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Band : The Adicts
Album title : Songs Of Praise
Label : People Like You
Distributor : Hard Life Promotion - Bertus
Release date : 25/08/2008
Release : CD (re-issue)

Track List :
1. Viva la Revolution
2. Songs of Praise
3. Get Adicted
4. Sensitive
5. Just Like Me
6. Too Young
7. Chinese Takeaway
8. Joker in the Pack
9. Steamroller
10. How Sad
11. Let's Go
12. Easy Way Out
13. Smart Alex
14. Troubadour
15. Tokyo
16. Crazy
17. Bad Boy
18. Runaway
19. Come Along
20. I Wanna Be Sedated
21. Falling in Love Again
22. It's a Laugh
23. Saturday Night
24. Zimbabwe Brothers Are Go

Aach, The Adicts...I learned about their exhilerating music far too late (somewhere làte in the '80s, and that thanks to a friend who had some of the early singles)...and even then I didn't quite react on it due to the fact that I was occupied with other genres at the time! In retrospect, I can only be angry at myself for having been so negligent, but luckily I've been able to get sóme of their vinyl releases in the course of time!

You know, this Ipswitch based (a town in Suffolk, England) Street Punk act is one of the longest running Punk outfits, and has never changed their line-up (which is an unparalleled item in the genre, and a rare thing in any for a such longstanding act), except to bring in two additional members! They started out life in 1975 or 1976 (even the members aren't sure about the date anymore) as Afterbirth & The Pinz, with a line-up including lead singer Keith "Monkey" Warren, guitarist Pete Dee Davidson, bassist Mel Ellis, and drummer Michael "Kid" Dee Davidson, but soon changed their name, started wearing white because wearing black became a typical "punk" thing to do, and eventually and took on their now distinctive Clockwork Orange "droog" image (in about '78/'79), as well as their musical direction (urgent, up-tempo Punk Rock with interesting lead guitar play and light-hearted lyrics...which all together set them apart from other Punk band). Other specific features was the lead singer's live appearance with Joker make-up and wild patterned suits (like polkadot of checkerboard drawings), flaring trousers and colorful dress shirts, plus the obligatory bowler hat and gloves...for which he was accasionally seen as being a "poof" (if you don't know the meaning of that typically English word, why don't you go look it up?), and the catchy (say albeit Poppy) sing-along melodies which often feature extra instruments and sound clips. Most importantly, what set the guys tótally apart from the Punk bands at the time, is the fact that they used quite normal and melodic singing voices!

The band made their debut with the 4-track Lunch With The Adicts 7-inch EP on the small Dining Out imprint in 1979, the full-length debut Songs Of Praise (say...sounds familiar?) on the somewhat "bigger" Fall Out label in 1981. The album shot through to #15 in the UK Indie charts thanks to the single Viva La Revolution. Following '80s albums all had a similar success (1982's Sound Of Music, on Razor Records,make it to #2 in the UK Indie and to #99 in the official UK charts; 1983/84's Smart Alex, issued through Cleopatra,went to #7 in the UK Indie charts) but after the mid-eighties the musical landscape in Britain slightly changed, and 1986's Fifth Avenue (issued through Captain Oi!) didn't even enter the charts anymore. Certain things may have to do with confusion, as around the mid '80s the band temporarily changed their name to Fun Adicts and ADX (releasing the 1985 12-inck maxi-single Falling In Love Again, which became the recorded debut for new members John "Scruff" Ellis on guitar, and "Fiddle Dan" Graziani on piano, mandolin, and violin). In 1987 and 1990 followed a couple of live albums (respectively Live And Loud on Link,and Rockers Into Orbit on Fall Out), but it would take the band until 1993 before releasing their new, Anagram Punk released, studio recording Twenty Seven. Live activities went back to the point of near non-existence, but a couple of compilation albums (Dojo issued the 1994 Totally Adicted and 1996 The Best Of The Adicts, Cleopatra came with Ultimate Adiction in '97, Anagram issued The Very Best Of The Adicts and a Complete Singles Collection sampler in 1999) kept The Adicts' name alive (if you can call it that way).

The new millenium came, Street Punk again became a welcomed musical genre, and The Adicts took for a more active touring schedule again. Since then, they've given us two new studio albums with 2002's Rise And Shine (orriginally issued on Captain Oi!, is was re-released in 2004 when the band signed to US label S.O.S. Records) and 2005's Rollercoaster. That same year also saw the release of the live Made In England (on S.O.S.), and a new compilation (Clockwork Punks – The Collection on Anarchy Music)

Without further adieu, it's about time to re-concentrate on this, the 25th Anniversary edition of the band's debut album (hum...and I suppose most of you can count, so you may have noticed already that that anniversary actually happened two years ago?), which will be made available in 3 version: 1) the original classic recordings, on CD ànd vinyl...which is the version wé got; 2) the actual "25th Anniversary Edition", with recordings (same set of 16 songs...err, my info tells me there would be 18 songs on that album...but then that may be additions from when the original vinyl got issued on CD, eh?) done by the current band (wonder, but not for long...check the last paragraph to this review...which differences the boys brought to the original material), and also made available on both CD and vinyl, and; 3) an "Ultimate 25th Anniversary package including both the old and new recordings on CD, with an additional DVD (about which I regrettably have no data). The material on the album itself, is simply classic! What you get is a set of songs which you'll àll like equally without distinction. Sure, you may have sóme preference, but each song is as good as the next one, really, and there's none you could discard for reasons of disliking! From the get-go, you keep telling yourself with each song you hear that that particular track is a true Pop Punk Rock classic. The "Pop" thing shouldn't be exagerrated though, as this was definitely a guitar-geared band, using two guitars in the recording with great leads and solos on top of the melodic rhythm guitar lines. As far as the guitar work goes, and seen as this was the beginning of the Eighties, you might even have mistaken the band for wanting to belong to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene, as their guitar parts often had a slight progressive touch to it! Anyway, if you didn't know the band yet, go check out myspace.com/adicts and listen to a couple of the songs which have influenced so many bands in the Street Punk genre both in the past and today. If you already know the band, but came along too late to get yourself their debut album in its original (vinyl) form, here's your chance to do so today, and get yourself that same album (again on vinyl) as played with the current band! I'll tell you one thing: thàt is the way you'll find mé operating, and never mind the DVD that comes with the "Ultimate" package...i'll leave that to those preferring digital sound carriers!

Right now, you knów I never rate re-issues...correct?...but I'll let you know that this release WILL be featured into that "Best Albums Of 2008"-list of mine. Have no doubt about thàt!!!

Tony.

Source : www.concreteweb.be

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