Releases

Barry Adamson – Scala!!! (Mute)

Finally arriving after the screening of the critically acclaimed documentary film of the same name, ‘Scala!!! Or, The Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits’ is the soundtrack to the notoriously renowned cinema based in London’s Kings Cross which spanned the breadth of the creative years from the 1970s to early ’90s. The film was released in 2023 and premiered at the BFI London film festival.

The 22-piece track list delves into the subterranean, weird world of the Scala cinema which witnessed eye-popping film programming, with double-feature screenings, all-nighters, live performances and showcases for risqué avant-garde turned legendary filmmakers like John Waters, Russ Meyer, Derek Jarman and David Lynch.

The release opens on the beating drums and acidic surf rock guitar of the opening title track and onto the estranged harpsichord and percussive shuffle of ‘Scala Posters (Mondo Bungo)’. The ‘Jazz Devil’ maestro inserts a lot of his own feel and personal influence into the release as seen in the 1930s swinging brass of ‘Babs Johnson is Divine’ – citing the protagonist in the Waters classic ‘Pink Flamingos’ – and the cinematic electric guitar fusion of ‘Iggy and Lou and Mick Rock Too’.

A multi-instrumentalist and genrelist as Adamson is there’s electronic experimentation in the track list too such as in the Numanoid alien terrestrials of ‘Acid Celluloid’, the industrial tribal march-beat of ‘Barry’s Iranian Embassy Blues’ with its squelching ectoplasmic ethereality and then the Kraftwerk inspired ‘Spandau Politics’, with short pieces like ‘Pink Narcissus’ conjuring up the dark armpits of sex, drugs and what’s no one’s business goings-on in the auditorium.

The bossy tones of ‘Jane’s Day Out in Court’ with its prominent drum pattern and curdling guitar is another highlight on the release while the memorably sticky floors of the cinema are best portrayed in the Velcro croaks of ‘One of Us / Sticky Floors Atmos’. The cinema sadly closes its doors in 1993 on the legal fiasco over Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ with the classical piano and cello bow out of ‘The Party’s Over’ – cue the boozy big band end titles. A crisply produced time warp machine back to the glory days of a cultural institution.

‘Scala!!!’ is out now on limited edition coloured vinyl, CD and digitally.

The Damned – Not Like Everybody Else (earMusic)

The band’s personal tribute to the late Brian James, this mostly ’60s covers release opens on its main single ‘There’s a Ghost in My House’, aligning frontman Dave Vanian’s colourful yet gruff vocals with the original R. Dean Taylor (1966), but backed with harmony and featuring boozy guitar it’s quintessentially The Damned’s (as seen throughout the track list), which is the objective that a covers album should always aim for.

Second single, ‘Summer in the City’ by The Lovin’ Spoonful (1966) jumpstarts on estranged keyboard notes and then the playful skip of crooner depths meets a fuzzy guitar solo alternating with organ trills, with its rhythm only being a tad too clunky compared to the glossy flow of the original. The Creation’s ‘Making Time’ (1966) hits the airy vocal highs of The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’ while ‘Raw Power’ Iggy and The Stooge’s ‘Gimme Danger’ (1973) is the angstiest track on the record; Vanian’s swaying vocals up against Paul Gray’s cellic, woody basslines, Monty Oxymoron’s glassy organ waterfalls and, for contrast, a soaring prog rock solo.

Captain Sensible sings alongside Vanian for Floyd’s ‘See Emily Play’ (1967) which carries the English folk delicacy of the original with playful classical piano keys and an interlude of fairground and cosmic noise. Title track ‘I’m Not Like Everybody Else’ is vastly improved from the crudely heavy Kinks’ 1966 B-side; placed around the centre of the album, it hones the stomp of the raison d’etre of punk rock in the year that celebrates its 50th anniversary with the beating heart of original drummer Rat Scabies back in the seat.

