Blackpool`s finest post punk band formed in 1977 get the box set treatment from Cherry Red and about time too.
John Robb and Mark Tilton formed the Membranes at Blackpool Sixth Form College in 1977 and based their ideas on Punk and DIY music, something JR still champions today with his magazine Louder Than War , and with the recent resurgence of the band and the highly acclaimed release of the Dark Matter Dark Energy album in 2015 this is a timely release of there extensive back catalogue.
The album covers tracks recorded on 5 labels during the 1980`s and features a massive 99 tracks many of which never released before on CD.
Starting in the early period with debut flexi EP tracks, from Flexi Membrane, the first 2 cd`s cover the years up to 86 tacks like Kick Out and Chewing the Fat stand out, as does the cracking Everythings Brilliant and title track Everythings Gone Triple Bad Acid Yeah.
I get a little confused as Spike Milligans Tape recorder, which as the story goes would have been Creation Records first release if Alan Mc Gee had sufficient funds, appears on the start of disc 3, pre dating Everythings Brilliant on disc 2, no matter however as Disc 3 is probably the best in my opinion, Time Warp a classic surf guitar pop tune and Too Fast to Live sounding as beautiful as a Julian Cope instrumental but with a Membrane dark twist…
Also with the set you get some great demos featured on disc 5, Fashionable Junkies, and the brill High Street Yanks with its Gang Of Four sounding guitar, its superb, not only that you get a 25 page booklet written by John Robb on the bands history and releases.
It’s a lot to take in, but isn’t any 5cd box set, the deeper you dig the better it gets, if youre new to the Membranes or not it’s a great addition to your collection, and will lead you to the newer material and im sure … and if that’s not enough go and see them live they are currently the best they have ever been.
