Though the legendary 'Cocks have influenced both the well-known (The Go-Go's, Green Day) and semi-obscure (Mega City Four, The Briefs), Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle continue to pen nervy gems rivaling their classics from the '70s. It would be so easy for them to rest on past glories and play Holidays In The Sun-type festivals to drunkards getting off on "Orgasm Addict" for the billionth time. However, the tandem still has a lot more to say/sing.
Shelley pulls first on this eponymous release with "Jerk." The sweetly sardonic plea implores with Pete's unmistakable cry ("Forgive me/I beg you/You know I only love you/Wish I hadn't told you where to go"). Later, he turns from apologetic to contemplative on "Friends" ("I turn around and it all looks the same/I don't even know if I'll ever be loved again/The only thing I can rely on is change"). "Useless" bookends the disc with one of Shelley's angriest-ever statements ("Life's only temporary/And then you fucking die"). Diggle constructs what is perhaps the album's cornerstone. "Sick City Sometimes" snaps 9/11 allusions to get a portrait of the Taliban which lies within many ("Now the buildings take a fall/And he tries to kill us all/In the name of something zero in your mind"). Howard Devoto, who was the band's original vocalist (1977's Spiral Scratch EP is worth more than an itch) before forming the also-revered Magazine (Ministry covers "The Light Pours Out Of Me" on its latest wax), rejoins his mates on "Stars" (arguably the 'eaviest tune on the LP) and a reworked "Lester Sands" (hear the Time's Up collection for an earlier take).
It's amazing that Shelley and Diggle were once at a dilapidated shopping center on Newtown and Baker Road in Virginia Beach. Perhaps the only things more startling are their consistency and sustained relevance.
Shelley pulls first on this eponymous release with "Jerk." The sweetly sardonic plea implores with Pete's unmistakable cry ("Forgive me/I beg you/You know I only love you/Wish I hadn't told you where to go"). Later, he turns from apologetic to contemplative on "Friends" ("I turn around and it all looks the same/I don't even know if I'll ever be loved again/The only thing I can rely on is change"). "Useless" bookends the disc with one of Shelley's angriest-ever statements ("Life's only temporary/And then you fucking die"). Diggle constructs what is perhaps the album's cornerstone. "Sick City Sometimes" snaps 9/11 allusions to get a portrait of the Taliban which lies within many ("Now the buildings take a fall/And he tries to kill us all/In the name of something zero in your mind"). Howard Devoto, who was the band's original vocalist (1977's Spiral Scratch EP is worth more than an itch) before forming the also-revered Magazine (Ministry covers "The Light Pours Out Of Me" on its latest wax), rejoins his mates on "Stars" (arguably the 'eaviest tune on the LP) and a reworked "Lester Sands" (hear the Time's Up collection for an earlier take).
It's amazing that Shelley and Diggle were once at a dilapidated shopping center on Newtown and Baker Road in Virginia Beach. Perhaps the only things more startling are their consistency and sustained relevance.
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