RETRIBUTION

well i first heard this album several months ago after a recommendation from a friend and i thought it was absolutely crazy - the first track on side one, "free to be stoned" contains some wild, raw blues riffing and vocals repeating: "i just wanna beeeee stoned for the rest of my natural life...!" ...catch the drift? sounds like a jam session, i bet this was great live. wild vocals on this album Andy Clark, guitar Mick Hutchinson, "amazing" bass Amazing Stephen Amazing, percussion Del Coverley. This album is very blues orientated, much moreso than their previous debut album "A=mc2". "when i'm stoned everything seems to turn out right.." and it does seem to on this track. the sound quality is typical of albums from this period, solid bass, fairly clear, not cluttered and over-produced,not bad at all. the next track, a jazzy/bluesey ten minute instrumental called "After Hours" has a bluesey tinkling piano intro and shuffles along nicely, includes a fairly standard guitar solo, late-night smoky club music. on side two, not as good as side one in my opinion, the first track, "In Another Way" is not an outstanding song but includes a nice litle guitar solo. "Best Suit", the longest track on side two at ten minutes, is very similar to "Free to be Stoned" , half-spoken/screeched vocals about a lost hat (??),though less manic but just as raw.to some this track may sound a bit like a monotonous and repetitive jam but it settles into some basic bluesey guitar soloing and riffing. the final track "Death, the Lover" has a monotonous plodding beat and the aforementioned vocals and goes on for seven minutes. they muck about too much on this one and is not my favourite track, near the end it breaks into a completely different song .."i wish i was a mountain" all the tracks on this album are done very tongue-in-cheek and make "interesting" listening - hope you've got a good sense of humour! the band's philosophy is summed up thus on the reverse of the sleeve: "We are what we are and nobody can change us, because of this we have had to learn to swallow the aches of humiliation, perhaps now our exile is over. ah! there is hope in dust thrown up by the wind. out past the paper, out past the plastic, comes the music. Andy Clark." A record exec's nightmare! despite my seemingly lack of enthusiasm about side two of this album i play it often, and its subtle humour always cheers me up! not an essential album but interesting nonetheless. recommended!