Fàshiön
by
Antony Burnham
Review:
So. If you had the use of a Time Machine, where would you go? What would you do? For me there are so many events or times to visit - The Crowning of Voltaire; maybe take in one of Christ's sermons (although I am too lazy to learn Aramathean, so ... just for the atmosphere?); maybe fill my lungs with Jurassic air, then take a leisurely cruise on an Airship. But the sad truth is, I'd probably just use the Machine to go to gigs I wished I could have been at, or would like to revisit those I have experienced.
Top of the list would be The Ramones / Talking Heads New Year gig '78. The night that spawned that incredible album "Its Alive".
Second would be to experience once again Zoviet France playing transforming a pub in a rainy Nottingham street into some mythical, Eastern land.
Third (or possible tied second) would be to re-experience Fashion supporting The Skids in the grubby Midlands town of Nuneaton. The Skids had just released their "Wide Open" EP, and a teenage Me lapped up their show. Jobson cavorting like an epileptic berzerker, showering the audience in sweat - an explosion of human energy. The band burned up the stage, raw, intelligent Punk, not yet having discovered the E-Bow, synthesizers, Bill Nelson or the sweet-tasting exchange of mainstream success for bland Electro-Pop. As impressive as they were, they struggled not to have been blown off the stage by their support band who all but stole the evening from them, leaving an indelible impression on the minds of all there.
Clutching a signed copy of the first, screen-print-covered single "Steady Eddie Steady" (how uncool, how Part-Time Punk - "Can I have your autograph please"), I started a journey with this odd bunch of guys. Along the way I would witness them live a second time, playing the same, sticky-floored venue, supporting some Irish band named after a spy plane or something. Things were different at this gig. There were a few dozen people at the gig, but if you were to ask around the town, you would meet several thousand who claimed to be there. They only ones who actually were in attendence were there to see Fashion. By this time they had a couple of singles and "Product Perfect" under their glittery belts.
No one in the audience could scry the future from the beer-lacquered shadows that night - the almost-too-tall-for-such-a-squalid-room Luke Sky leaving for pastures new, followed by a brief spell of chart success with the slick and somewhat unique electro-dance album "Fabrique" - finally reaching the wider audience with "Move On", sacrificing their earlier charm for dark pop disco(R)dance.
But despite being unable to convince anyone just how fantastic this band were by playing them "Product Perfect", I loved it to bits. And was aware from the offset where this album's weakness lay. Live they demanded your full attention. Their sound was unique then, among the rawness and spite. They arrived before the New Romantics, but never really fit in with their sound. They were more Futurists, a genre-splicing-genre in their own right. At around this time there were a host of local bands who resided outside the Angry Young Thing posturing which was Punk. The Birmingham / Coventry area produced a good number, including the likes of Dangerous Girls and God's Toys. Neither Punk nor New Wave, yet set outside the more traditional styles, these bands embrace the spirit of the times while never courting any hard-defined edged genre. They seemed to take the established sound of this part of the Midlands - Reggae & Rock - and twisted it into something new and exciting. Fashion took this sound, added electronics (in the shape of a little EDP Wasp) then pushed the envelope into new dimensions. A cul-de-sac of futuristic potential.
"Product Perfect" followed the wonderful suicide single "Steady Eddie Steady" with its warm-dark-grooved B side "Killing Time". The cover - a model posing as if between glossy-mag shots - had the by now familiar Fashion font - itself somehow suggesting a walk into future potential. Eleven songs, three of which formed a kind of tumbling medley. The first and third tracks - "Product Perfect" and "Red, Green and Gold" were White Boy Reggae plasticised by the clean, spartan mix. Luke Sky's voice seemed just right for these songs - rich, rolling vibrato tones somehow more Rastafarian than most Black singers. "Dont Touch Me" formed a strange hybrid between Rock and Reggae - a chimera which sounded like neither style. "Die In The West", "Burning Down" and "Bike Boys" were faster tracks, taking the energy of Punk and giving it a shiny chrome dazzle. "Bike Boys" in particular stands out - changing style and tempo with schizophrenic ease. Domestic violence has never sounded so sweet! They released "Citinite" as a single, and a weird track it is too. The voices - treated with fx to put further spin on the already odd, Surrealist-Thought-Bubble delivery, is probably one of the strangest lead vocal sounds I have ever heard, and the music itself has a dark clamminess which matches the title. The world was yet to hear "O Superman" and "Ghosts" high in the charts, and would have been unprepared for this, had it pushed its way into Transistor-Radio-Land. But the highlight of the album must be "Big John" / "Hanoi Annoys" / "Innocent". This is the only point where the album hints at how they sounded live. Maybe it was the pressure of running these three together, but they failed to lose the drive and velocity of this medley in the mix. "Big John" wallows in its dream-like listing of (presumably) fictional characters, the chap in the title raising Cows (cows, cows, cows, cows!). "Hanoi Annoys" 'has a go' at various places around the globe, not unlike Python's "Never Be Rude To An Arab". The singer sounds both angry and crazy-mad-funny. Then, after a spangling piece of guitar, they dive into "Innocent" - perhaps their only nod towards Punk here. A fast, joyful number. The surge is a welcome slap in the face, concluding the first side, urging the listener to play the flip.
A great album? Great songs indeed, but somewhere between their inspired live set and the pressing plant, someone decided to produce this material in a spartan way, so only the strength of the songs keep it alive. Something was left out, or more likely some non-Fashion member added input this album didn't need. I'd compare it with The Slits first album - genius, wonderful, again fantastic songs, but where did the energy & life go? The difference between the two is that I would happily listen to "Product Perfect" again & again, whereas "Cut" I would have to force myself to listen to, and would want to quit listening just a handful of tracks in.
So alas, I feel a flawed masterpiece. But a masterpiece nevertheless. Get hold of a video of their early performances, lose yourself in the atmosphere and energy, and you might just feel your life is a little more empty without this album. Or borrow my Time Machine.
As a coda, I have just found out that, not only are Fashion born again with Luke as front man, but have released a new album. Check it out on iTunes - sounds wonderful - a return to the energy, wit and strangeness of the first album. And as poor as a church mouse I may be, but you bet I'll be buying that album.