The Yardbirds’s ‘Heart Full of Soul’ (1965) has a skin prickling garage-psychobilly guitar solo with shuffling drumbeats conjuring up Spaghetti Westerns (to which Vanian’s vocals are well inclined) – one of the most beautiful covers on the release. The ten-track list closes on a punky version of The Lollipop Shoppe’s 1968 single ‘You Must Be a Witch’, with ripping guitar exploding into drum bashings, and then the glam rock waltz of The Stone’s ‘The Last Time’ (1965) meshing into a ‘live’ finish recorded from the band’s reunion shows with James where he’s fully honoured. A better album than their last studio even for the heritage of its track selection, vocal diversity and quality instrumentals, tinged ownership and of course…Rat Scabies!

‘Not Like Everybody Else’ is out now on limited edition coloured vinyl, CD and digitally.

Jah Wobble + Jon Klein – Automated Paradise (Dimple Discs)

The pair’s first joint studio album on this label in their collaborating history follows hotly on from Wobble’s 2023 solo studio album, ‘A Brief History of Now’, which was also produced by guitarist Jon Klein of Banshees heritage. As is a rising theme now across all artist outputs these days, covering global chaos themes such as ravenous consumerism, climatic destruction, political polarisation and digital takeover, the release is a gloomy glimpse into a world gone mad.

Opening on single ‘Fading Away’ sung against a lone synth key, the narrator looks down on a burning planet as he escapes in a technology-ridden future; Wobble’s musings, backed by Klein’s own vocals, tragically declare that “algorithmic inventions cannot dry my tears”. Continuing in the vein of Wobble’s last solo album with a thumping bassline, the chaotic clatter of ‘Make It Stop’ is a frenzied treadmill rant on the worst consumerist-driven aspects of our lives, where there’s “a million faces staring at their phones”, also commenting on the technocratic age of AI where machine and man have merged. It crescendos and ends on Wobble screaming in despair. Protest song ‘Who Wins?’ deliberates on the futility of party politics in a globalist controlled world where politicians are mere puppets on strings; Klein’s see-sawing razor sharp guitar turns into a strangling solo – an apt song for the current times where people must unify and speak truth to power.

‘Read Between the Lines’ focuses on Wobble’s spiritual outlook of embracing samsara via his preferred spoken word format, with his son John Wardle on tribal drums and Klein’s trilling almost oriental-electric fusion guitar. The title track of the album is an instrumental reggae drift, to clear the air before the chaos resumes in the punk rave of ‘Terminal Terminal the End’, where the world is an “automated paradise built on shifting beds of ice” amongst Klein’s screeching noise feedback, with Wobble rounding off the track with a gloating “Hahahahahahaha fuck off!” to the system. Cooling the jets, the track list closes on the soothing jazzy ambient city soundscape of ‘Brockwell Lido’ (contrasted by the bitter dual society of previous track ‘Endless Sky’), with Klein’s guitar floating above the bassline and snowflake keys extinguishing the heat.

‘Automated Paradise’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.

Squeeze – Trixies (BMG)

Written by original Squeeze members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook when they were just teenagers, the band’s first studio album in nine years is conceptualised. Themed on a mythical nightclub, the thirteen tracks are a homage to ‘Trixies’ and their earliest songwriting, technically making this the band’s real first album and their earliest songwriting.

Dreamy opening track ‘What More Can I Say’ is a slow nostalgic dazzle at the end of the night with the tribute “Trixies is alright”; the bubbling acoustics of ‘You Get the Feeling’ continuing the utopia vibe of a club filled with the underground nightlife characters of singers, jazz musicians, lovers and cabaret dancers.

A major influence on the band was David Bowie, with ‘The Place We Call Mars’ an obvious glam rock take on ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’, with the jewels of alien keyboard effects and sickly chord progression amongst Difford and Tilbrook’s harmony.

Sparksesque backing vocals and T. Rex keyboard feed the gritty excess of ‘Hell On Earth’ before ‘The Dancer’ with its ‘80s icy organ – a minimalist dark tale about a burlesque dancer being exploited by the male gaze – provides a mature outlook coming from two teenage boys seemingly thrown into this seedy world.

