The Call was a great American band that just never seemed to catch the right break. Despite tons of critical acclaim and a handful of FM radio hits, the group never seemed quite able to shrug off the cult status tag. Spearheaded by singer/songwriter Michael Been, the group was based in San Francisco, where they built a strong regional following before landing a deal with Elektra Records in 1982.
The Call first started getting national attention with "The Walls Came Down," a tune from their second album, Modern Romans. But it would be their third album, Reconciled, with its ominous rocker "I Still Believe," that really allowed the band to begin establishing a presence on FM and AOR play lists. By this point, keyboardist Jim Goodwin had joined, giving the band its classic line-up. By the time the group made Reconciled, they had become favorites of critics, fans and, perhaps most significantly, music celebs like Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson of the Band.
Even so, subsequent albums and a switch to MCA Records failed to inject any further momentum in the career of the Call. It didn't help that the band was further placed on hold while Been dabbled in a less-than-successful film acting career - although he did land the role of John the Apostle in the Scorsese directed epic, The Last Temptation of Christ. He also had an on-again, off-again solo career. The group split up for good in 2000. Been's musical legacy lives on through his son Robert Levon Been, who is the leader of popular San Francisco-based alt-rock group Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.