Tuesday 11 May 2010

Experimental Conception

Still a fascinating album to listen to is this; the first, and undoubtedly the best release Glaxo Babies produced.

As a band they went through many changes, adapting to the ever developing sounds and styles so prevalent of the nineteen-eighties' alternative music scene.
But in my opinion, they never bettered Nine Months to the Disco; they were never more adventurous, nor successfully progressive.

Simon Reynolds, in his rather wanting tome Rip It Up and Start Again, mentions Glaxo Babies merely as a footnote in regard to The Pop Group, stating they 'pursued slightly different versions of funk.'
But Glaxo Babies were far more than a band who just set out to subvert funk tropes; for as is apparent on this album, industrial music and avant-garde jazz were equally important to their, at the time, quite idiosyncratic sound.

And rather than The Pop Group (really a band that are linked with Glaxo Babies due to their common Bristol connection rather than any real musical alliance), they are more comparable with those such as Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, 23 Skidoo, John Zorn, and to my ear at least, on occasion, early Mothers of Invention!

Their experimentalism, unlike so much 'out there' music from that early post-punk period, hasn't dated in the slightest.
It still sounds alive, vibrant and interesting.
And if you fancy downloading this on a whim, not knowing anything about the band, you may well be pleasantly surprised.
I hadn't listened to it for some time - until ripping it today - and it still had the power to surprise, even though it was a very popular play in the past.
Stunning!

Glaxo Babies - Nine Months to the Disco (1980)

Maximum Sexual Joy
This is Your Vendetta
Seven Days
Electric Church
Nine Months to the Disco
Promised Land
The Tea Master and the Assassin
Free Dem Cells
Dinosaur Disco Meets the Swampsstomp
Conscience
Slim
Shake (the Foundations)

Excellent vinyl rip @320kbs
Fill your prescription here

4 comments:

icastico said...

Thanks...I only have vague memories of this...but remember liking it at the time.

roy rocket said...

It's a goodie.
Enjoy, roy

lex dexter said...

Damn! is there any way you could re-up this SOB?

Thanks for your great taste, sir or madam!

roy rocket said...

I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly; isn't the link working? It appears to be...

Try Megaupload.