eMusic

Start Your Trial

Singles and Sessions 1979-1981

by

Delta 5

 
  • Pick
  • Deal
Singles and Sessions 1979-1981
view larger image View Larger

Rate it!

Avg: 3.5 (79 ratings)

Minimalist funk-punk, stern and severe

  • We Say...

    Review by Simon Reynolds

    Delta 5 emerged from the same Leeds, England, post-punk scene as Gang of Four and the Mekons. All three bands clustered around the university's Fine Art department, which goes some way to explaining the almost conceptual starkness of Delta 5's sound and their unusual format (two basses, three female voices, one guitar, one drum kit).

    Stern and clenched, Delta 5's minimalist punk-funk has obvious debts to Gang of Four. "Mind Your Own Business," their debut single, is a sister-song to "At Home He Feels Like a Tourist." Both tunes resemble diagrams of disco, bearing the same relationship to Chic and Earth Wind & Fire that an architect's blueprint bears to the finished building, or a skeleton has vis-á-vis a fully-fleshed body. The person-is-political lyric explores the tension between intimacy and autonomy, oscillating from bleakness ("listen to the distance between us") to the simultaneously absurd and disturbing chorus, "Can I have a taste of your ice cream?/ Can I lick the crumbs from your table?/ Can I interfere in your crisis?/ NO, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" The sense of alienation is intensified by the way the unison vocals of Julz Sale, Bethan Peters and Ros Allen alternately mesh and slip out of alignment.

    If "Mind" is one of UK post-punk's all-time most thrilling singles, the follow-up, "Anticipation" b/w "You," is close on its heels. "Anticipation" evokes the nervous excitement of sexual longing prior to consummation; "You" flashes forward to the getting-stale-and-slightly-sour stage of the settled, long-term relationship. Sales hurls out hilariously mundane accusations like, "Who left me behind at the bakers?/ Who likes sex only on Sunday?" "Try," their third single, also depicts a relationship in terms of friction and miscommunication, but is more poignant than recriminatory.

    After these three brilliant singles for the legendary independent label Rough Trade, Delta 5 signed to a major label and cluttered up their sound with embellishments in a misguided bid for pop color. This compilation shrewdly bypasses that phase of failed crossover in favor of more spartan-sounding BBC Radio sessions and live performances from a 1980 Berkeley, California, gig, capturing the group's paradoxical vibe of dour exuberance and grim glee in its absolute prime.

  • They Say...

    Review by Heather Phares, All Music Guide

    Considering the interest in all things post-punk in the 2000s, not to mention the reissues of work by contemporaries like the Au Pairs, Slits, Raincoats, and Liliput, attention to the Delta 5 seems long overdue. Indeed, it wouldn't be surprising if many people who had heard of the band in recent years knew of the Delta 5 only because of Chicks on Speed's cover of their definitive single, "Mind Your Own Business," and although some of their tracks have popped up on compilations here and there, it hasn't been easy to hear their music. Kill Rock Stars' collection Singles & Sessions remedies this by serving up the A and B sides of their classic singles, BBC Radio sessions with John Peel and Richard Skinner, and a previously unreleased live 1980 set recorded at Berkeley, CA's Berkeley Square. Meanwhile, the liner notes offer two different perspectives on the band: Greil Marcus' in-depth 1980 piece for New West magazine, and a new essay by friend and collaborator Jon Langford. Most important, though, is the band's music, and while this leftist post-punk outfit from Leeds -- which belonged to the scene that also spawned the Mekons and Gang of Four -- was part of a movement that tended to shun glamour, there is an undeniable, distinctive style in the group's sound. On "Try" and "Now That You've Gone," the Delta 5 are as precise and aloof as any of their better-known post-punk peers. However, along with their economical rhythms and alternately taut and bristling guitars, the band's layered, interjecting vocals -- which turn many of their songs into playful but pointed debates -- and their unique dual-bassist lineup add an extra bit of flair and sass to their music. The icy, disdainful wit of "Mind Your Own Business" is emblematic of the band's attitude on many of the tracks here, but "Anticipation" and "Colour" allow the Delta 5's joyful and brooding sides to shine through as well. "You" is downright funny and liberating; with lyrics like "Who likes sex only on Sundays? You, you, you!," it sounds like someone realizing, all at once, everything that's wrong with and then getting rid of a lover, with pleasure. The tracks from the sessions are nearly as sharp and tight as the singles, with "Make Up"'s lyrical ambivalence ("Do you wear it? Does it wear you?") underscoring the Delta 5's uniquely feminine vantage point and songs like the spooky, evocative "Train Song" and "Final Scene" sending off more sparks than they did on the band's first (and last) album, See the Whirl (which, hopefully, will be reissued as well). Singles & Sessions does the Delta 5's music justice; even if they weren't the most radically inventive group of the post-punk movement, their best work still captures the sound and feeling of that era perfectly.

  • You Say...

    Write a Review

    I would like to say...

    Artist: Delta 5

    Album: Singles and Sessions 1979-1981

    Review Title: (maximum 50 characters)

    Your Review: (maximum 1,000 characters)

    Cancel

    Please keep your comments to the recordings themselves, and be courteous and respectful. Thanks! For further info, read our Community Guidelines.

“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

Recently Viewed

Back
Forward

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.

Legal or copyright question regarding Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Wikipedia content on eMusic? Please email us.