- Tempo House
- Look, Know
- Ludd Gang
- Wings
- The Classical
- Hexen Definitive
- Strife Knot
- The Man Whose Head Expanded
- Eat Y’self Fitter
- Hard Life in Country
- Pilsner Trail
- Garden
- Kicker Conspiracy
- Middle Mass
NOTES
Final performance of “Look, Know”
Clear good quality audience tape…some chattering from a punter who oddly yells “bring on the big rock stars” or something similar at some point.
Back from Iceland after a lengthy USA/Canada tour and before a quick jaunt around Austria/Germany for four dates this formed the opening gig of the spring summer tour which presaged the release of Perverted By Language. There would be no new material officially released until July and the only clues of new tunes were in the Peel Session in March. Rough Trade label mates The Smiths were the support.
Here is the band at the apex of the “post-Riley pre-Brix” era. The drums and bass dominate the sound in this period. Riley’s signature keyboard and second guitar sound replaced by the splintering tinny shards of Scanlon rhythm and the occasional keyboard noise from Craig, Paul or Mark.
The best adjective is “muscular”. The gig is dominated by long readings of repetitive riff driven numbers with Smith spitting and snarling over violent percussion. The best example of this is an intense “Ludd Gang” which smashes its way into your consciousness.
The highlight for me is a fantastic version of “Wings” which features a laconic narration from Mark as the band simply hammers away in the background. This is followed by an almost perfect version of “The Classical” – a tune often beset with problems live – the band hit it just right on this evening with some exemplary guitar from Scanlon.
A huge cheer greets a lengthy “Hex/Knot” – somewhat ruined by some chatter around the taper – this is a long one and requires some stamina.
Scanlon on the Casio VL Tone mini keyboard with it’s spiky percussion introduces an incredibly fast “Man whose head expanded”. “Fitter” comes and goes as it usually does to be followed by an excellent “Hard Life”. Scanlon is magnificent playing superbly – exorcising his Bill Harkleroad demons – as Smith narrates in monotone and then whoops and yelps. This is an excellent reading of this classic from “Room to Live”.
It is nice to hear “Pilsner Trail” which is interrupted by a power cut. Incredibly funky rhythm and some tight playing. On my CDR the gig concludes with an excellent reading of “Garden”. Other listings suggest two other numbers were played – however I do not have access to these.
An excellent gig – highly recommend.