhyde (Tom Noonan). The story centers on Graham’s forensic reconstruction of the murders and the psychological cost of profiling.

Mann frames the investigation as both procedural and personal: Graham studies crime scenes and consults Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (Brian Cox), a cannibalistic serial killer and onetime FBI agent. Graham gradually identifies a practical clue trail (home movies, film processing, physical details at the scenes) that leads to Dollarhyde. The film alludes to the uneasy overlap between the the killer’s mindset and the profiler’s method.

The Manhunter sountrack appeared in early 1986 on MCA with cuts by Shriekback, Red 7, Michel Rubini, and The Prime Movers, whose marimba-laden “Strong as I Am” played as background music in the film’s trailer. The Reds contributed two tracks: “Lector’s Cell” and “Leed’s House.” In 2020, Intrada re-released the soundtrack with a third Reds track, “Jogger’s Stakeout.”

Manhunter gained cult status for its juxtaposition of audio and visuals, the latter courtesy of Italian cinematographer Dante Spinotti, whose use of cool blues (around Graham) and harsher greens/magentas (around Dollarhyde) illuminated the emotional contrasts of opposing characters.

Band of the Hand (OST)

Mann’s production company also handled Band of the Hand, a 1986 neo noir thriller by Paul Michael Glaser, the actor-turned director best known as Detective Dave Starsky in the 1970s action-crime television series Starsky & Hutch. The Reds contributed five songs to the Band of the Hand soundtrack, which again pairs them with Shreikback and Michel Rubini.

Band of the Hand follows five teenage offenders facing adult prosecution unless they complete an experimental rehabilitation program run by Vietnam veteran “Indian Joe” Tegra. The program pushes the teens into a swamp survival regimen designed to force cooperation, after which the group moves into a vacant house in a dangerous Miami neighborhood and attempts to stabilize the area by driving out pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers. Their efforts collide with the local drug operation led by Cream, triggering escalating violence that ends with Joe’s death and the surviving teens attacking a fortified drug facility.

MCA released Band of the Hand (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), which contains the centerpiece of Rubini’s film score (“Theme From Joe’s Death”) and cuts by Police guitarist Andy Summers and Fort Lauderdale rockers Tiger Tiger. Bob Dylan collaborated on the film’s title song with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

A1. Bob Dylan with The Heartbreakers — “Band of the Hand”
A2. Shriekback — “Faded Flowers”
A3. The Reds — “Turn It On” (4:09)
A4. Andy Summers — “Carry Me Back Home”
A5. The Reds — “Hold On” (5:34)

B1. The Reds — “Mission” (4:46)
B2. The Reds — “The Boar Chase” (2:47)
B3. The Reds — “Waiting For You” (5:05)
B4. Tiger Tiger — “All Come Together Again”
B5. Michel Rubini — “Theme From Joe’s Death”

“Waiting For You,” which first appeared on Shake Appeal, also reappeared in 1986 as a French single (b/w “Don’t Say It”) in a red sleeve with white text and graphics that spoof the Coca-Cola brand.

Discography: