SHOCKHEADED PETERS-I, BLOODBROTHER BE, 12" EP, 1984, UK

Brash, bombastic and pretty much fabulous, the early line-up of Shockheaded Peters (later revised to Shock Headed Peters) heard here was a repository for some pretty singular talents. Among the ranks of what is almost a sub-underground super-group, you'll find former members of Metabolist, Lemon Kittens, Five Or Six and Danielle Dax's band and future members of Spring Heel Jack. Blake, fresh off years of deforming musical vernacular to its collapsing point in Lemon Kittens is perhaps the biggest surprise here; coherent song structures and thundering rock moves being about the last thing you'd expect from this godfather of insular art damage. Also contributing is future Spring Heel Jack member Ashley Wales', bringing with him his former bandmate from Five Or Six, one David Knight who'd go on to work alongside Blake's former creative other as collaborator on many of Danielle Dax's albums. The extravagance of the gestures here and the theatricality of their attack would be tempered down the line by a more stately approach on their subsequent LP Not Born Bad and a somewhat more formally rock posture after the departure of Rowlatt and Wales, but it's here on their debut EP where their dark flower is in fullest bloom.