Shriekback - My Spine Is The Bassline -Promo Vinyl- (c) 1983 Warner
Artist....: Shriekback
Album.....: My Spine Is The Bassline
Type......: Maxi
Source....: Vinyl
Tracks....: 03
Genre.....: New Wave
Label.....: Warner Bros. Records
Catalogue#: PRO-A-2048
Encoder...: LAME 3.97
Quality...: VBR kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint-Stereo
URL.......: http://www.discogs.com/release/162085
Tracklist:
----------
A1 My Spine (Is The Bassline) 04:04
B1 Accretions 04:12
B2 Clear Trails 03:47
Total:18,7 MB / 12:03 min
Release Notes:
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From
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/bio/0,,492780,00.html#bio
Shriekback is not an easy band to classify. They borrowed heavily from
funk but had a very different agenda; their music was more suited for
contemplation than for parties. They combined synthesizers and drum
machines with throbbing bass lines and unorthodox vocals to evoke a
primordial world where the line between human and animal was blurred.
The title of their fourth album, Big Night Music, might be the most
succinct summation of their work: Shriekback's music was always an
appropriate soundtrack for life in the dark, but with the emphasis on
the possibilities rather than the dangers. Though often haunting, it
was not gothic and harbored strains of pop and dance that rose to the
surface from time to time. Still, however accessible they became,
Shriekback cultivated an air of mystery that made them hard to pin
down. Further complicating any evaluation of their career is the fact
that they never made a single, brilliant album that concentrated all
their strengths in one place; their best material is spread out across
a decade during which they underwent a great deal of evolution.
Shriekback came together in 1982 as a loose association based around
the trio of Dave Allen (bass), Barry Andrews (keyboards/vocals), and
Carl Marsh (vocals/guitar). Allen and Andrews had previously been
members of Gang of Four and XTC, respectively; Marsh had played with
the more obscure Out on Blue Six. They quickly developed a trademark
sound that had little to do with the members' previous credits. The
bedrock of that sound was Allen's muscular yet liquid bass playing,
which was a quantum leap beyond his relatively crude work with Gang of
Four. On top of this Shriekback deployed creative and intricate drum
programs; Andrews' multifaceted synthesizer shadings; strategically
placed, mostly rhythm guitar from Marsh; and whispered vocals from
Andrews along with Marsh's more melodic singing. Both vocalists were
technically limited, but this was more than compensated for by the
band's tight playing and evocative, intelligent lyrics.
The first Shriekback release was the six-song EP Tench, which appeared
on the English Y label in 1982. It was followed in 1983 by the LP Care,
also on Y, which featured the quasi-hit "Lined Up," the song that put
Shriekback on the map for many people. Care was picked up and released
in the U.S. by Warner Brothers, with an altered running order and two
different tracks, including the polyrhythmic "My Spine (Is the Bass
Line)."
Although Care was critically acclaimed and garnered a fair amount of
airplay from both college radio and fledgling modern rock radio, that
was not enough for Warner Brothers, who dropped Shriekback and deleted
Care shortly after its release. As a result, the follow-up, 1984's Jam
Science, was released only in Europe (this time on Arista). Slicker,
less murky, and more focused on electronics than its predecessor, Jam
Science contained the dub-influenced single "Hand on My Heart."