If you’ve never heard their stuff beyond a few old punk rock
tracks, forget everything you thought you knew about Stiff Little Fingers. Firstly,
they are not really a punk band, and secondly they have in their ranks one of
the best lyricists in the business. Oh yeah… they also make fucking great music.
“No Going Back” is the 10th SLF album, and I was
amazed to realize it’s been eleven years since their last one, the powerful “Guitar
& Drum”. As with many bands these days they’ve been funded through Pledge
Music, surely one of the best ideas in music history. Go Pledge!
The band first came to my attention with their 1997 “Tinderbox”
album, and I was amazed at how melodic they were, not even remotely like a punk
band in the traditional sense. Vocalist Jake Burns, who had an angry growl when
they started out in the late 1970’s, has quite a unique sound to his voice, a
voice that spits pure venom when politicians and bankers come into the lyrics.
When he’s not shouting at the powerful, however, he has a real melodic pitch
that has defined the band’s sound for over 30 years now.
“No Going Back” has twelve tracks and is seriously as good
as anything the band have ever done. It’s got some powerful, killer guitar
tracks, but that’s true of any album by SLF. The rwal selling point if that it’s
also stuffed with killer hooks, plenty of melody and choruses that have you
singing along on your first listen. It opens with “Liars Club”, a track about
politicians that the band have played previously on tour, and this powerful
track sets the tone for the album. Jake Burns has always written about things
that, basically, piss him off, and “No Going Back” doesn’t sway from serious
topics, including Burns’ own depression in “My Dark Places”. Final track “When
We Were Young” has a real retro SLF feel to it, not only in the riff and
structure but also because it includes a snippet of their old single “At The
Edge” if you listen closely. It has the great line “They said that it’s all
over, I said like hell it is, They say it’s self delusion, I say it’s self
belief”, and that encapsulates the sheer determination of this band and their
indomitable frontman to keep on making great music and telling it like it is.
I know I’m banging on a bit, but this is so far the best
album of the year, it’s such a pure release or raw energy and talent. There’s nods
to the band’s history, there’s politics and personal life in the lyrics, there’s
some superb songwriting in general, and there’s music that just kicks ass and
gets you fired up from the first listen. The crowds at the gigs may only want
to hear the old songs, but I hope Jake Burns and co play as many of these songs
as possible on the upcoming tour, because they’ve never sounded fresher and
more determined. Absolutely brilliant.
"Liars Club" Live in Bristol 2010
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