Saturday, February 16, 2013

GADGETS-LOVE, CURIOUSITY, FRECKLES & DOUBT, LP, 1980, UK

Though Matt Johnson would go on to garner both popular acclaim and critical huzzahs with the lighter and slighter touch of The The's later and more accessible work, his tenure with three other mutant synth pop oddniks in Gadgets resulted in two albums circa 1980 whose cumulative impact offers a decidedly tough act to follow for any artful young punter. Perfectly of piece with their Gadgetree LP, the outlandish creativity at hand here also exists on a perfect continuum with Johnson's solo debut under his own steam with his Burning Blue Soul LP from 1981 and his contributions to the Deux Filles LP's. Echoes of Swell Maps, early Ultravox and Magazine resound throughout, but they're continuously offset by the kinda of craftily drugged dislocations of post punk signifiers that I associate with the likes of The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast. Would that my vinyl was a more perfect copy, though…


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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2013 at 12:33 AM

    Thoroughly enjoyed!

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  2. Danny GFebruary 21, 2013 at 3:33 PM

    This is great stuff. I dug The The in their day, but this is far more interesting.

    Bizarre and confounding trivia: Did TV star Pat Phoenix truly name her memoir after this, or is there another source for the title?

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2013 at 9:01 PM

    so Eric , have you heard it yet ? >..."exists on a perfect continuum with Johnson's solo debut under his own steam with his Burning Blue Soul LP from 1981 " ~V. Dorje

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  4. VaykorusSeptember 11, 2021 at 9:54 AM

    THANKS!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete