Severed Heads – “Stretcher” – [Medical Records]

Kai Sync   6/29/2016   12-inch, A Library

This out of print Severed Heads 1985 album is re-released by Medical Records and they actually took up to the task to assemble all the various versions of this album that was released in USA, Europe and Australia into one coherent release including various demo outtakes. In 1985 the band was down to only two members, Tom Ellard and Stephen Jones.) Also, at this point of time the sound got more dancy due to usage of MIDI and Yamaha DX-7 synthesizers. In addition, most tracks have a radio signal mixed in the background. This album is a good summary of where electronic music in the mid-eighties were still grounded in a half-way pop-dance formula and where the post-punk movement still influenced the music making aspect with a slant of exploration and experimentation. Thanks to this experimentation the tracks still breath air after all these years with shades of electro-cacophony disco, primitive loop mangling, avant-garde dance tracks and weird synth-pop.