VARIOUS ARTISTS Senza Decoro: Liebe + Anarchia In Switzerland/1980–1990 STRUT
8/10 Underground nuggets from the Swiss post-punk scene
HOW did the post-punk explosion play out in Switzerland? Not a question that’s necessarily troubled many rock historians – everyone’s heard of Yello, at least – but one that piqued the interest of the Swiss-turkish, Berlin-based DJ and producer Mehmet Aslan, who would come across intriguing underground nuggets from the country of his birth as he scoured blogs and the digger circuit around Europe. In much the same way as he’s salvaged obscure cuts from his Turkish heritage and edited them for the danceoor, with Senza Decoro: Liebe + Anarchia in Switzerland, Aslan manages to present a vivid portrait of a haphazard scene fuelled not only by the rise of DIY synth and experimental music but also the chaotic energy of a political youth uprising that led to rioting in Zurich, Lausanne, Basel and other cities in the name of art and social equality. In May 1980, for example, a street battle in Zurich between young demonstrators and police, known as the Opernhauskrawalle – Opera House riots – is widely considered to mark the rebirth of the country’s alternative youth movement and a spirit of genuine reinvention – hence the “anarchy” in the title.
Factor in the four languages spoken in Switzerland, not to mention its 26 cantons, some of which maintain a distinctive identity, and musical consistency goes out the window, which only makes Aslan’s patchwork of punk, reggae, New Wave and proto-techno even more enticing. For a country
Christine Schaller: multitalented that runs like clockwork, Senza Decoro… oªers a rare glimpse of Swiss mess and magic, where very little makes any sense at all. Tracks by Dr Chattanooga
& The Navarones and Die Welttraumforscher deal in a kind of trippy afro-folk delivered in echo-soaked German. “Le Jour L’ennui” by Aboriginal Voices and Café Turk’s “Solydir” peddle spooked reggae, while anyone aer an amdram sci- Kate Bush impersonation should check out Elephant Chateau’s “Wir Fangen Mit Arbeit An” and Unknownmix’s “Nightmare” – both excellent, obviously.
Of the 15 acts here, only Zurich artpunks Liliput – formerly Kleenex – had much success outside Switzerland, though El Deux’s Martin Kra and Gutze Gautsch – whose synth-wave glide “Gletscher” is a highlight – made a name for themselves and worked with Yello’s Dieter Meier, who was also involved in Fresh Color, a loutish new romantic group. Elsewhere, Bells Of Kyoto’s “Asho II” and Schaltkreis Wassermann’s “Arabesque” build a bridge from the krautrock of southern Germany to the cosmic disco emanating from northern Italy at the time. Switzerland was a real melting pot as travellers from across Europe passed through, exchanging ideas and selling records.
Dig deep enough into any national scene from the ’80s and you’re bound to uncover numerous unvarnished gems. What’s striking about the music in Aslan’s survey is the way the acts celebrate diªerence with a newfound sense of freedom – and plenty of perversity. PIERS MARTIN
As an amalgam of breakbeat, house, electronic-classical and techno, it’s aptly titled, illustrating his aim to “subvert the whole ‘bloke from Wire’ thing” with a set of instrumentals where lead guitar takes a backseat and (Spigel’s) vocals appear only on one number, “Turn”. The doublecd reissue adds 12 tracks to what is something of a time marker in Newman’s catalogue, and though overall it’s not short on potent allure, as is oen the case with beats-based music, it now sounds very much of its decade. The oppy (programmed) beats that drive psych-edged, indiedance raga “May”, especially, rmly date-stamp it.
