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So i said (in the Slits thread) that i'd start a thread on the Au Pairs when i got their CD and had listened to it...
"Stepping Out Of Line: The Anthology" (apparently) contains all of their studio work - CD1 containing their first album "Playing With A Different Sex" (1981) plus the singles they released before making that album (1979/80), while CD2 contains their second album "Sense And Sensuality" (1982), plus demo tracks from 1983 which, had the band not split up, might have been released in final versions on their 3rd album.
I had heard a couple of tracks ("We're So Cool" and "Headache For Michelle") before buying the album, and liked them a lot, so was hoping/expecting the rest would be as good, and wasn't disappointed. CD1 seems much "rawer", more punky (but still with strong funk and even jazz influences - the awesome 6 minute or so "Headache For Michelle" reminds me a lot of a Cymande track called "Willie's Headache", tho i don't know if that's anything more than coincidental), whereas the tracks on CD2 seem to be a lot more into the more polished, more disco influenced 80s synthy kind of sound (I don't know much about that musical movement, but Talking Heads and Eurythmics sort of vaguely come to mind on some tracks), but still full of punky energy, and there's still definitely a coherent style and mood to the whole compilation...
One thing that's strongly evident to me is that, even at their rawest (such as the very early "BBC Sessions" tracks near the end of disc 1), their music is still absolutely full of wit, intelligence and musicianship - which seems (tho i'm not sure why), in the context of the "malestream" first and second wave punk bands, a very female-gendered quality...
Their lyrics address everything from open relationships ("We're So Cool"), torture in Northern Ireland ("Armagh"), unsatisfying het-pen-sex ("Come Again") to drugs conspiracies ("Headache..."), the Thatcher/Reagan "special relationship" in historical context ("America") and Lesley Woods' voice always carries a healthy dose of sardonicity (sardony? sardonic-ness?) without ever seeming camp, facetious or bloodlessly ironic and while still carrying passion, honesty and rage (but nuanced)...
A few of the tracks on CD2 seem a bit overly polished to me, especially in comparison to the wickedly spiky rawness of CD1, and a few of the songs about relationships i haven't fully deciphered the lyrics to yet (tho mad props for having a song entitled "Love Song" whose opening line is "Touch the glans", and then about 2 mins in breaks into mad epic/gothic dub with the line "Will you die with me tonight?")
Like many things in music and popular culture generally, the Au Pairs make me wish i had been born about 20 years before i actually was (i'm the same age as their second album), and witnessed that whole late 70s/early 80s cultural explosion live and first hand (apparently, the Au Pairs played 285 gigs in 1982. Now that's a fucking lot of gigs)...
I'm not quite sure which other bands (apart from The Slits) to compare them to - i've heard a few tracks by 80s anarcho-punk bands like Crass and Poison Girls, but while there are commonalities, to me it's not quite the same vibe - the Au Pairs have much more... funk, rhythm, physicality, something else i can't quite put my finger on - part of me wants to say "tightness", but in a very specific sense of the word as applied to soul/ska/jazz/funk rhythm sections... someone in the sleeve notes uses the words "kinetic" and "sinuous", which both somehow seem to fit...
there's a review here which argues their second album is the better (personally, i think i slightly prefer the first album), but is pretty good... don't seem to be able to find any other online reviews...
Anyone else dig them? Want to critique or just talk about them? Recommend anything else like them? Can put yousendits if people wish... |
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