2003
. . . but the story wasn't quite over. Fast forward 19 years, and it's now 2003.
The world has changed a bit since 1984. I won't bore you with the details. Aside from navigating the general collapse of western civilization, I now busied myself with documenting some of the most viable of the old System 56 tracks, originally recorded back in the 80's, onto CD. I figured, as long as we were going to be in self-preservation mode for awhile, this would be as good a year as any to finally get a project like this done. This CD compilation became RETROSPECTIVE: 1982-84. It contains nine of our original releases, plus three previously unreleased songs, for a total of twelve tracks of vintage System 56. The three new tracks were all recorded during the same studio sessions as "A Man Needs a Motor", in 1984. Originally, these tracks were to be part of an EP entitled "The Sounding", which was slated for release in late 1984, but which didn't happen, due to the band's dissolution.
Now you know the whole story.