Extras 7/10 The expanded CD version, which includes four previously unreleased tracks, ranges from the woozy ambient house of “Automation” (from 1995’s “Voice” EP) to 2001’s “Cut The Slack”, an addictively dark and driving alt.rock guitar workout, with snarling vocals. SHARON O’CONNELL
NO MAN Housekeeping: The Oli Years, 1990–1994
ONE LITTLE INDEPENDENT 8/10
Early lessons in swooning art-pop collected on 5CD set
Steven Wilson wasn’t always a Top 5 artist, prog rock revivalist (with Porcupine Tree) and 5.1 Surround mixer of choice for reissues by a certain breed of heritage act, including XTC and King Crimson. In 1990, with sensitively theatrical crooner Tim Bowness, Wilson released the rst No-man single, an unlikely Donovan cover, “Colours”, whose trip-hop rhythms merely hinted at the extravagant romance of 1992’s Lovesighs – An Entertainment compilation, not least the Twin Peaks-sampling “Reich”. 1993’s debut full-length Loveblows & Lovecries – A Confession was more grandiose still, especially “Housekeeping/sweetheart Raw”’s extended, Japan-style melodrama and “Painting Paradise”’s thrilling synth-pop, while 1994’s
Flowermouth rened the formula, mixing sensitive ballads (“Watching Over Me”) with classy ’80s inuences (“You Grow More Beautiful”). A disc of rare tracks includes the majestic, 22-minute “Heaven Taste”, and a h features rare, impressive radio sessions. A separate Burning Shed release,
Swagger, compiles illuminating, even earlier recordings.
Extras 7/10 60-page book. WYNDHAM WALLACE
PINK FLOYD Atom Heart Mother (Special Edition)
EMI 7/10 Expanded edition, previously only available in Japan
David Gilmour dismissed it as “shit”, while Roger Waters said it should be “thrown into the dustbin and never
listened to by anyone ever again” – welcome back to the least-loved album in the Floyd’s ’70s oeuvre. Recorded at a transitional moment and their rst album without in-house EMI producer Norman Smith, AHM was a bump in the road as the band cast around wildly for ideas. With its brass section and massed choir, the 24-minute six-part title suite sounded a little clumsy at the time and has not improved with age. However, in Wright’s “Summer ’68” and Gilmour’s gorgeous “Fat Old Sun”, Side Two at least boasted a brace of enduring slices of Floydian psych-pop.
Extras 6/10 Blu-ray disc featuring the AHM suite performed live in Japan in 1971 plus behind-the-scenes mini documentary. NIGEL WILLIAMSON
PUBLIC ENEMY It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
(reissue, 1988) DEF JAM/UME 9/10
Benchmark hip-hop release turns 35 with vinyl remastered from the original tapes
“RUN-DMC rst said a DJ could be a band/stand on its own feet, get you out your seat”, spits Chuck D on “Bring The Noise”, addressing PE’S aim of making over the hip-hop album by approaching it like a rock band. The Bomb Squad’s cacophonous, dense and thrillingly abrasive production on their second delivers on that intent, both a radical change from what had come before and a potent match for unapologetically polemical lyrics and proclamations of PE’S vision and capability alike. Of the former, the Isaac Hayes-sampling “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos” and staccato quasifunk of “Prophets Of Rage” stand out, respectively a narrative about black incarceration and the lambasting of structural oppression. “Party For Your Right to Fight”, which gives the LP its title and closes the set, rather treads water but given the thrilling, nearfaultless execution of the previous 15 tracks, it’s excused. A landmark of modern music, by any measure. SHARON O’CONNELL
SHACK Here’s Tom With The Weather
(reissue, 2003) SHACK SONGS
9/10
Twentieth anniversary of sublime Head music
Having dispensed with The Strands aer one album in the late ’90s, Michael Head opted to reconvene Shack, the band he and younger brother John had begun a decade earlier. The musical directive remained pretty much the same though, further re ning their melodious folk-pop on 1999’s HMS Fable and its gentler follow-up, Here’s Tom With The Weather. The siblings’ journey thus far is mapped beautifully in “Byrds Turn To Stone”, playing guitars in their mum’s back room, forti ed by “Wild Mountain Thyme” and their beloved Arthur Lee.
