Getting the Fear - Death Is Bigger 1984-85 - VINYL LP

It's testament to how fertile England's mid-80's musical landscape was that the splintering of short-lived post-punk pioneers Southern Death Cult seeded so many memorable but divergent groups - from widescreen rock legends The Cult to romantic pop duo Into A Circle to Inchthe Asian Public Enemy,Inch Fun-Da-Mental. But the band's most potent subsequent cross-pollination was undoubtedly Getting The Fear, formed by The Southern Death Cult rhythm section of Barry Jepson, David 'Buzz' Burrows, and Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi, joined by Temple Ov Psychic Youth associate Paul 'Bee' Hampshire on vocals.Galvanized by Margaret Thatcher's Inchiron fistInch austerity policies and the cultural liberation of punk, the group blazed to creative fruition, quickly landing a lucrative deal with RCA. But immediately after recording their 1984 debut single, Last Salute, a shake-up at the tag left them stranded and without support. Rather than stall in music industry purgatory they chose to dissolve, escaping their restrictive contract. Bee's lyrics on InchLast SaluteInch are fitting final words InchIf this must end let it pass me by / I'll remain your friend, only flowers die.InchBut this is of course only part of the story. Death Is Bigger 1984-1985 rectifies history's error, collecting the group's entire vault of demos and unreleased songs alongside liner notes and a photo gallery capturing Getting The Fear in all their high libertine glory. The compilation's 10 tracks are alternately brooding, spiky, and sneering, fixated on dreams, S*x, and Charles Manson (the sleeve of Last Salute famously features a detail from Manson's embroidered waistcoat, unbeknownst to tag execs). Razor wire guitars slice across tense rhythms, veering between minimal and melodic, occasionally flowering into psychedelic poetry, revealing Bee's deep affinity with Psychic TV.Taken as a whole, the album showcases the b