By late 1981, Fingerprintz had fully decamped into the neon-lit trenches of pure dance-rock. Culled from their third and final studio album, Beat Noir, the The Beat Escape 12-inch maxi-single (Catalog No: VS 452-12) stands as the band’s high-energy swansong. While the standard 7-inch pairing relied on a non-album B-side, this glorious, bass-heavy 12-inch configuration was engineered specifically to rival the club-ready imports dominating the underground scene, proving that Jimme O’Neill’s squad could out-groove the slickest New Wave juggernauts of the era.
The extended version of the title track is an absolute, high-pressure funk bomb. Pushing past the five-minute mark, the track weaponises a colossal, relentless drum beat layered with mechanical handclaps, leaving O'Neill's distant, echo-drenched vocals to cut through a wall of absolute rhythmic urgency. It’s a masterful exercise in tension and escape, capturing a band entirely consumed by the physical hypnosis of the dancefloor.
Flip the wax and the sonic expansion continues with the extended cut of "Catwalk". This slinky, breathy piece of art-pop lets brash, jagged saxophone stabs fight for territory alongside sharp tremolo guitar picking. Just when you think the song is wrapping up, it bleeds into an incredible, extended dub-wise coda stuffed with unexpected film soundbites, leaving this 12-inch pressing as the ultimate testament to a brilliant band going out on a maximalist, rhythm-crazed high.
Ripped to MP3
A: The Beat Escape (Extended Version) (5:52)
B: Catwalk (Extended Version) (6:09)
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