There's a saying something to the effect of "You'll never be as good as your first album," and for Frank Tovey, his second Fad Gadget record doesn't make a good argument against that statement. In 1981, Tovey seems to have been trying to distance himself from the electro domination that prevailed throughout his first singles and much of Fireside Favourites. Depeche Mode were graduating from opening for Fad Gadget to headlining their own shows, and Mute was being recognized as a home to many synth-dominated acts. Tovey made choices that may have suited him right at the time but years later I don't think they hold up so well.
Mute
It's important to note that between Fireside Favourites and Incontinent came a single for "Make Room." It featured live drumming from Wire's (then ex-) drummer, Robert Gotobed, Wire friend Desmond Simmons on synth, and a slapping funk bass riff contributed by Pete Balmer. The song leaned more in the direction of electro-funk than that of synth-punk, and didn't leave nearly as much an impression on the fans, critics, and history as the B-side, the seminal "Lady Shave." "Lady Shave" was clearly the more bold side. It more closely resembled the early Fad singles, but, regardless of the instrumentation, the song was an attack: it was aggressive, dirty, catchy, and unavoidable. I mention the importance of this song as it seems like such a poor choice to relinquish such an awesome feat to the B-side. To me, this is the choice that sets Incontinent up for mediocrity.
One of the most unfortunate perils of British music is that the fickle press seems to have had an unfair influence on decisions of bands and record labels. Just as soon as acts like OMD, Human League, Gary Numan, or Soft Cell were "in" for being synth acts, they were "out," and most were changing their sound in the early '80s to either prove that they could create music by (needlessly) adding excessive amounts of more traditional rock instruments or cave in to record executives who wanted them to "update" their sound to a more commercially viable "pop." (This is a repeating cycle, see: the demise of shoegaze in the early '90s.)
"Blind Eyes" doesn't launch the album with a very bold statement. The funky bass, piano, hand claps, and live drums, are all mixed so homogenously dead center, and Tovey's vocals blend in so much with the colorless tapestry that they too sound almost completely void of personality.It certainly doesn't sound representative of the Fad Gadget who was introduced to the world, launching himself off bars and engaging everyone. Even the song "Swallow It," which is a fantastic song on paper (it's got a great riff and audacious lyrics), sounds rather flat.
"Saturday Night Special" is pure genius, however, it sounds unlike anything Tovey did before or after. The song, a waltz with harpsichord providing the bulk of the instrumentation, either gets its name from the common slang for a small, cheap handgun, or perhaps it is a nod to the Lynyrd Skynyrd song with the same title. It features some of the most memorable lyrics ever penned by Tovey and is this album's jab at America:
"Every man should have the right to own a gun
Every man should have the right to shoot someone.
Film stars and farmers still forcing opinions like TV politicians playing cowboys and indians."
Despite the setback of having a somewhat flat production like the other songs, "Saturday Night Special" manages to be a breakthrough, as is the closer for side one of the LP, the instrumental title track. This electro gem features some delicious sequencing by Daniel Miller and probably would have made a great B-side to "Lady Shave," which should have not only been an A-side, but was damn good enough to make Incontinent a better record as side one song one. "Manual Dexterity," the instrumental song opening the record's side two, on the other hand, is forgettable enough to have been left as a B-side and off the album.
"King of the Flies," got a remix before being featured on a 7", making it more immediate and less bland, however it didn't make the song any less forgettable. "Diminished Responsibility," on the other hand, screams to be a full-album side, as the nearly six minute piece with drone waves and noises could easily last for another 15 minutes. The album's closer, "Plain Clothes," is almost unlistenable due to the painfully uncomfortably distorted guitar riffing.
Sure, Frank, too wanted to prove that he could record an album loaded with more traditional instrumentation, but it wasn't what he was good at, not at this point. What followed the next year, Under the Flag, thankfully more than made up for the poor decision making that went into Incontinent.
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