This is a nice introduction to Killing Joke, the explosive post-punk band that though credited in influencing denizens of heavy hitters today from Nine Inch Nails to Nirvana, has unfortunately eluded the stardom it deserves. It's also ironic, because coming up on the band's 25th anniversary, 16 tracks that barely scratch the surface might leave us all still beginners.
"The Wait" (now more famously covered by Metallica on the EP Garage Days Revisited and the double-album of covers Garage, Inc.) is a passionate opener, originally off KJ's eponymous debut released way back in 1980. Some people in their music snobbery consider it their best record still. This song and the next three (especially the previously un-released live version "The Fall of Because") show the gripping intensity of the early material: extremely tight and prominent rhythm section, thrashing guitars, and alternating stabbing and echoing vocals. The next few tracks move in a much more experimental direction, with another notable alternate version; the raw, tribal drumming of "We Have Joy" works perhaps better than the original. The snappy, syncopated "Fun & Games" could almost be an XTC or Gang of Four song.
Several tracks appear from 1985-87, two from my favorite record Night Time, a more melodic (and accessible) release with lots of Middle Eastern flair—less frenetic, less distorted, less in your face. To be fair, the two best songs on Night Time are absent ("Love Like Blood" and "Eighties"), but I can't have everything I want. "Victory" (another previously un-released version) and the beautiful "Twilight Of the Mortal" move even more in a new-wave/modern rock direction and YES I really DO know I'm in the minority for enjoying this side of the band… when comparing songs like these to "The Wait" or even "Eighties," one sort of stares blindly going, "What just happened?"
There are a couple weak tracks in my mind but completists will covet the new versions, and if you are totally new to KJ it's an enjoyable album. Fans of heavier music would do better to pick up the earlier anthology Laugh? I Nearly Bought One. Totally absent from this collection (and unfortunate I believe) is drummer Martin Atkins' period, which represented a return to the visceral, powerful side of the band and brought us three excellent releases in the 90s. Pandemonium, along with some key records such as Ministry Psalm 69 ushered in a new era of music; tightly programmed industrial-metal, but that's another story. |