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Eric Random, "Subliminal: 1980-1982"
Eric Random is a crucial piece of history for fans of Cabaret Voltaire,23 Skidoo, and A Certain Ratio, and this 2xCD collection issued by LTMearlier this year provides an overview that is not only a greatintroduction but a generous selection of difficult to find material.LTM
Eric Random started in the band The Tiller Boys, which includedBuzzcocks's Pete Shelley, who played at some of those legendary Factoryshowcases at the end of the 1970s. Their last date was sharing the billwith Cabaret Voltaire on that night captured as Live at the YMCAon October 27th (yeah, you missed my birthday again this year) in 1979.Following the split, Random (who was only 18 in 1979) began workingcloser with the Cabs, recording at their Western Works studio inSheffield with Stephen Mallinder at the desk, joining the Cabsfollowing the departure of Chris Watson in 1981 and appearing on 2x45 and The Pressure Company, and even playing a one-off show billed as A Certain Random Cabaret which included members of A Certain Ratio.
Random's music fits in appropriately between contemporary music of23 Skidoo and Cabaret Voltaire. Structured rhythms provide the backbonefor songs which often push the ten-minute mark, never straying from theestablished tempo, while a bass line frequently remains fairly constantthroughout each piece. On top are layers featuring tape manipulations,faint guitar, horns, melodica, and muted vocals, soaked in primitiveechoes and delays found primarily on early recordings from themightiest dubmasters.
Once again LTM's presentation is classy and respectful, including aninformative booklet to accompany the music. Disc one captures singlesand compilation tracks from 1980-1982 while disc two features the 1982album Earthbound Ghost Need (a Burroughs reference from Naked Lunch) in its entirety.
Random's inclusion of a cover of "Bolero" by Ravel at the end of the Earthbound Ghost Needalbum is hardly a surprise, as the structure of that song is almost ablueprint to the main ideas of most of Eric Random's music: songs arevery long and simply do not stray from their main theme. (It's aformula that shouldn't be unfamiliar to Cabaret Voltaire and Richard H.Kirk fans.) Songs like this work well in clubs and in other socialsettings but two discs of long cuts is a lot more to ask of a listeneras opposed to an extended 12" single here and there. The four songsfrom the That's What I Like About Me EP open the first disc andthe muddy footprints left by Stephen Mallinder and Western Works areall over it. (It's not a bad thing, honest.) The length of these foursongs is an album in nearly anybody's book, which makes it somewhatunbalanced when compared to the following six tracks, which averagearound 4 minutes each.
There is plenty more Eric Random yet to compile and reissue, asfollowing these recordings Random traveled to India to studynon-western musics, continued his friendship and alliance with CabaretVoltaire, playing various concerts with them (including a show withRichard H. Kirk as recently as 2000), releasing music on theirDoublevision imprint, and performing in other projects like The FreeAgents, and The Faction (Nico's backing band in the 1980s). CV fansshould especially be anxious to see the Mad As Mankind single released again but as this stuff was out around 1984, it simply wouldn't have quite fit in to the material collected on Subliminal 1980-1982. I'll wait patiently myself and take the time this material needs to settle in completely.
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