On this day, 43 years ago, British Post-punk band The Fall released their third studio album Grotesque (After The Gramme) - 17 November 1980. It was their first studio album released by the Rough Trade Records label.

The album was preceded by two acclaimed singles, "How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'" and "Totally Wired", which did not appear on the original pressing but were subsequently included on CD reissues of the album.

The Fall's music at the time was described as "Mancabilly", and by singer Smith himself as "Country 'n' Northern".

The album was generally well received and highly acclaimed by the music press, rating it with four to five out of the five star ratings.

The album reached number one on the UK Independent Album Chart for 3 sequential weeks, spending 29 weeks on the chart in total.


Grotesque (After The Gramme) (ROUGH 18 - LP)

DISCOGS

Los Angeles-based electronic duo, Die Sexual recently unveiled their latest EP, Bound.

Bound brings to light our beliefs of submission and dominance being an intricate part of many human relationships,

The duo states, "We wanted to create music that reflects the dynamic interplay that deepens connections and intimacy. While this has been a stepping stone into our own discovery, we wanted to challenge listeners to unearth their inner-most passions and relinquish inhibition."

A track like “Bound, I Rise” is about the “dance of control” of relationships, finding confidence and power in assuming the dominant role while on the next track, “On This Night”, the narrative is flipped to completely submitting to our desires.

The final track “Fate Awaits” contemplates this interplay on another level, being chained to one’s own thoughts of despair and uncertainty before the final realization that “fate awaits only in my own hands”, a taking back of control.

Driven by the duo's shared love of electronic music, the Bound EP was crafted in their home studio of vintage analog and modular synthesizers and was fueled by their inspiration from classic EBM and modern techno. The hope is for the listeners to share in the musical journey, on the dancefloors, in the basements and in the bedrooms.

Bound is available on all major digital platforms including Spotify and Bandcamp.

tinyurl.com/3nk5hscp

Movement is the debut album by New Order, released on 13 November 1981 by Factory Records. The album was produced by Martin Hannett who also produced the previous Joy Division albums and releases. At the time of its release, the album was not particularly well-received by critics or audiences, only peaking at number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. However, retrospective critical reception has been very positive.

After the suicide of Joy Division's singer Ian Curtis in May 1980, and the subsequent shock for those surrounding him, remaining members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris elected to carry on, albeit under a new name – New Order. With the exception of two songs, "Ceremony" (first played live at Joy Division's very last gig, a bit more than two weeks before Curtis's death) and "In a Lonely Place" (unreleased, but demoed in the studio), all the material played would be new.

A couple of songs on Movement stem from the initial songwriting session the band undertook in the summer of 1980.

Bernard Sumner took the main vocalist role with Peter Hook as back-up though the latter sang lead on "Dreams Never End" and "Doubts Even Here”.

Musically the album situated in between Joy Division's post-punk sound and the synth-pop style that would happen to define New Order and influence pop music for decades".[10]

In 2008 and 2015 the album was remastered and released in different formats (Digital/CD/12”).

References to Ian Curtis appear on the songs "ICB" (rumored to be an acronym for 'Ian Curtis Buried', but confirmed by Peter Hook in a 2013 interview) and "The Him".

The album cover was designed by Peter Saville and is based on a poster by the Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero.

The shape created by the top three lines is an 'F' (lying on its back), which refers to Factory Records/Factory Communications Limited and the bottom two lines create an 'L' (lying on its front), the Roman numeral 50, the original catalogue was FACT 50.

Movement - Tracklist

DISCOGS

The Scream is the debut album by Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was an almost instant commercial success, peaking at No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart and was recorded in only one week and mixed in three during August 1978. The album was released on 13 November 1978 by Polydor. Before the album's release, the band had developed a strong reputation as a live act, and had achieved a Top 10 UK single with "Hong Kong Garden”, a track which did not appear on the original album, but was added not much later to most others issues of Scream.

Upon release, The Scream was widely acclaimed by critics. It was also a commercial success, peaking at No. 12 in the UK Albums Chart. The album is regarded as a landmark of post-punk.

Late 1977 and early 1978, Siouxsie and the Banshees received major press coverage but failed to secure a recording deal. A fan undertook a graffiti campaign in London, spraying the walls of the major record companies with the words "Sign the Banshees: do it now".[2] Polydor finally signed them in June.

J. G. Ballard and William Burroughs provided the reference points for the lyrics of The Scream.

Since its release, The Scream has received a number of accolades from the music press. NME rated it at No. 57 in their "Writers All Time 100 Albums" list in 1985. Uncut magazine placed it at No. 43 in their list of the 100 greatest debut albums. It was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

The Scream placed the group among the pioneers of post-punk, as Robert Smith of the Cure said:

"When The Scream came out, I remember it was much slower than everybody thought. It was like the forerunner of the Joy Division sound. It was just big-sounding."

Joy Division's Peter Hook, who saw the band in concert in Manchester in 1977, said about The Scream: "Siouxsie And The Banshees were one of our big influences, The Banshees first LP was one of my favourite ever records, the way the guitarist and the drummer played was a really unusual way of playing."

The Scream had a strong impact on other musicians. Massive Attack covered and sampled "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)" on their song "Superpredators (Metal Postcard)" in 1997.

Scream (1978 LP) - Tracklist

DISCOGS

What some have called the most original and best album of the original punk generation was unleashed 45 years on 10 November 1978, ‘Germfree Adolescents’ by X-Ray Spex stands at the pinnacle of what punk would accomplish in its first incarnation.

The dynamo that drove this punk-rock strike of defiance was loaded with anti-capitalist view which all spewed from an unlikely young girl, only nineteen at the time of its recording but this respectable, well-mannered young girl with braces on her teeth which were a feature when she smiled, but then she would open her mouth to sing and the shy, quiet Marion Joan Elliot-Said would transform into the high-priestess of a revolution, Poly Styrene.

The album opens with a four-syllable disdain: “Ar-ti-fic-ial!”, as it phases the music launches and this Richard Hell in knickers summons up the powerful and depressed emotions of the day in a twelve-track assault. It becomes clear that Poly Styrene delivers conviction in every word she sings, every sneer and roll of the tongue, each phrase is delivered with the same oppressed intensity as the last.

As for the musicianship of X-Ray Spex, they provide the perfect backdrop for Styrene to wage a verbal war, this album contains some of the best drumming on a punk record over which a very loud, old-school guitar pumps distorted rock and roll riffs that build in intensity throughout the albumthe inclusion of a saxophone to give the songs an extra depth may not be not common on records of the ‘Generation-X’ but it works here in galvanizing the sound.

The songs themselves are not love songs as such, they are rather the points of everyday society such as “Warrior In Woolworths”, “Plastic Bag”, “ I Am A Poseur” and of course the title track, not many bands could make songs about personal hygiene and supermarkets cool, though these themes make the album relatable and accessible to the youth of the day and stands as a time-capsule of late 70s culture.

Germfree Adolescents (original 1978 track list)

Side A

'Art-I-Ficial' – 3:24
'Obsessed with You' – 2:30
'Warrior in Woolworths' – 3:06
'Let's Submerge' – 3:26
'I Can't Do Anything' – 2:58
'Identity' – 2:25

Side B;

'Genetic Engineering' – 2:49
'I Live Off You' – 2:09
'I Am a Poseur' – 2:34
'Germ Free Adolescents' – 3:14
'Plastic Bag' – 4:54
'The Day the World Turned Dayglo' – 2:53

DISCOGS

[KB]