Published in Sounds, 9th October 1982
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
DEAD WRETCHED: ‘Convicted’ (Tempest) Second single from the young Birmingham upstarts is another worthy effort along the same lines as their sizzling singalong debut, ‘No Hope For Anyone’. Exploited-land musical muscle teams up with gruff angry vocals and Thomas Mensforth-style sentiments to bring you a sorry tale of conviction as in the criminal consequence, not the fixed belief.
WORTH BUYING
CULT MANIAX: ‘Blitz’ (Elephant Rock) In a day and age where there are seemingly more and more punk bands releasing records every week, the thing any fledgling band must strive for is originality and that is precisely why I’d like to think that the Cult Maniax (from Devon) have a fair chance of gaining recognition.
This bunch produce medium paced punk with sensible, realistic lyrics which make the Discharge school of anti-war mongers (with their ‘sixty million dead babies lying in the gutter’ lyrics look somewhat silly.
Check out the B-side for ‘Lucy Looe’, which is the vinyl world’s answer to Deep Throat. Pure filth and degradation. And I love it. Definitely not one for the wet, trendy anti-sexism brigade.
THE SEIZE: ‘Everybody Dies’ (Why Not?) More ‘optimistic’ bleatings, but this time served up as the pop punk variety. Subhumans-style vocals let rip over an EP of jolly musical adventures. The Pop Group without the dreariness or the Toy Dolls without the humour? Four tracks for 80p make this a winner in both the value and musical content stakes.
Brixton Prison
TOTAL CHAOS ‘Factory Man’ (Volume) Not the bOIsterous concept but the North-Eastern punk band. This EP comes as a breath of fresh air after their dismal debut (‘No Russians In Afghanistan’).
The first song, ‘Factory Man’, is a fairly basic, almost yawn-worthy track that is only just saved by a few neat musical changes in the middle. ‘Brixton Prison’ sees Total Chaos attempting a traditional Irish folk song, but I think they will readily admit that they bit off more than they could chew.
‘She Don’t Care’ raises the tone of the show with some reasonable Ramones-pop tinted new waveities. While the final track, ‘I Die‘, is a slow piece with some second-hand Moody Blues guitar work concerning that old chestnut, the spoils of war.
Not the sort of thing you’d expect from a group called Total Chaos, but there you go. Variety is the spice of life. Not ‘Single Of The Week’ but ‘Pleasant Surprise Of The Week’.
Total Chaos | Punk 45s Reviewed by Bob Beasley
WORTH BORROWING MAYHEM: ‘Gentle Murder’ (Riot City) ! had to look twice at the record to make sure this wasn’t the latest release by the Dead Kennedys. Christ, the music and vocals both sound like Jello Biafra‘s crazed gang (although this is not necessarily a bad thing).
The four songs on show have a few neat tunes in their own right, but I don’t think that to become the British Dead Kennedys is enough. These Southport tearaways will go down in history, though, as the only punk band to start a song off with a chorus of ‘What shall we do with the Argie bastards?’ (on ‘Patriots’).
THE UNDEAD ‘This Place Is Burning’ (Riot City’) Riot City are fast becoming a very unpredictable label indeed. One minute they come up with absolute drivel like the Chaotic Discord single and the next minute they release stuff like this. Reasonably well produced and not played ridiculously fast like some of their label mates, with just enough changes and a stop-start chorus to make this one of the best Riot City releases to date.
ATTAK: ‘Murder In The Subway’ (No Future) Crank up the chainsaw, off we go and it’s another hundred mile an hour all the way jaunt for No Future’s seventeenth release. There’s not much to say about this record as you probably know already whether you’ll buy it or not.
Let’s just say that Attak have improved musically since the days of ‘Blue Patrol’ (on ‘A Country Fit For Heroes’) and the Blitz are still a strong musical influence. But why are New Mills bands obsessed with writing songs about violence?
Total Chaos | Punk 45s Reviewed by Bob Beasley
THE DISRUPTERS: ‘Shelters For The Rich’ (Radical Change) Dreary plod with tuneless vocals make the Disrupters’ second single a non-starter in these eyes. Any punk group that has to nick guitar work off the Police, of all people, just to get a decent intro can’t have a lot going for them.
‘Animal Farm’ on the B-side offers mega-sensible lyrics on vivisection and could have made a good single if it was recorded in a studio and not someone’s U-bend!
WORTH RECYCLING
RIOT SQUAD ‘Riots In The City’ (Rondelet) Biscuit tin drums, insistent heavy metal riff and bontemps bass pave the way for such socially aware lyrics as: ‘Go to a gig/Get in a fight/Covered in blood/What a f***ing sight/Chase the f***ers off/Prove that you’re hot stuff/Shout at them, abuse them/Tell them to f*** off. The only thing positive I can say about this is that I’m positive Rondelet could sign better bands.
DEATH SENTENCE: ‘Death And Pure Destruction’ (Beat The System) Yet more purveyors of crash bang wallop noise-not-music ethics. The guitar and bass seem to have been recorded under water and the singer’s token amount of talent goes wasted in the quagmire of chaos. They even managed to spell ‘destruction’ wrong three times on the cover.
POTENTIAL THREAT ‘What’s So Great Britain?’ (Out Of Town) How about the football, food, television, music and films for starters? Five-year-old music and youth club lyrics get together to produce strictly gumbie style punk.
Even the presence of a female singer can’t inject any life into the songs and the difference between her and, say, Beki Bondage, is the difference between Real Madrid and the Morecambe And Wise Celebrity Eleven. Potential Threat? To whom?
JOHNNY THUNDERS AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: ‘Chinese Rocks’ (Jungle) The great Heartbreakers heroin anthem (the result of a ‘meeting of minds’ with a wrecked Ramone) is not improved by this March ’77 live recording, which was apparently done at the Speakeasy, though it sounds like it could have been a hole in t’road . . .
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