RECORDS O THE YEAR THE MICK 54 As the year was a write-off for writing, which was distinctly off, it’s nice to end the year with two quick issues of the magazine, covering Xmas and now all the reviews I have done. There have been some truly great records by new and old artists alike, and I hereby commend them to the House. Next year we should be back to normal, with regular issues, which is a relief for me as I have missed it. I doubt you have but will earn back your enthusiasm. A Happy New Yearto you all. I go now. JANUARY VARIOUS ARTISTS mix of The Eden House’s ‘To PAGAN LOVE SONGS: Believe In Something’ bathe you ANTITAINMENT 2 in its radiant sobriety. Fliehende (Alice In.../Broken Silence) Stürme glide seamlessly through the delightful dusk atmosphere of I feel it’s important to start the new year ‘Satellit’, Frustration sound a bit off with some real quality and as you’re like Action Directe staggering not going to find a more dedicated, open- home from the pub in ‘No minded and knowledgeable couple than Trouble’ and then Varsovie burst Thyssen brothers Thomas and Ralf, the some veins during the punky men behind PLS who bring this to you humping of ‘Leningrad.’ Charles for your own benefit, a 2CD goldmine for De Goal sit back and snarl the price of one (CD that is, not sardonically through a flickering goldmine) I’d say the quality was pretty ‘Décadence’ obvious. BFG are a welcome, invigorating surprise with their robust Shock Therapy fidget spicily through the ‘Anonymous’ and The Exploding warm, knowing pop swagger of ‘Pain’ Boy are an obvious delight with which is corrupted wonderfully by its the ragged, cherubic ‘Heart Of subtly vicious side, Lucie Cries exhibit Glass.’ There’s supreme Goth odd post-punk nuances through the prowling from Ikon’s ‘Echoes Of teeming, bass-whisked ‘Le Talisman De Silence’ then another unreleased La Muse’ and Twisted Nerve sustain that track as agile angst in their bristling 2007 take on Pretentious, Moi? Curtsey neatly ‘Séance.’ That same guitar scythe can be heard cutting through and fling the respectable, harmonious ‘Malina’ at us, an impeccable Grooving In Green ‘Cat’s Or Devil’s Eyes (2009 Mix)’, so it’s been a success. steady, consistent mixture of old and new to kick off. Solemn Novena are instantly warmer, romantic and close to purring in the fabulous icy This Burning Effigy’s ebullient ‘An Untold Release’ is an inspired beauty of ‘Faerytale’, previously unreleased. Dream Disciples inclusion, Little Nemo’s ‘City Lights’ relatively dull in this company, certainly haven’t dated, because ‘Pray’ sounds like very spry Goth. pretty but insipid and although it’s quite charming I also never found Love Like Blood sound like older Goth in the bare, pushy ‘Out Of Remain In Silence’s ‘Hope In Fear’ dragging me closer. Sight’ and at one point I’ll swear the singer said he releasing a panda? That’s probably my ears, but I noticed that there is a Stanton Hall Ian Boddy’s ‘Living In A Ritual’ comes of well as some left-field remix of Voices Of Masada’s lively ‘Looking Back’ which pulses with dancier misery, Arnaud Lazlaud takes time unwinding the studied, stylish insistence. The Shallow Graves’ ‘The Field Of Love’ imaginatively moody ‘Les Invisibles’ and For Against’s ‘Amen Yves’ in Jessica’s Ascension remix goes from scowling madness to a steady is just as absorbing, highlighting the seemingly ambiguous nature of rattle and has a deliciously catchy upturn. the compilations range, and yet identifying the central essentials – fluidity of movement, the thoughtful nature of lyrical shadows. Benediction’s ‘Crowded Room’ is quite a rare old thing and that punky soreness behind its vivid bustle. Exedra was a new one on me There is virtually nothing here that won’t appeal. They took their time, and the nagging, stark ‘Calling In My Head’ grabs the attention with and have celebrated their tenth anniversary with style. its repetitive, dour desperation. Cancer Barrack’s combustible ‘King Death’ isn’t as interesting, as the sullen vocals seem downturned, but www.nightmarezone.de musically it’s as glowering as Every New Dead Ghost’s rickety www.myspace.com/pagan_love_songs ‘Visions’ is oddly towering. Screaming Marionettes offer quality preposterous drama in ‘Like Christabel’, Rubella Ballet offer a punky clamour in the furious Banshees-like dawdle of ‘Tangled Web’ with THE DAMNED Fangs On Fur entangled hotly in their yelping, clattering ‘Fangs On The Stiff Years 3CD/book Fur’ making a fantastic racket. Lichtblick were another new on one Castle me, but interesting. Apart from some unexpectedly normal guitar ‘Intensivstation’ bubbles like post-punk maniacs trapped in a tiny Punk may have been over before some of you were born but it can still studio, amusing themselves with slippery pop ideas. A 1984 live track inspire, and opinions about it annoy, and as I sometimes enjoying closes side one, with Clair Obscur rampaging a little constipated doing that please read avidly and let me really piss some of you off. through ‘Toundra.’ My favourite Punk bands were The Adverts and The Damned (The CD 2 gets off to a stirring start as Joy Disaster’s ‘Remember The Ants not really producing quality until 1978). Obviously The Sex Time’ starts as delicate vocal doom over acoustic but leaves the Pistols and The Clash have greater status than both, but that doesn’t Sisters template to turn into demanding despondency. impress me. I saw The Clash loads, eventually, and turned down a Gestalt’s ashen cabaret in ‘Le Sommeil Du Singe’ is bloodless but couple of chances to see The Pistols. As with anything I want to know hypnotic, as L’Enfance Éternelle are over anxious, frilly post- something isn’t tainted. Even early on people spoke of The Pistols and punketeers in ‘Les Larmes De Sang.’ Bass hummingbirds of the 2xT Clash as though they were <i>special</i>, which struck me as pretty much missing the entire point. Unless you were spectacularly stupid it wasn’t like Punk bands were singing about things you didn’t already And so to the point, THE DAMNED – The Stiff Years has been out understand or agree with. You shared the same attitude already, twice, as far as I can tell, and is a very odd thing indeed. It comes in a otherwise you simply wouldn’t be interested. As far as I was box the size of a seven inch single, and what you think is the top isn’t. concerned their had to excite, they had to have something inside their There’s actually a box, with a book inside (front cover above), and a songs. I required that bands be uncorrupted, genuine rather than some plastic cover on top of that, like a box of chocolates. Under the book, effective construct. once you ease it out, you find a 2CD compilation, and a live CD under that in a simple card slipcase. In one version you get a 1976 live You only had to see McLaren talking about his youthful wards in 1976 recording from the 100 Club, but I didn’t want that, I wanted this. to realise something was off with them, a well-meaning Vivienne Westwood like somebody from Great Expectations. Why get overly Come with me then on a voyage of nostalgic resentment and relief – as excited by a band of Pantomime Anarchists prepared to <i>be</i> I must have bought, sold, bought again, sold/lost, bought, then sold all managed by a total tosser? Similarly, I fully appreciate Strummer had their singles and albums several times during my time as a penniless an epiphany when seeing The Pistols, but we all knew he’d come from music journalist. To have them all again in this format is brilliant, and Pub Rock, and if anyone else, say a Dr Feelgood member, had tried it’s another example of how well somebody can do with a compilation declaring themselves Punk there’d have been something weird about compared to the usual hack job. This is just about perfect. that. The Clash got better, after two lightweight albums, and a lot of their early songs still sound great, particularly in demo form, but until The recordings - demos, studio or live - reflect what was recorded everything was natural to them (‘London Calling’), and relaxed, they during their time with Stiff, in chronological order. We start with 1976 were wobbly, like well read social workers with toothache. demos, a clumsy ‘I Fall’ collapsing into ‘See Her Tonite’, where nobody had any right to expect Vanian to be timidly channelling The essentially lazy, partially moronic Sex Pistols were obviously the Richard Briers, then they drift saucily through ‘Feel The Pain’, with most important of the original Punk bands, being the catalyst of a Vanian suddenly oozing style. ‘New Rose’ pelts past, sonic precision, movement through the escaping oxygen of publicity, but they, and ‘Help’ is recorded like they all have somewhere else to be, and fast. their management, hadn’t the brains or bottle to stick it out initially, (Good.) ditching their most important musical member, bringing in someone totally useless, falling apart swiftly, with a woeful trail of hideous joke A heap of treats await from a November 1976 Peel Session, although singles as their epitaph. Their sound had a finesse others lacked, but the staggered, rolling its central power (a songwriter trade-off of rock vs. pop) was static, ‘Stab Your Back’ is smeary, ‘Neat Neat Neat’ is skimpy fun and, if made magnificently surly through vocal vitriol.