The Passage

I never heard their earlier stuff (on Object Music?) though... some people I knew swore by it and said it was their best material. Were they right, or were they pulling some labyrinthine music snob trick on me?

Finest moment, the 1978 EP 'New Love Songs', especially the first song 'Love Song' - 'I love you/cos I need a cunt/I love you/To use you back and front' - an early, possibly misguided, attempt at shock via the incest motif, that works cos it's so damn nasty. Didn't go down very well, though. Don't think folk understood its subtleties (and yes, there were some).

The rest of the single is as good an early Fall pastiche mixed in with rudimentary electronica as even the Fall were achieving back then. It's spiteful, vicious, short and far punkier than virtually anything else around. The misogyny on 'Slit Machine' works scarily well. (I'm listening to it right now.)

By the time of their first album, they'd turned into Eyeless In Gaza surely (no, I don't mean literally)? XOYO is OK in its own spirited way, but it's a (spit) pop single - and the Passage were once far, far better than that.

Their other Object single 'About Time' is also damn fine.

Thanks for making me listen to them again. It's always periodically very refreshing, like hearing an early Scars single or indeed 'Witch Trials'.

'Degenerates' and 'Enflame' are also great records, Brechtian politics melded to angular, caustic lyrics. The Passage were very unEnglish in their willingness to write about sex and politics. Check out songs like 'Angleland' and 'Wave'.

Witts started as tympanist for the Halle Orchestra, and now writes books (he published a critical survey of the history of tbe Arts Council a couple of years ago). I've met him a couple of times. I saw The Passage live in Edinburgh. Witts performed in a blood-spattered white T shirt. There were about fifteen people in the audience.

In fact, since Cherry Red have their back catalogue and I have a label with Cherry Red, I should really get some re-releases going through Analog Baroque. Hmmm...

Some of their best work was for Peel sessions. Around the time of the second album they did a session with a girl singing instead of Dick Witts. The songs took on this melancholy, poignant atmosphere: 'This time, and then tomorrow, liberty!'

I think you'd have to see them as libertarians in a peculiarly Protestant mode, like Quakers or Methodist radicals or something. Witts was obsessed with Manchester police chief James Anderton to an unhealthy degree.

I saw them once at Slough College, and the support band (local punx) poured beer in Andy Wilson's synth which blew it up. So he sort of skulked at the back playing out-of-tune thrash guitar whilst Dick Witts lead them through a venomous, very pissed off set. Anyone remember the song "Drugface"? Starts off with the vocal line "The drug fits the face, the drug fits the face, the drug..." repeated for ages before a squelching sequencer barges in. Fantastic.

The Eyeless in Gaza thing, Jerry. No! they shared a label that's all. Passage - as Momus says - angular, vitriolic. EIG - wet, weak, gloomy.

I remember hearing about the Passage thanks to Momus mentions here and there, so I'm actually glad for this thread. Reissue, repackage, repackage...

For what it's worth, SpinArt (in the US) has reissued the Tracey Thorn solo album, as well as the Marine Girls retrospective. Ah, very nice. They might've reissued more as well - not entirely sure.

And how about some Monochrome Set recommendations? This 2CD retrospective is a bit grating @ times.

witts = witts = witts: a knobhed, but in a good way...

Fashion

The Height Of Fashion

CDMRED 193

Cherry Red Records are proud to announce the very overdue reissue of this cult album by the highly original and innovative technological funksters, Fashion. The band moved the musical boundaries with their unique blend of synths, bass lines and infectious pop in the early 1980's. The CD features all their best loved tracks from their 'heyday' with the cult singles "Streetplayer- Mechanik", "Move On", "Love Shadow" and "Something In Your Picture" included. Other essential Fashion tracks on the CD are "Do You Wanna Make Love", "White Stuff" and "Love Shadow Smokey Dialogue". Fashion still enjoy a strong reputation for their pioneering recordings that paved the way for many other artists in the 80's. They together with cult German record producer, Zeus B Held made recordings that influenced many recording giants including Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Trevor Horn, Depeche Mode and many more. Their music still sounds fresh today and will appeal to a whole new audience.