Following the hooky guitar and farfisa organ of the creeping ‘Don’t Go Out in the Dark’, ‘Why Don’t You’ is a Bolan styled stomping boogie, with crackling garage guitar that fits the sexy cabaret theme also released as a similarly noir shot video – the catchiest tune on the track list.

‘It’s Over’ is a ballad of melting watercolours, with touches of bass as the club shuts and the twinkling rise and fall of slide guitar. There’s popping percussive stamps reminiscent of the Glitter Band meeting a square dance in ‘The Jaguars’ before the final two tracks ‘Trixies Part One/Two’ sum up the proceedings of this darling rough-around-the-edges institution, finishing on the finale of musicians, drug dealers, dancers, directors, models, comedians, actors and “all the sordid people who carry something lethal”, with the endearing vocals repeat the same thematic slogan, that “Trixies is alright.”

‘Trixies’ is out now on limited edition vinyl, vinyl, CD and digitally.

The Zombies – Begin Here (Beechwood Park)

Marking its 60th anniversary last year, the Zombies’ 1965 debut album is now remastered in mono in the month of its original release as the band always intended it, which follows on from the reissue of the critically acclaimed ‘Odessey and Oracle’ in mono last year, with ‘Begin Here’ now the second of four remastered albums the band is reissuing. This definitive new edition also combines all 17 tracks from the UK and US version track lists.

Overseen by Matthew and Jamie White (sons of founding member Chris White) and mastered by Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering, the band have been remastering their back catalogue since they took back control of the master tapes in 2023, through their own label Beechwood Park records. The main difference in mono sound quality is a less spread surface noise that is more focused, deeper and finessed, mostly noticeable in lead singer Colin Blunstone’s vocals as heard in ‘I Can’t Make Up My Mind’, ‘The Way I Feel Inside’ and ‘Can’t Nobody Love You’, although listeners may prefer the various stereo versions instrumentally for having more breadth despite this not being the original intention.

The Zombies released ‘It’s Alright with Me’ as the lead song from this album, but its true single ‘She’s Not There’, is softer than the original single version released in 1964; its sister single (from the US album version) at the end of the track list ‘Tell Her No’ also sounds less harsh than the original version, making it debatable whether those versions are preferred. The track list is also extended with the incorporation of the band’s 1965 debut self-entitled EP, featuring the songs ‘Sometimes’, It’s Alright with Me’ and George Gershwin cover, ‘Summertime’.

‘Begin Here’ remastered in mono is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.

Cabaret Voltaire – But What Time is it Really? (Mute)

The industrialist pioneers reformed last year with founding members Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson continuing the band’s legacy of half a century following Richard H. Kirk’s Cabs studio and drone releases in 2020/1, who sadly passed away shortly after. The band’s recent tour is commemorated in this live album, featuring tracks from their most productive years from 1978 through to 1984.

The track list starts on their 1983 sixth studio album, ‘The Crackdown’, with the Kraftwerk computeronics of ’24-24′; Mal singing in gruff vocals and dedicating the next track, ‘Animation’, to Kirk, its funky rhythm sealed with their trademark brassy synth guitar infusion. It’s perhaps unsurprising that much of the live material is taken from this album being a turning point in their experimental sound developing into more melodious funky dance rhythms. ‘Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself)’, also from the same release, uses a sampler and hits with punchiness.

Moving forward with new material, the band premiere ‘Tinsley Viaduct’, written by sound recorder Watson that also formed part of an installation in their hometown of Sheffield, full of whizzing, howling and racing underground pyrotechnics amongst a deep, cavernous setting. Fan favourites from the Cabs’ popular studio releases ‘Red Mecca’ and ‘Micro-Phonies’ arrive in the way of ‘Landslide’, ‘Spies in the Wires’ and ‘Just Fascination’, but are performed in a basic manner, perhaps leaving a little wanting in further tenacity. 1983 single ‘Yashar’ from ‘2×45’ echoed with its infamous sample, “The 70 billion people of Earth – where are they hiding?’, with barking vocals and Kraftwerk inspired song ‘Sex Money Freaks’ is one of the best sounding on the release.

The track list ends on the funky ‘Do Right’, noise piece 1979 debut single, ‘Nag Nag Nag’, opening on organ chimes with Mal singing the lyrics relentlessly and the bracketing drumbeats of ‘Sensoria’. Well produced from its live recording with added vocal effects but in performance left wanting of more push to meet the demand of the original tracks.

‘But What Time is it Really?’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.

Laibach – MUSICK (Mute)

The Slovenian industrial group release their 23rd studio album and first new material album since 2014: an electro-pop dance release with a twist of sarcastic commentary on the oversaturation of modern times. Opening title track ‘Musick’ combines dance beats with classical elements forming a cinematic build: a celebratory song about music being the food of love (featuring singer Wiyaala) but also something that makes one sick due to its drug-like effects. ‘Fluid Emancipation’ stays on the theme of music as medication: an addictive and meditative dance track with the kitsch feel that has long become associated with Laibach’s comical image.

‘Singularity’ mind warpingly incorporates Venga Boys into a cover of Mozart with lyrics written about the cheapness of today’s tunes as mere copies or remakes. ‘Love Machine’ has a Kraftwerkesque repetitive chant and features vocals from singer Senidah alongside Milan Fras. The Spaghetti Western stylings of ‘Luigi Mangini’ – a song named after the suspect in the shooting of an insurance company CEO who has been sensationalised as a hero online – passes comment on the growing protest movement orientated political times and social media technological age. Heavy rock track ‘Keep it Reel’ breaks from the electro-pop genre on the subject of the ever-increasingly artificial world of AI and plastic surgery, with intermittent vocal parts sung with Manca Trampuš.

‘Yes Maybe No’ is a feminist defiance fitted into a pop tune that challenges the typical love ballad with vocals by long-time Laibach backing singer Donna Marina Mårtensson. The release closes on the ostentatious cheese of ‘Allgorhythm’, a further commentary in the digital age and a humorous question of alien intelligent life in ‘Das göttliche Kind’. A unconventional and absurd release for this band which is likely the point in hand.

‘MUSICK’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.

Social Distortion – Born to Kill (Epitaph)

The band’s long awaited eighth studio album comes 15 years after 2011’s ‘Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes’, with frontman Mike Ness delaying the final product until he had perfected it amongst his struggles with busy tour schedules and cancer. The wait was well worth it: if the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is anything to go by, then this release throws all the rules out the window. Co-produced by Ness and Dave Sardy with guest appearances from Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Lucinda Williams, this glammy rock ‘n’ roll album literally wears its art on its sleeve with a ball grabbing cover of a roaring leopard by acclaimed street artist Shepard Fairey.

The track list breaks open with title single ‘Born to Kill’; full to the brim with acrid whirring guitars and ferocity vocals, it nods to Iggy and the Stooges’ ‘Search and Destroy’ and Lou Reed’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal’. The Hüsker Dü tinged ‘No Way Out’, a track originating from an earlier period in the band’s history, is a guitar anthem, with twin guitars building to a peak. The alternative and partially acoustic ballad ‘Tonight’ is a mournful savouring of the impossibility of lost opportunities and second single ‘Partners in Crime’ has a circular melody with a pedal streaming guitar solo.

But perhaps surprisingly of the strongest songs on the track list is the band’s cover of the Chris Isaak 1989 chart topping single, ‘Wicked Game’: it gets the balance right between the hapless intensity of Mess’s voice alongside the mellow delicacy of the original, with a country blues feel and Mess’s vocals arcing off against burning lead guitar. The release also keeps true to the band’s (cow)punk rock roots with the defiant stomp of ‘Walk Away (Don’t Look Back)’, featuring one of the best guitar solos on the album, and the beating rhythm of stripped drums in ‘Never Goin’ Back Again’. One of the greatest rock albums of this year.

‘Born to Kill’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.