RhoDeo 1210 Aetix

Hello, Aetix time again and once more one of my favorite bands from that time is in the spotlight, they could have been big but at the moment they got some well deserved global attention they collapsed, previous work got cheap releases and the band itself was destabilized and when they finally released their weakest album the title Go Bang said it all, from the ashes rose King Swamp but they quickly sunk, by 92 Shriekback was revived and released Sacred City another highlight which got ignored as there was no recordlabel support, since they've released 5 albums with their latest 2010's "Life In The Loading Bay" arguably the best they released since Sacred City still alive then but still in limbo...

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. Shriekback celebrate the blessed dark — the place where they were always most at home. Songs to sing in your sleep...the shape and rhythm of two different kind of nights — nights of heat and weirdness...and nights incandescent with moonlight and dreams.

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Shriekback are popular for their exploration of the darker, funkier side of rock music, usually featuring Dave Allen's driving basslines. Self-described as an "avant-garde musical outfit", they are popular among a limited audience, both for their poetic, often intellectual lyrics, and for their dance-worthy music which range from disco and new wave. They formed in the early 1980s , Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), Carl Marsh (guitars/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of the Gang of Four (bass), were joined by Martyn Barker on drums in 1983.

The first Shriekback release was the six-song EP Tench (82), followed in 1983 by the album Care, also on Y, which featured the underground club-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 it was not enough for Warner Brothers, who dropped Shriekback and deleted Care shortly after its release (idiots). As a result, the follow-up, 1984's Jam Science, was released only in Europe. Toward the end of the Jam Science sessions, Shriekback became a quartet with the addition of drummer Martyn Barker; however, they quickly became a trio again when Carl Marsh departed midway through the recording of their third album. Oil and Gold sold well in its U.S. release on Island Records. So did the follow up 1986's Big Night Music. Shriekback seemed on the brink of unlikely stardom, but Allen departed before the recording of Go Bang! (1988), which was poorly received by both critics and fans.

That appeared to be the end of Shriekback, who dropped out of sight in the late '80s and early '90s. But Allen, Andrews, and Barker reunited in 1992 to record the excellent Sacred City, which essentially picked up where Big Night Music left off. There was another long silence after that, but as of 2000 some form of Shriekback was apparently still in existence; an album called Naked Apes and Pond Life was released, In 2003 followed by Having a Moment , Cormorant (2005) and Glory Bumps (2007) latter two on Malicious Damage Records which does make it a harder to get, add to that it's overpriced, i doubt the boys have learned their lesson here, the music industry maybe very unreliable but squeezing your fans is bad business. Proof to their releases are badly managed is their latest excellent album "Life In The Loading Bay" which was already months old before I as a first minute fan got wind of it last year. Considering the amount of Google hits it still exists in limbo, shame ! Such a pity they didn't sign with, say Virgin at the start, (they had plenty of pedigree) theirs is a story of 3 decades of let down, incompetence and cheat by their recordlabels.

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This "best of" is really just a collection of tracks from Shriekback's first year or so of existence: a bunch of songs from Care, a few from Tench, and the single "Working on the Ground." Still, it contains some phenomenal songs that are otherwise hard to find, including "Clear Trails," "Evaporation," and "Sexthinkone."

Shriekback - The Infinite ( flac 279mb)

01 Lined Up 4:05
02 Clear Trails 3:45
03 Accretions 4:31
04 Sway 3:55
05 Madness Into Method 5:45
06 My Spine (Is The Bass Line) 4:02
07 Mothloop 4:42
08 Sexthinkone 3:40
09 Evaporation 3:21
10 A Kind Of Fascination 4:35
11 Working On The Ground 3:26

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The second volume of Kaz's Shriekback compilation offers one song from Care and two from Oil and Gold, but the real selling point is the five songs from Jam Science, which are otherwise unavailable on CD. The disc is filled out by well-chosen remixes ("Hand on My Heart" and "Fish Below the Ice") and rarities ("Despite Dense Weed" and "Nerve").

In 94 these two samplers were repackaged and released together as Natural History (The Best Of Shriekback)

Shriekback - Evolution (flac 327mb)

12 Nemesis 3:39
13 Fish Below The Ice (12" Version) 5:46
14 Hand On My Heart (12" Version) 5:38
15 New Home 3:38
16 Despite Dense Weed 3:48
17 Midnight Maps 4:09
18 Mercy Dash 4:03
19 Malaria 4:18
20 Under The Lights 3:17
21 My Careful Hands 3:51
22 Nerve (12" Version) 2:40
23 Lines From The Library 3:38

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Oil & Gold, the third full-length Shriekback album, is widely considered the band's highest moment. Released in 1985 on Island Records after the failure of 1984's Jam Science on Arista Records, Oil & Gold saw the band metamorphose from contemplative to rocking. The addition of Martyn Barker on drums and Lu Edmonds on guitar gives many of the songs an almost rock feeling. In many ways, Oil & Gold is the bridge between the old trio of Barry Andrews, Carl Marsh, and Dave Allen, and the new vehicle for Andrews alone. Longtime singer Marsh left the band halfway through the recording, leaving Andrews to take over the vocals. Still, the album's highlights, including the three opening songs, sung by Marsh, and the minor hit, "Nemesis", became the band's signature sound.

The two songs "This Big Hush" and "Coelocanth" were featured in Michael Mann's 1986 film Manhunter and "Faded Flowers" was featured in Band of the Hand. The song "Everything That Rises Must Converge" refers to the short story of that name by Flannery O'Connor. The song "Nemesis" is about the hypothetical star orbiting the Sun (Niburu/planet X). After the album was released, Marsh left the group, and was replaced, for one American tour, by former Voidoid guitarist Ivan Julian.

Shriekback - Oil And Gold ( flac 233mb)

01 Malaria 4:29
02 Everything That Rises Must Converge 4:03
03 Fish Below The Ice 4:24
04 This Big Hush 6:11
05 Faded Flowers 3:44
06 Nemesis 3:43
07 Only Thing That Shines 4:23
08 Health And Knowledge And Wealth And Power 4:44
09 Hammerheads 4:17
10 Coelocanth 4:13

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Big Night Music is entirely free of digital heartbeats of every kind." Except for a few familiar-sounding entries, this radical departure resembles nothing in the Shriekback's previous repertoire and thus requires a real commitment to get over the shock of hearing evanescent continental delicacy and understated piano music instead of pounding dance-rock bizarritude. But do it — your efforts will be well rewarded with beauty, grace and originality. After the album, Dave Allen left to form King Swamp, making Andrews the only remaining original member. Mike Cozzi (now in Sky Cries Mary) played guitar on much of the album and left shortly after this album.

Shriekback - Big Night Music (flac 292mb)

01 Black Light Trap 5:08
02 Gunning For The Buddha 4:34
03 Running On The Rocks 4:53
04 The Shining Path 4:35
05 Pretty Little Things 3:49
06 Underwaterboys 4:47
07 Exquisite 4:28
08 The Reptiles And I 4:28
09 Sticky Jazz 4:20
10 Cradle Song 4:11

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