1/ Move On 2/ Love Shadow 3/ Streetplayer Mechanik 4/ Dressed To Kill 5/ You Only Left Your Picture 6/ Something In Your Picture 7/ It’s Alright 8/ White Stuff (Short Cut) 9/ Do You Wanna Make Love? 10/ Slow Blue 11/ Mutant Love 12/ Love Shadow Smokey Dialogue 13/ Street Mechanik 14/ Do You Wanna Make Love (At 5.00am?) 15/ You Only Left Your Picture (Reggae Reprise)

Ha! Touche. But did Martyn Bates ever shave his head and go into ten- minute-rants at festival shows about 'how yer CHURCHES abandon you and your TEACHERS abandon you...'? ;-)

Billy - are you referring to Gina X? There's a fantastic Gina X track "Nice Mover" (1979) Andrew Weatherall compilation, 9 o'clock Drop, which I've bleated about enough on these pages already.

Mark S - even the vinyl version of the debut album, Pindrop, sounds like it's on a faded tape! Not particularly well recorded or mastered or pressed or ... something. Good opening track, Fear ("Tell us who owns this place...")

More on EIG? I'd spend the $10 on the comp if I were you, David G, unless it's your last $10. Worth hearing as a snapshot of a sort of early 80's rustic synth-folk innocence. The first couple of albums aren't bad ("Photographs as Memories" and "Caught In Flux") IIRC, but later, slight more bland albums like "Rust Red September" aren't up to much. Martyn Bates's voice will eventually drive you nuts, too! For some reason I seemed to see this bunch live about 6 times in the early/mid 80's, with bands like The Nightingales, PAssage, Microdisney, Felt.

This is a momentous thread as I somehow like something that Momus likes! Wow! Totally agree on the stuff with the girl singer, some of which was on "For All And None", - good contrast with hissing Dick and Andy Wilson's lugubrious drone. If you have any influence at Cherry Red, get 'em to put out "Degenerates" and " Enflame" ! They seem to release plenty of Oi and football-related rubbish, so surely the Passage deserve to be re-released. If they could get the rights to "Pindrop" and "For All and None" too, I would be ecstatic. These two need remixing though. In fact, you could remix them, Momus!

Anyway, enough of this flight of fancy. Seriously if anyone knows of mint vinyl copies if "Pindrop", "Enflame" and especially "For All and None" I would be keen to buy at a good price!

Thanks Dr. C for starting this thread.

Got one of their early singles, but don't remember liking it much - 'Pindrop' and all the subsequent work, though, I found absolutely stunning. I always envied DW's ability to somehow find a working balance between Critical Sharpness & Cynicism and Interested Wonder - he used to crop up on BBC2 in 'The Oxford Road Show' at some point, I remember him doing a 'rap performance' to review a fanzine called 'VoodooVoodoo', playing some percussion over a drum machine! And it's true, the music itself is a very odd mix of elements and complexities, almost impossible to describe/imagine (but that's a good crack at it earlier). I think they don't sound dated because they were quite unlike anything else around at the time - and I've never heard anything like them since, either (though somebody please tell me if there is). I loved the fact that Witts was able to re-work the same bass line across different songs, like some baroque composer exploring the same 'theme' in a series of pieces.... I don't think I've ever heard work anywhere else that is oozing with such a potent mixture of threatening darkness, thin-lipped vitriol, angular intelligence, sparkling wit, textural complexity & variety, tightly controlled nervous energy, and archly-self-aware downright cleverness & humour... (you can tell I like them, right?)

Great lyrics too, really encapsulating and impressionistic - 'I don't need love - I don't need sex - I'll walk the floor when nothing's left...'

PLEASE SOMEBODY CD re-issue the albums, and add the singles on as extra tracks! (And DON'T change the cover designs - even they were brilliant, with the constant use of Black/White/Red theme throughout.)

My copy of 'Pindrop' is also on fading tape (aaarrrgghh), 'For All And None' & 'Degenerates' on vinyl, Enflame on pre-rec cassette (with 'Degenerates' minus one track on the other side), and also a few singles on vinyl (Devil's & Angels, Wave 12", Taboos 12"). A flexi-disc with a version of 'Born Every Minute' on one side (and Blancmange's 'Living on the Ceiling' on the other!) was actually given away with some pop music paper in 81/82(?) as well...'Record Mirror' ?

