Soma Holiday (the Proletariat album)

Produced by Jimmy Dufour, Lou Giordano[5] and Frank Michaels, Soma Holiday was recorded and mixed at Radiobeat Studios in Boston, Massachusetts. Bill Kipper was in charge of the mastering of the album at Masterdisk in New York City.

The record includes the songs "Splendid Wars", "Events/Repeat", "Blind", and "Torn Curtain", which were originally featured on the band's debut EP Distortion,[nb 1] a limited edition seven-track cassette tape self-released the previous year.[5][10]

Soma Holiday was originally co-released in 1983, as LP, on band's Non-U label[nb 2] and Radiobeat Records.[nb 3][11][12][13] A second pressing of the album would be released later that same year.

In a contemporary review of the album, Joyce Millman, music critic at The Boston Phoenix, wrote:

Around the same time, Jeff Bale from Maximumrocknroll, was of the view that:

Distortion
EP by the Proletariat
Released	July 1982
Recorded	November 1981 – March 1982
Studio	Radiobeat
Genre	Hardcore punk[1][2] post-punk[1][2] noise rock[2] art punk[2]
Length	13:45[15]
Language	English
Label	Non-U
Producer	Jimmy Dufour
The Proletariat chronology
Distortion (1982) Soma Holiday (1983)

Distortion is a seven-song EP and the first stand-alone release by the Proletariat. It was issued in July 1982[16] on the band's own label, Non-U Records, as a limited edition single-sided C46 cassette tape.[5][10][15][17][18]

The EP is composed of songs recorded in three separate sessions at Radiobeat Studios in Boston, Massachusetts with producer Jimmy Dufour.[19] "After the Rise" was recorded in November 1981 with Jimmy Johnson as audio engineer, "Westernization" was engineered by Dufour himself in January 1982, whereas the rest of the tracks were laid down in March 1982 with recording engineer Lou Giordano.[15]

The songs "Torn Curtain", "Splendid Wars", "Blind", and "Events/Repeat" would be re-released the following year on the band's first studio album Soma Holiday.[nb 4][5]

The tracks "After the Rise", "White Hands", and "Westernization" would not be reissued until 1998, when they were included on the band's anthology Voodoo Economics and Other American Tragedies.[nb 5][10][20][21]

The cover and label art were designed by graphic artist Pickles. The insert liner notes sheet was created by Frank Michaels and Richard Brown. The EP also includes a reproduction of Dorothea Lange's photo Migrant Mother (1936).[15]

Long out of print in its original form, Soma Holiday was re-released, in its entirety, as part of the band's 2-CD anthology Voodoo Economics and Other American Tragedies,[nb 6] compiled in 1998 by Taang! Records.[10][20][21]

In October 1999, apparently under license from the band, the album was reissued in cassette-only format,[nb 7] featuring alternate cover art, on Social Napalm Records,[22][23] a small DIY label based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

On October 21, 2016, 33 years after its debut, Soma Holiday was re-released for the first time in its original vinyl format, on Sacramento-based label Ss Records;[nb 8][4][9][24][25][26][27][28] which also simultaneously released the album for the first time on CD.[nb 8]

Music by Peter Bevilacqua and Frank Michaels, lyrics by Richard Brown, except where noted. Arrangements by the Proletariat.