专辑简介

by Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover

When original 1977 Manchester punk band Penetration split up in 1979, singer Pauline Murray immediately went solo, taking bassist/boyfriend Robert Blamire with her (still her "other half," 15 years later) 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; boy has that dated well), as well as Buzzcocks drummer extraordinaire John Maher (Penetration covered Buzzcocks' "Nostalgia" on their first LP, Moving Targets) and guest appearances from Durruti Column's Vini Reilly (who knew Penetration when he was in Manchester punk group the Nosebleeds), the then unknown Wayne Hussey (soon to head to U.K. fame, first in Sisters of Mercy and then his own the Mission), and New Order leader 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, skillful 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." Best of all, all three tracks from their lovely post-LP 1981 single "Searching for Heaven" are tacked on at the end. (Why didn't they also add the other two worthwhile B-sides, "Two Shots," on the back of "Mr. X," and "Dream Sequence 2" from the flip of "Dream Sequence 1"?) This LP was one of the most inspired and unique solo LPs the punk generation ever produced; Murray has released only one more in the 15 years since, the overlooked (and much different, but also great) Storm Clouds, in 1989, without any Invisible Girls other than Blamire. But now you can discover or relive what a fascinating, creative, and never-equaled period of music the post-punk 1978-1982 period was, and no longer at out of print, import prices. [This reissue uses the original LP's back cover shot of the coincidentally gorgeous-looking Murray as its front cover. While this will help the marketing, which is good -- Murray is no household name -- it loses the artistic edge of the striking original cover that fit the music so well.]