I thought that 'Seedy' comp was lacking in some of their best tracks (it would be though, wouldn't it) - but at least it had 'Sharp Tongue' & 'Carnal' on it.

I DO have that J.Peel session they did (in '80/'81?) with the female singer on cassette somewhere - think I missed a bit of one of the songs though, fuckit. As far as I can recall they did 'Devils & Angels' + 'Shave Your Head' + AnotherTrackFromAll&NoneWhoseNameICan'tRecall + .....aaarghh i can't remember. So I'm sure I've got it (or most of it) - what now?

'Dark Times' + 'Devils & Angels' + 'Shave Your Head' + 'Watching You Dance' and it was this last one that I missed the first 1/3 of grrrrrrr

Apparently Cherry Red doesn't have the rights to For All and None so don't expect a re-release from them. In fact Seedy is all we're likely to get on CD.

Whilst the *sound* of The Passage is pretty unique (question : was Witts ever a prog-rocker pre-Passage?)his modus operandi reminds me of Roy Wood and Paddy MacAloon. The combination of dense layers of ideas bashing into each other, unexpected melodic twists and (most importantly) a sense of a *big picture* is something these three share. In Wood's case the bubbling layers are pop hooks, in MacAloon's a mix of pop icons/imagary and stylised romance, whilst Witts fires volleys of *information* from the dark side of sex/love/politics. Just a thought.

(More proof of the power of ILM when it comes down to hunting down Lucan-esque members of yr favourite band. Especially if they're from Manchester - Mike Finney has been in touch after I posted about The Distractions).

*cough cough* Can I assist?

btw do you know why they ditched the girl singer?

Ned - have you heard of this : http://www.renascent.co.uk/pageswswans/wswans.html

Obscuro trax from the Wild Swans. It's very good.

I was very pleased to read in the sleevenotes that a very limited (like 200 copies) white label 7" of "Revolutionary Spirit" was pressed before the Zoo release. I had always thought that my copy was some sort of bootleg.

This is amazing. Wilson, McKechnie, and now LIZZY JOHNSON!

Where are you Dick Witts?

Ha! I was going to post to this thread today - I was listening to the Yellow Magic Orchestra's 'Technodelic' reissue and track 3 'Stairs' *is* The Passage!

I love ILM! I love the Passage!!

Most accessible ? Probably Degenerates.

Seedy is a good, if jagged and uneven compilation.

Sorry I've not done much with the Yammer site for a while. Lots of irons in the fire etc. Still got a pile of press cuttings from James Nice to scan for the site (I gave up transcribing them).

Was supposed to get something from Momus for the site, but it never happened. I think I upset him when I mentioned that I heard his single on the Steve Wright Show in the late 80s. I bought one of his albums though, so I can't have been taking the piss.

Been getting live stuff to put on the web site, but I have to be careful not to exceed my bandwidth or the site will rapidly disappear. Otherwise no new news to add - although I see something about Wild Swans and Benny Profance, which certainly seems noteworthy.

BTW I saw Benny Profane in some Liverpool pub in the 80s (can't remember the name but it did regular lock-ins, only I couldn't stay late because my friend was being sick). Used to see the singer (Dave?) around a lot - must have lived near me. Joe started the set off on drums and then played guitar for the rest of it IIRC - not quite what I expected.

Nice to see Lizzy here too. She contacted me and kindly sent me some scans for the site.

Actually, I'm hoping you good folks have something to add to the site. Maybe you have more detail to add to the biography or discography. Maybe you have press cuttings or photographs. Maybe you've got a naughty live bootleg you'd like to share. Please get in touch, I'm ready to do more site stuff :-)

www.yammer.co.uk/passage

I'm listening to Pindrop for the 1st time right now, it took a few songs for me to get into it, but I'm really liking this now. Is there a recommended order for me to check out their other albums?

Read upthread, my friend -- everything's been rereleased on CD. :-)

joe

Because they're on Facebook don't you know

just picked up old vinyl copies of Enflame and Degenerates, and my first impression was: marc almond without any songs.
lots of enthusiasm on circa-2001 ILM, so i'll give them another shot.

i've set up a passage page on myspace.
www.myspace.com/thepassageuk

huh, this still exists.