Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma (12" EP)

1988's Mission of Burma EP, which was released during the band's dormant years, collects 5 disparate songs from different points in Burma's career.  The small sample set exaggerates the group's evolution toward slightly more sophisticated songs — the EP includes both the more straightforward pop structure of 1979's "Peking Spring" and the more compositionally inventive "Sing-a-Long".  As early as 1980's "Forget", Peter Prescott has begun his distinctive use of cymbals as drones that sustain against the song's rhythm.  And with 1982's "Sing-a-Long", Martin Swope's tape loops move to the foreground.  The seemingly-arbitrary cross-section of songs on this EP feels even more confusing when a CD release from the same time includes six additional unreleased tracks, but omits "Forget".  Mission of Burma has unimpressive sound quality for a 45 RPM 12", perhaps because of the slightly primitive and dated qualities of the recordings — the bass has the plucky quality of a cheap direct feed, and the drums also reflect the limitations of the inexpensive but popular gear of this era.  The slightly-modified photograph on the front cover nicely captures the band's personality, though it has not grown as iconic as the photograph chosen for the accompanying CD.