“We’d spend the time, feeding our minds”, sings Mick, his mind blown. John’s trio of songs tend towards the lovesick, at his rueful best amid the gentle symphony of “Miles Apart”. Meanwhile, Mick oers a pre-echo of the more panoramic arrangements of 2022’s Dear Scott, particularly “On The Terrace” and the quietly ravishing “The Girl With The Long Brown Hair”. ROB HUGHES
SPIRITUALIZED Amazing Grace
(reissue, 2003) FAT POSSUM 8/10
Garage and gospel collide noisily on their h LP
In 2003 Spiritualized released Amazing Grace, resulting in some of their heaviest work since Jason Pierce fried brains back in his Spacemen 3 days. “It was missed… nobody really gave it a chance,” re£ects Pierce today. The opening “This Little Life of Mine” is all fuzzed-out, raw, Stooges-esque guitar with equally harsh lyrics that suggest Pierce is close to giving up: “This little life of mine, I’m gonna let it slide, I’m gonna let it burn”, he growls. “She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit)” continues down the screeching rock meets gospel route, while “The Power And The Glory” adds a touch of blazing free jazz to the racket. However, it’s not all noisy nihilism and when the album slows and breathes a little is when it most comes to life, from the tender “Hold On” to the moving tribute to Acetone singer “The Ballad of Richie Lee”. If this is an overlooked Spiritualized album then 20 years on it’s well worth another try.
VARIOUS ARTISTS Les Cousins: The Soundtrack Of Soho’s Legendary Folk and Blues Club
CHERRY RED 8/10
3CD box celebrating ’60s folk
For much of the ’60s, the epicentre of the British folk scene was a tiny Soho club called Les Cousins, located in the cellar beneath a restaurant at 49 Greek Street. Sadly not a collection of longlost live performances, these 72 tracks are taken from contemporary studio albums by those who played the club. Nevertheless, it has been brilliantly compiled by former Folk Roots editor Ian Anderson, who was not only there but remembers and gives us a veritable who’s who of folk music with cuts from Bert Jansch, Sandy Denny, Shirley Collins, Davy Graham, John Martyn, Nick Drake and Roy Harper. Even more interesting, though, are the deeper cuts by such lesser-known ’60s gures as Keith Christmas, Andy Fernbach, Shelagh Macdonald and black singers – a rarity in the folk clubs of the time – Dorris Henderson and Nadia Cattouse.
Extras 8/10 Superbly annotated 18-page booklet. NIGEL WILLIAMSON
VARIOUS ARTISTS The Complete Obscure Records Collection
DIALOGO 8/10
Brian Eno’s label of love gets the 10CD boxset treatment
Launched in 1975 for Gavin Bryars’
rst recordings, Eno’s short-lived Obscure Records, soon a showcase for contemporary experimental music (much now unavailable for years), had a nonetheless long-lasting eect. Bryars’ The Sinking Of The Titanic
remains a mournful masterpiece and its £ipside, “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet”, is unbearably haunting, while Eno’s own “Discreet Music” helped baptise ambient music. Michael Nyman’s debut, Decay Music,
approached minimalism from another angle, using piano and percussion, while John Cage and saxophonist Jan Steele combined for Voices And Instruments, with Robert Wyatt a cappella on Cage’s “Experiences No 2”. If David Toop and Max Eastley’s New And Rediscovered Musical Instruments appears impenetrable, however, Penguin Café Orchestra’s debut, Music From The Penguin Café,
is largely breezy.
Extras 8/10 Includes 130-page booklet with original liner notes and new essays by, among others, Gavin Bryars and David Toop. WYNDHAM WALLACE
VIOLENT FEMMES Violent Femmes
(reissue, 1983) CONCORD MUSIC GROUP 8/10
Slacker anthems turn 40
Wisconsin’s Violent Femmes made a lot of friends with their opening salvo of semi-acoustic paeans to maladjusted
mis ts, and the adolescent ennui has aged reassuringly well. “Blister In The Sun” remains the campus radio classic that’s a regular choice of lm soundtrack compilers, and singer Gordon Gano plays the edgy antihero to perfection on the forlorn valentine “Please Do Not Go” and trigger-happy “Add It Up”. Intermittent lapses into childlike Jonathan Richman territory grate a little, but the frustrations of awkward youth are mostly articulately expressed and even occasionally profound (“Good Feeling”). The ramshackle delivery belies taut and intuitive musicianship on an album brimming with ideas, such as when Gano’s “Gone Daddy Gone” segues into Willie Dixon’s blues chestnut “I Just Want To Make Love To You”. Extras 7/10 A generous 25 tracks comprising single mixes, demos and live recordings, although all were previously available on the 20thanniversary reissue. TERRY STAUNTON