Mass - Labour Of Love

Time for a quick 4AD history lesson. Mass were formed from the ashes of Rema-Rema by Gary Asquith, Mick Allen, and Mark Cox. After recruiting Danny Briottet they released one 7" single and this full album on 4AD. After this debut album Mass split into two halves - Asquith and Briottet formed the dub legend Renegade Soundwave, while Allen and Cox remained with 4AD for what would become their new project, The Wolfgang Press.

Back then, 4AD were one of the most interesting labels around with bands like Cocteau Twins, Modern English and Xmal Deutschland. Indeed, this album takes a lot of time and effort to sink in, but once it does you will be amazed at the depth of this experimental postpunk band. The first self-titled song lasts about ten minutes and drifts from avant-garde jazz to raw punk rock. "Help is on the way", he grates desperately as if he didn't have any sleep for three days. More feelings of insanity and angst are called upon in two intermezzos called Why. As a whole all does not sound dreary however, Isn't Life Nice is a happy chaos with bubbly bell sounds and some violins for good measure. Well, happy in a hallucinating way that is, treading on the verge of a bad trip... Creativity and despair, those are the main driving forces.

The very haunting Elephant Talk is an exciting piece of music, flutes and bass slowly building up to a throbbing climax filled with drums and screams. F.A.H.T.C.F. has that punk attitude of Killing Joke, shouting slogans with a vengeance in a puddle of gloomy coldwave arrangements. The album ends pretty much like it began a variation between arty jazz and powerful postpunk. This is music where art plays a major role so if Virgin Prunes are your cup of tea, you will probably like this too. Sometimes difficult for the casual listener, but eventually oh so rewarding. A fine testament to the exciting, early days of Post Punk and New Wave music.

Both single and album on one CD ripped to MP3 @ 320kbps

Mass; Labour Of Love

A1.  Mass

A2.  Why

A3.  III

A4.  Why

A5.  Isn’t Life Nice

B1.  Elephant Talk

B2.  F.A.H.T.C.F.

B3.  Cross Purposes

B4.  Innocence

Mass; You And I 7”

A.     You And I

B.     Cabbage