LOOP
Heaven’s End / Fade Out
Reactor/Forte CDs
www.fortedistribution.co.uk
Timely and welcome re-release of late ’80s London noiseniks Loop’s first two albums. Primarily forging a sound roughly hewn from the more metallic elements of The Stooges, MC5 and Velvet Underground, they also incorporated aspects of Can, Neu! and Faust, as well as New York synth duo Suicide. Along with fellow travellers Spacemen 3, it’s clear that they are antecedents to Mogwai and their ilk.
As visceral as anything The Stooges ever did, most of these songs still sound as refreshing as they did on their original release and Loop’s Robert Hampson must be one of the most underrated guitarists to ever emerge from the Ron Asheton School of fuzz and wah. The bonus out-takes and Peel Sessions are a real treat, providing both albums with an extra CD’s worth of material. Things are looking equally interesting regarding their 3rd and 4th albums, which are to be given triple and double CD treatment respectively, later this year.
Rich Deakin
MAKIN’ TIME
No Lumps Of Fat Or Gristle Guaranteed Plus Demos
Ace CD
www.acerecords.com
Makin’ Time flew their mod flag proudly during a time – the mid 80s – when mod was a dirty word in the UK music press. Taking their inspiration from Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll, they forsook Rickenbackers in favor of the forceful Hammond organ of vocalist Fay Hallam. And while their sound and image may have evoked the R&B and pop styles of the ’60s, their recordings were not sad retro jobs but energetic, modern and forward looking. Their 1985 debut for Stiff was brilliant, but the group found themselves label-less when Stiff shut down soon after.
Taking matters into their own hands, Makin’ Time took two days with producers Will Birch and Pat collier to cut No Lumps Of Fat Or Gristle Guaranteed, which they would issue on their own label as their last hurrah. Less polished but just as engaging as their first LP, No Lumps... captures the band at their most basic, turning out tough and tuneful keyboard dominated tracks that served as a fine epitaph for one of the truly great UK bands of the ’80s. ت
Now bolstered with the addition of eight studio demos from the same era, this is an essential purchase for fans of The Prisoners, Small Faces, Brian Auger and Georgie Fame. You get the picture, so now get the CD.ت
Stefan Granados
THE SCREAMING BLUE MESSIAHS
Live At The BBC
Hux Records CD
www.huxrecords.com
If you’re a fan of British rock and roll, the mid-80s probably isn’t your favorite era. But The Screaming Blue Messiahs offered a staggering riposte to the synth and drum machine-led groups that dominated. This CD presents sessions from the Beeb’s vaults that highlight the Messiahs’ earlier material and shows them to be an altogether more unwieldy beast.
The Paris Theatre portion lays out the power trio at their droning, discordant best. The beginnings of singer/guitarist Bill Carter’s obsession with Americana emerge, with lyrics that skewer as well as revel in the culture, all set to a jackhammer backbeat that never lets up. ‘President Kennedy’s Mile’ sees him gleefully pogoing through the bloodstains of Dealey Plaza.
A later session from ’87 with the crazed but goofy ‘I Wanna Be A Flintstone’ shows that not even cartoons were safe from Carter’s unsteady gaze.
Christopher Walsh
THE TELESCOPES
# Untitled Second
Bomp!/Alive Natural Sound CD
www.bomp.com
A lost classic of the shoegazer movement, 1992’s # Untitled Second is now rediscovered for the second time in the last five years. An introspective, psychedelic departure from the band’s previous, more noise-oriented work, it was also The Telescopes’ debut for Alan McGee’s taste-making Creation label. The group’s most fully realized album to date, it should attained the same recognition that My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3, Slowdive et al got for similar records made around the same time. But the band gave it at a non-title and the label didn’t do much to promote it, thus it tanked. This is a shame, as ‘Splashdown,’ ‘Flying’ and ‘Ocean Drive’ are all gorgeous slices of blissed-out dream pop that perfectly capture the essence of the genre.
Bomp! adds to Rev-Ola’s 2004 reissue by tacking on a few more bonus selections; one of the extras – ‘The Sleepwalk (Sitar Version)’ – might be the finest track on the set.
Brian Greene |
