FIRE ENGINES
Codex Teenage Premonition
(Domino)
·Lost and found.
Together for a mere year-and-a-half in 1980-81, Edinburgh’s Fire Engines flew in the face of the Orange Juice-driven Scot-pop scene with propulsive aggression. Compiling the group’s first live show at the Leith Community Centre, a handful of studio rarities and the group’s John Peel Show swan-song performance, Codex Teenage Premonition works as time-capsule proof that the seeds of what’s passing for much of modern rock were planted more than two decades ago.
"Jacqueline" flirts with jazzy balladry before veering off into its grand coda of "it’s always better on holiday," since snatched by Fire Engines-lite Franz Ferdinand and splashed all over the 2005 hit parade. The likes of "Whiplash" and "Hungry Beat" are aptly named, historical precursors echoed everywhere from LCD Soundsystem to The Strokes.
Despite its cruddy sound quality (a genuine punk artifact, indeed), Codex Teenage Premonition marks yet another great short chapter in the Scottish music scene that remains fascinating today.
|
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.