AT THE SOUND OF THE BELL
David Surkamp 1953 – 2026
If you forced me to put together a short list of my all-time favourite albums, there are some personal staples that would make the cut right away, without a second thought. One of them would certainly be Pavlov’s Dog’s debut, ‘Pampered Menial’ (1975). As for my favourite artists, Pavlov’s Dog might not be a name I’d instinctively drop, but I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played this album in my life. As an expat with a record collection still scattered across two countries, ‘Pampered Menial’ is the only album I own in both places, as I simply couldn’t pass up another copy when I stumbled upon it while record shopping a few months ago.
What I’ve always loved about it is its uniqueness. A highly distinctive blend of American-style ballads (after all, they were from St. Louis, and singer David Surkamp has never made a secret of his folk influences) and symphonic rock with a typically European approach, without neglecting harder rock passages or occasional nods to jazz. Progressive, you might say, for convenience. The use of instruments not commonly associated with rock music, such as flute and, above all, violin, makes masterpieces like ‘Julia’, with its magnificent piano-driven crescendo, the upbeat ‘Late November’ and the intense ‘Theme From Subway Sue’ even more evocative. Surkamp’s high-pitched, androgynous voice, at times reminiscent of Geddy Lee, is the finishing touch that makes the album a little classic of the 1970s.
Over the years, I somehow turned into “the Pavlov’s Dog guy” at some of the music magazines I worked for. I wrote a lengthy retrospective feature about them sometime in the ’00s, and when Surkamp decided to carry on and release more albums under that name, I was the one who covered each new release. I guess you could say that, just like Pavlov’s dog (as in the animal, not the band), I had developed a conditioned response. None of that later output could hold a candle to ‘Pampered Menial’ (or even to its follow-up, ‘At The Sound Of The Bell’), but you could still find a few good tunes here and there.
The news of David Surkamp’s death on October 13, just a little less than a year after his wife and longtime musical collaborator Sara, was completely unexpected (he had tours planned well into next year) and heartbreaking.
As always, people come and go, while great music remains forever. But every new spin of ‘Pampered Menial’ from now on will carry an extra ounce of sadness.
The sound of the bell is now one of mourning.
