Visionary artist Barney Bubbles was the graphic designer and creator of
such classic sleeves as Hawkwind’s “X In Search of Space,” “Doremi Fasol
Latido” and “Space Ritual” as well as innumerable Stiff Records covers.
But his vision also extended to light shows, choreography and this
record, “Ersatz.” Collaborating with friend Nik Turner, Robert Calvert,
Inner City Unit and whoever else was in the studio at the time, they
produced a record under extreme economic conditions. Barney even
designed the sleeve in affordable black and white, and kept the band
(and himself, as was his wont) completely anonymous in the credits.
Saving on the expense of studio time, they would record first-take
versions of songs from a favourite mix tape of his after one play
apiece. They would listen then record, listen then record twelve times
in one quick session.
And the songs on Barney’s tape? “The Crusher” by The Novas, Little Black
Egg” by The Nightcrawlers, “Brand New Cadillac”, “Black Denim Trousers
And Motorcycle Boots” by The Cheers. But what wound up on the album were
a string of versions rendered by a band that had little or no previous
knowledge of these songs! “The Crusher” is slowed down as to render the
vocals practically belching or vomiting, not sung, over spartan backing
of pot’n’pan percussion, drill noises and dinky organ. “See You Soon
Baboon” is all frantic LSD-rockabilly, heavy on the vocal reverbing. In
fact, the reverb’s in the red on half the tracks here and if it’s not
the vocals, it’s the damn guitar or some bicycle spokes being played
with a knitting needle. From the “Pebbles” archive comes a classic
freakout on The Fee-Fi-Fo-Plus Four’s “I Want To Come Back (From the
World of LSD)” with its barked out chorus of “A-C-I-D! A-C-I-D!
A-C-I-D!” over variable delay speeding. The whole thing reeks of low
budget experimentalism at all times, especially when an egg timer is
used as percussion on one track. “Light Show” is pure anarchy: an almost
“Baba O’Reilly” type anthem synthesizer intro, but (“POW! POW!”) in
breaks a buzzsaw Keith Levene riff -- sans backing -- then Nik Turner
gives it some Hawkwind-styled intonation over a spare and tortured mini
psycho-punk bombardment until it all degenerates into a woman shrieking
over and over: “LIGHT SHOW! LIGHT SHOW! LIGHT SHOW!”
On the back cover legend “Play it LOUD you turkeynecks” the word “LOUD”
takes up half the space of the jacket but you run a real risk if you
make good on this suggestion and live adjacent to intolerable
neighbours. Because one song can suddenly rocket into the stratosphere
all noised-up after a real quiet passage. Side two is “Insolence Across
The Nation” and is a surefire rent-breaker at any volume: An album
side’s length of collaged sound effects, samples of Wagner and brief
instrumentals backing a multi-perspective narration of the life of Adolf
Hitler. It’s psychedelic/punk cabaret action, for sure and one of the
narrators is most definitely Robert Calvert, slipping into “Captain
Lockheed” meets “Steppenwolf” psychotic, Teutonic ranting and frothing
at the mouth. The whole deal is just so twisted and unpolished, this
album and the year it came out – 1982 -- are completely incongruous. An
utterly twisted album of variety and creativity.(source)
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