The Best Of A Bad Bunch/Pellethead (Gnu Inc)
After the
sublime genius of Asbo Derek’s “Ulysses Twin”, Vic Godard’s Gnu Inc label
unveil a – well not exactly new discovery as they’ve been around for twenty-five
years – Middlesbrough’s Pellethead. They attribute their longevity with the
following statement – “We are in the band and have been for such a long time
because it is a laugh. We laugh a lot. We take the piss a lot. It is good.”
“The Best Of
A Bad Bunch” - not exactly the most
positive title for a compilation – is a resume for Pellethead’s silver
anniversary – including a special re-recording (“Hear Me Now”) and a brand new
offering – “Skips”. There will be some
out there who may already possess all the other songs on this ‘ere LP, but for
the vast majority that is the rest of us, the album is an invigorating breath
of fresh (ish) air.
The opener,
“Social Creeper”, guides us towards the theory that there is tragedy behind
Pellethead’s comedy. The song’s subject desperately tries to play down the
ongoing collapse of his life by claiming that “Nothing’s Going Wrong” and
vainly attempts to laugh his woes away – but the fragile veneer disappears as
the laughter mutates into unstable hysterics.
“Cornerstone
Blues” takes “Remember Walking In the Sand”, punks it up and transports it with
a huge size twelve boot up its middle eight from its beach in the US to crash
land on a cold night in Middlesbrough – drugged up, drunk on thirteen pints,
with two cigarettes left – and like the Shangri-Las – pining for a lost love.
Musically it
is fair to say that Pellethead’s no-fi scratchy punky primitive approach aligns
itself with early Fall recordings – but the band’s penchant for
self-degradation and waving the flag for unbridled irreverence places them
worlds away from the many plagiarists of the late M.E.S. and company.
This is
borne out on “It”. The quite plainly daft attempt at a US accent seems to
intimate a light-hearted jibe at American art-punk. Talking Heads maybe? The “It” is omnipresent
and of varying textures – but whatever “It” is remains a mystery once the track
reaches its conclusion. A song glorifying its own meaninglessness and pissing
itself laughing at the thought of hack reviewers trying to justify its raison
d’etre.
The already
classic “Maguire” features Pellethead with an irresistible stomper of a track
paying tribute to a character who succumbed to a prison term and ultimate loss
of life from drug abuse. Vic Godard was so taken by this number that Subway
Sect covered this at various shows last year. “Maguire” and “David Christ” –
the tale of the mysterious phenomenon who was “Jesus In A Leather Jacket” with
an “Elvis Presley Grin” are the most immediate selections from the album, but
the rest of “The Best Of A Bad Bunch” reveal themselves as worthwhile growers.
The video to
“Hear Me Now” appears below as a link – there may be a subtle connection
between the video’s storyboard – and the protagonist’s retort in the song
against those who felt he was only fit to be a bus conductor or a dustman – but
then again, probably not.
This year
has seen more Record Store Day releases than any other, but “The Best Of A Bad
Bunch” is the only album that declares itself available to the public -”The Day
After Record Store Day”. Pellethead and Gnu Inc may well have their reasons for
this unique marketing ploy – or it may well be just a laugh.
Good old
scratchy slightly untogether punk that brings a huge smile to my face. I’ll be
up for reviewing the next compilation in 2043.
"Hear Me Now" video.....
Lee McFadden
8/4/18
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