When Penetration split up in 1979, singer Pauline Murray
immediately went solo, taking bassist/boyfriend Robert Blamire with her and
putting together a "dream team" backing group hard to beat. The
Invisible Girls include the LP's legendary producer, Martin Hannett (who gives
this 1980 LP his trademark Joy Division/first New Order LP sound), as well as
Buzzcocks drummer extraordinaire John Maher and guest appearances from Durruti
Column's Vini Reilly, the then unknown Wayne Hussey, and Bernard Sumner. With
this kind of unbelievable talent as support, Murray flourishes. The second and
final Penetration LP, Coming Up for Air, had already posited her as a post-punk
star, mining ground similar to the later Skids, or a less primitive, more
tuneful early Banshees. Here, with Hannett's far-away, odd sound leading the
way, she makes a more subconscious, skilful pop album, full of dark touches,
such as discordant piano, flanged basslines, Maher's insistent beat, and
strange little background guitar parts. The material is all excellent,
especially the knockout opener "Screaming in the Darkness" and the
Magazine-like single "Mr. X." This was one of the most inspired and
unique solo LPs the punk generation produced.
After knocking on the door of mainstream success with
Penetration for one album at least - the band's energetic debut Moving Targets
still very much a forward-thinking landmark of its time - Pauline Murray's
charges called it a day after a troubled tour and poorly-received sophomore set
Coming Up For Air in 1979.
Choosing to collaborate with a few Manchester musicians
proved something of a stroke of genius - Murray made this superb self-titled
debut with the aid of Martin Hannett, future partner Robert Blamire and Vini
Reilly, PMATIG sounds enriched after all these years festering in a dark
cupboard. Musically less raw than Penetration, songs like Dream Sequence, Shoot
You Down and Thundertunes are cheery new wave pop gems that still sparkle
thirty five years later, all given that slightly gritty sheen by Hannett.
Murray's voice is by turns expressive, wide-eyed and unique (comparisons to
Siouxsie are unfounded, frankly) and suit the musical uppers and downers
presented here.
And there aren't many of the latter - Mr X, one of the
band's obvious highlights and one of the greatest singles issued at the time,
brims with haunting menace, Judgement Day recalls early Psychedelic Furs or The
Cure's dimmer moments and Drummer Boy is a stark, spatial melodrama that
actually sounds a little out of place amongst its heftier peers on here.
As for the uppers, surely one song that should have been
a single and a subsequent hit is Time Slipping. A slower, swirling, almost
funky, dark-wave pop song worth cherishing, it's a great conclusion to side one
(speaking in vinyl terms here) and acts as something of a centrepiece midway
through the running order. I bloody love it.
It's great to have this largely under-rated body of work
back where it belongs - just like the imprint it originally appeared on,
Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls has proved Illusive to track down for
too long. Now it's time to discover one of Murray's, Hannett's and Blamire's
most important artistic committals to UK post-punk. This is your countdown -
your starter for ten.
