Shriekback - Naked Apes & Pond Life (Alternative Rock 2000)

Eight years after Shriekback resurfaced briefly to release Sacred City and promptly vanished from view once again, a new album made its surprising appearance on an Australian label. Apparently recorded in 1995, Naked Apes & Pond Life features longtime Shrieks Barry Andrews (credited as lead vox & accordion, though some of his familiar synth work can be heard as well) and Martyn Barker (on his usual assortment of percussion). The lineup is rounded out by Lu Edmonds -- who played guitar on Oil and Gold, but is credited with saz and cumbus here -- and new members Simon Edwards and Mark Raudva. Much of Naked Apes & Pond Life finds Shriekback playing a sort of twisted world music that resembles the organic/electronic mix of Big Night Music, but adds a variety of exotic instruments and percussion. It makes for intriguing listening, and while Andrews still isn't much of a singer, his lyrics remain smart and provocative. The vocal compositions are interspersed with short, mostly electronic instrumentals. This album is more an interesting footnote to Shriekback's career than a major entry in their catalog, but it has enough good material that fans will find it worth seeking out.

AMG Review by Bill Cassel

Shriekback - Sacred City (Indie Rock 1992)

Shriekback's final studio album, Sacred City went out of print almost immediately after its 1992 release; this reissue, with the advantages of 20/20 hindsight, proves the group to have been well ahead of their time, their music predating the subsequent rise of electronica via its use of dub and drum'n'bass-styled sampled rhythms. Recorded with original members Barry Andrews, Dave Allen and Martyn Barker as well as Karl Hyde, later to resurface in Underworld, Sacred City lacks the ingenious spark of such peak Shriekback efforts as Oil and Gold and Big Night Music, but their intellectual art-funk always makes for intriguing listening -- an album (and band) overdue for rediscovery.

AMG Review by Jason Ankeny

Shriekback - Go Bang! (1988 Indie Rock)

On Shriekback's follow-up to Big Night Music they found themselves without their most formidable weapon -- Dave Allen's bass. Barry Andrews' sequenced basslines aren't bad, and Tackhead/Sugar Hill bassist Doug Wimbish, no slouch himself, steps in on some tracks; but still, an essential element of the sound is missing and it's hard not to notice. Also, Andrews appears at this time to have taken an unfortunate decision that Shriekback was really a party band, which makes for some embarrassing moments. Given all that, it's somewhat surprising to note that Go Bang! is actually pretty good. "Over the Wire" and "New Man" meld cryptic funk with appealing hooks, while "Nighttown" and "Dust and a Shadow" successfully mine the wee-hours territory of classics like "This Big Hush" or "Hubris." The only really awful moments are the shockingly dumb "Big Fun" and, worst of all, "Get Down Tonight," a most regrettable KC and the Sunshine Band cover on which Andrews tragically attempts to rap. Although Go Bang! is better than it had any right to be, much more was expected from Shriekback -- and they seemed to know it, because they subsequently disbanded (temporarily, as it turned out).

AMG Review by Bill Cassel

Shriekback - Oil & Gold (Great Alternative Rock 1985)

Oil and Gold is surprising for several reasons. For one, the departure of singer/guitarist Carl Marsh midway through produced no noticeable dip in the record's quality. For another, live drums appear for the first time on a Shriekback album, thanks to Martyn Barker, a longtime associate who was added to the band at the tail end of the Jam Science sessions. Most surprising, though, is how much this album rocks out, particularly on the songs featuring ex-Damned guitarist Lu Edmonds. It even yielded an out of left field hit single in "Nemesis," which not only uses the word "parthenogenesis," but rhymes it successfully, and does so in the chorus. In truth, Oil and Gold is six-tenths of a great album. It leads off with the rip-roaring one-two-three punch of "Malaria," "Everything That Rises Must Converge," and "Fish Below the Ice," all featuring Marsh on vocals. These are followed by "This Big Hush" and "Faded Flowers," two tremendously beautiful slow numbers sung by Barry Andrews, who took over for Marsh as lead vocalist. The B side (vinylly speaking) begins nicely with "Nemesis" and quickly falls apart, with the nadir being the clunkers "Health and Knowledge and Wealth and Power" (sung by Marsh) and "Hammerheads" (sung by Andrews). Still, Oil and Gold's highlights make it a rewarding listen.

AMG Review by Bill Cassel

Shriekback - Big Night Music (Great Indie Rock 1986)

Big Night Music continued Shriekback's evolution from fringe weirdoes to unlikely pop stars. It was more accessible than anything they'd done before, and not by accident -- a conscious intent to reach for a wider audience is apparent even in the album's packaging, which pictures the band members on the cover for the first time, includes a long note from Shriekback to their fans, and gives credits for make-up, hair, and denim. The lush, organic production (by Gavin MacKillop) is a long, long way from the clattering psycho-funk of Tench, and Shriekback's distinctive drum programs have been entirely replaced by Martyn Barker's drums. ("Big Night Music is entirely free of drum machines," say the liner notes. "Shriekback have chosen to make a different kind of music -- one which exalts human frailty and the harmonious mess of nature over the simplistic reductions of our crude computers.") All this makes it tempting to dismiss this album, but that would be a mistake -- taken on its own terms, it's a vastly successful record. Its ten tracks explore a variety of new styles and the results include some of their best songs: "The Shining Path," an evocative moonlight serenade; "The Reptiles and I," with glassine synths echoing over a sinewy rhythm section; and "Sticky Jazz," which is funky in a joyful, floppy way and marks quite a change for the often sinister Shrieks. Barry Andrews, who handles all lead vocals for the first time, is not a great singer, but he manages; Barker shows impressive rhythmic versatility; and Dave Allen continues to be the band's anchor, providing dependable brilliance on the low end. Big Night Music accomplished everything it set out to do, finding success with both record buyers and critics, but was quickly followed by Allen's departure from the band.

AMG Review by Bill Cassel