Skids - Scared To Dance (US)

Forming in Dunfermline in 1977 when locals Stuart Adamson and Willie Simpson were enthused by the burgeoning Punk scene, they added Tom Kellichan on drums before chancing on the Kirkcaldy born Richard Jobson, who completed the initial Skids line up on vocals. Within six months of their formation they put out the Charles EP on the local No Bad label. This record created a buzz about the band and shortly after its release the Skids were signed up by major label Virgin Records, who were concentrating a large part of their operation at the time on New Wave/Punk outfits.

Their first two singles with the big boys, Sweet Suburbia and The Saints Are Coming, nudged them into the lower end of the UK charts. But the arrival in early 1979 of the third 7″ Into The Valley and their first album Scared To Dance put them right at the business end so to speak, Valley reaching the Top Ten and the LP nestling comfortably at number 19 in the album charts.

In many ways the Skids were the perfect band for the Post-Punk Winter of Discontent of 78/79 – influenced by the original Punk burst of creativity in 1976, but now forged into something different (despite later on in 1979 Adamson protesting that they were still a Punk band in the music press), more thoughtful but with big catchy choruses and that one of a kind guitar sound. Jobson’s lyrics were different from what people saw as the “usual Punk concerns” – he wrote a lot about the pointlessness of war and emotional trauma with his words and Adamson’s mighty guitar giving a clear sense of location to where they came from – both literally and figuratively.

The Skids debut album is still an enjoyable and invigorating record to listen to all these years after the fact. Scared To Dance hangs together like a “proper album”, not just a collection of songs, with a genuine ebb and flow; like a work of art really and the extracted singles don’t feel like add-ons at all. This showed once and for all they weren’t a one-trick pony. Dramatic singing, mid-paced slashing guitars sweeping in and out, with a confidence in knowing that what they were doing is unique and important.

Released in 1979 on Virgin International, the US pressing of Scared to Dance is a blistering masterclass in Scottish post-punk that remains one of the era's most ambitious debuts. Driven by the booming, theatrical vocals of Richard Jobson and the revolutionary, layered guitar work of the late Stuart Adamson, the album captures a band bridging the gap between raw punk energy and soaring, melodic rock. This record solidified the Skids' reputation for creating powerful, fist-pumping anthems that carried far more musical sophistication than many of their three-chord peers in the late-70s UK scene.

To make the record more appealing to the American market, the label drastically altered and enhanced the original UK track listing. The US vinyl cut the deeper, more experimental album tracks "Dossier" and "Scale," replacing them with two of the band's strongest UK single-only tracks: their infectious 1978 debut single "Sweet Suburbia" and the driving, razor-sharp "Contusion." The running order was also completely reshuffled, creating a punchier, hits-forward experience that traded the moody sequencing of the British original for a relentless barrage of high-energy rock.

Musically, the album is a showcase for Stuart Adamson’s unique guitar style, which utilized digital delays and specific chorusing to mimic the drone and swell of traditional Scottish bagpipes. This signature wall of sound provides the perfect melodic counterpoint to Jobson's militaristic, heavily accented vocal delivery. Tracks like "Into the Valley"—pushed deeper into Side A on this US pressing—and the driving title track showcase a rhythm section that balances danceable new-wave grooves with a fierce, martial urgency.

Decades after its release, this specific configuration of the album holds a legendary place in punk history, anchored by its new opening track, "The Saints Are Coming." The song's haunting melody and triumphant chorus grew to international fame when U2 and Green Day famously covered it in 2006 to aid New Orleans recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina. For American listeners, this pressing of Scared to Dance serves as both a perfect time capsule of late-70s guitar innovation and the definitive introduction to the brilliant blueprint Adamson would later use to launch Big Country.

Ripped to MP3 @ 320kbps

Skids; Scared To Dance

A1.  The Saints Are Coming

A2.  Scared To Dance

A3.  Contusion

A4.  Into The Valley

A5.  Integral Plot

A6.  Six Times

B1.  Sweet Suburbia

B2.  Charles

B3.  Melancholy Soldiers

B4.  Calling The Tune

B5.  Of One Skin

B6.  Hope And Glory