THE PREFECTS

Going Through The Motions

CALL OF THE VOID 8/10

First vinyl round-up of undervalued class-of-’77 punks

Ahead of next year’s King Rocker documentary, which charts the wonky creative path of Robert Lloyd and The Nightingales, it’s timely to remember just why he’s such a crucial figure to begin with. The Prefects were Birmingham’s first bona fide punk band, energised by the Pistols and Ramones and briefly attaching themselves to the White Riot Tour. They were often as ramshackle as they were belligerent – evinced here on the barking “Escort Girls” and the scratchy attack of “Faults” – but careerists they most certainly were not. Despite a couple of Peel sessions and opening slots for Buzzcocks, The Fall and others, The Prefects failed to attract a record label and released nothing during their short, spasmodic lifetime. The Vu-ish “Going Through The Motions”, written to antagonise their own audience, only appeared on Rough Trade in 1980, a year after the band’s split. These songs (most of which were previously collected on 2004’s Amateur Wankers) still sound fiercely intense, none more so than avant-epic “Bristol Road Leads To Dachau”, a nightmarish account of an IRA pub bombing in Birmingham, driven by Alan Apperley’s tortured guitar, that also betrays a fascination with Beefheart, Can and Faust. Extras: None.