Embarassingly enough, I didn't discover Biting Tongues until recently:I had been just flipping through some old vinyl at the radio stationand happened upon some old Factory 12" singles by Biting Tongues andwas drawn by the comments on the sleeves. The CompressorEP soon became a frequent spin on the radio show. As an 808 State fan,it was even more embarassing to admit that I hadn't been aware of thisgroup, as it featured Graham Massey through their entire existencebetween 1979 through 1989. LTM has taken the initiative, as they havewith a number of old Factory groups, to reintroduce their music to thepublic. What works on these reissues is the music: it's all enjoyableand the songs are also valuble in understanding some of the good thingsthat laid groundwork for much of the DFA and Output rosters and thestyles that bridged a time in Manchester's musical history after thepunk and Joy Division heyday and before the sound of acid and 808State's heyday. What I don't like (and of course, I'm being nitpicky asalways) is the lack of original artwork included in the booklets andthe terrible font choices inside, but that's only very minor. For fulldiscography along with images and other visuals, bitingtongues.comis a great resource. Coincidentally, the original four-piece BitingTongues are scheduled to perform this coming week at the ICA in Londonalong with their old touring partners/space sharers Crispy Ambulance.(Check the listings because the event's listed as Thursday, May 29thand Thursday is not the 29th.)
After the Click: Retrospective 1980-89 is the first in theseries and serves as a perfect introduction. It features 16 songshand-picked by Graham Massey, himself, and comes with a discography,interview, and liner notes for each track included. What appeals to memost about their sound and a other appealing contemporaries like 23Skidoo, A Certain Ratio, James Chance, and Liquid Liquid is the looseattitude, vibrant energy, tight rhythm section, and a sparsearrangement that doesn't cloud the sound with too much junk. Low,brooding vocals (most frequently provided by Ken Hollings, author of Destroy All Monsters and frequent contributor to The Wire magazine) are common to the early tracks, lifted off the Don't Heal LP, originally released on Situation Two in 1981. "Denture Beach" is the only track from the Live Itcassette, and is fantastically soulful for a primitive recording:completely instrumental, with a hypnotic bassline, 808 drum machinewith real drums and a blistering saxophone. My only complaint is thefadeout: for all I know, these guys could have gone on for an hour (andI wouldn't have minded). For the rest of the earlier 1980s materialincluded, the group switch up arrangements with staccato, unmelodicvocals, no bass or guitar, but numerous claps and extranous tapes on"Dirt for 485," chugging bass with tape f/x and layered screaming saxsolos on "Iyabhoone," and "44," with a spooky spoken story. Tasty noisytape experiments like 1983's "Feverhouse part 1," from the Feverhouse Soundtrackappear, but it's not even remotely common to the other beat heftymildly jazz-influenced songs. Other highlights include the immaculate"Compressor" and a live recording of "Everywhere But Here," neverrecorded in the studio. By the end of the collection, and their career,the group was down to a duo of Graham Massey and saxophonist HowardWalmsley. Massey was playing more with drum machines and programmedmelodies, trying to fill in the gaps left by the departures of othermembers. While it was a formula that translated well to 808 State, inthe Biting Tongues setting, things didn't sound quite right. "DoubleGold St. Paul" was recorded for the album Recharge and itsounds like a somewhat uncomfortable and clumsy demo for the early1990s incarnation of 808 State. It was clearly time for the BitingTongues to end.
For those primarily interested in the Factory Records label output, Compressed conveniently collects only the recordings released by Factory of Biting Tongues. Included are the Trouble Hand and Compressor releases in their entirety along with the complete soundtrack to Feverhouse,a black and white 16mm film by fellow Tongues Ken Hollings and HowardWalmsley. It was the film in its rough form that interested Factory'sTony Wilson to do a parallel release of the soundtrack and the film onthe new video extension of the Factory label, Ikon. The ten track LPwas released in 1985 along with the movie, gaining praise from a numberof press folks and showing in a couple rare locations. All ten tracksappear (at the end of this disc however) and they sound like thesoundtrack to an "atmospheric" art film a group of rhythmic tapeexperimenting rock musicians would make. Muffled horn sounds and tapenoise, instrumental subdued rhythmic numbers, field recordings putthrough effects, and droning tape manipulations are common. Theremastering job is nice as I can only begin to imagine how annoyingcrackly vinyl could easily ruin these more quiet recordings. Trouble Handwas the second Factory release: a five-track 12" EP featuring thespeedy vocal title track and the equally speedy "Panorama," which has anoisy opening (it sounds like somebody drumming inside the hull of asubmarine) and deftly slips right in to a fierce flanging bassline.Things slow down for the jazzy horn-saturated "Meat Mask Separatist,"but pick back up again for "Boss Toyota Trouble." Compressor isprobably the most celebrated peak of Biting Tongues career, with thepopular a-side, produced in 1986 and featuring machine-like live drums,hypnotic bass, looplike vocals, and a killer horn riff. My preferencehowever was the b-side, with "Black Jesus," a much darker melody andits beat-less counterpart "Black & White Jesus," the last trackreleased in terms of chronology, but making for a good transition intothe Feverhouse tracks which follow.
Recharge is the album that even time can't save. After foursongs appeared on a white label promo, the album, (the last recorded asBiting Tongues) recorded in 1989, was shelved. Technology can nevercompletely be substituted for humans, and I fairly certain that's whatI find problematic when muisicians start incorporating synths andmachines for the sake of replacing what was once live. The drum machineand synth sounds available to the now duo of Massey and Walmsley are sopainfully artificial, that it's best that they're not attempting torecreate the living drummer and horn sections. Simultaneously, theblueprints were outlined for 808 State, as the legendary QuadrastateEP was recorded at the same time in the same studio. Hints of 808classics like "Pacific" bleed through the poorly recorded firsttracks—I don't know if it's a remastering problem or if it was thestate of the original tapes, but the bass is completely overblown andmuddy on much of album. The squealy, cheesy guitar on "Take the BackRight Off" could even point to 808 State's mega hit "Cübik." Guestfemale vocals absolutely ruin the Biting Tongues'-ness of this releaseby the third track, "Love Out," while the novelty of the'ooh-we-just-got-a-sampler' in the form of endless female vocal sampleson "Increase" is simply painful. Only one track, "Neckwork," am I trulyenjoying thoroughly, but the slap-bass and white funk feel is morereminiscent of Code-era Cabaret Voltaire than anything BitingTongues did prior to 1989. Even this one track is honestly not worththe price or agony of the rest of the disc. Die hard 808 State fanswill probably find joy in this record, but Factory fans and those whofind an affinity for the earlier Biting Tongues material might want tohold off.
- Denture Beach (from After the Click)
- Compressor (from After the Click and Compressed)
- Double Gold St. Paul(from After the Click and Recharge)
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