!Action Pact! - Mercury Theatre - On The Air!

Original Release Date

1983

Release Information

UK LP 1983 (Fall Out - FALL LP 013)

1 (Drowning Out The) Big Jets
2 Fools Factions
3 Things That Need...
4 Cowslick Blues
5 Double Standards
6 Losers
7 London Bouncers (Bully Boy Version)
8 People
9 Currant Bun
10 Mindless Aggression
11 Blue Blood
12 Protest Is Alive
13 Mercury Theatre (On The Air Again)

Chart Placings

Indie Hit: 5, 12 wks

Credits

Wild Planet
Dr. Phibes
Grimly Fiendish
George Cheex

Producer: Philip Langham Esq.
Engineer: Phil Chiltern.
Recorded at Pineapple Studoios, Southall, Middx.

Thanks to Patrick Kyle for sax

Reviews & Opinions

PUNKY GIBBON: Restrained playing and amusing lyrics make this LP more listenable than most of their contemporaries' work, but the lack of variety is its main fault (unless you can't stand Cheex's shrieking vocals). The lyrics tackle such topics as racism ('Losers'), tabloid journalism ('Blue Blood'), and, believe it or not, The Members ('(Drowning Out The) Big Jets') with wit and originality, but the music doesn't quite measure up, and the arrangements soon start sounding samey. A notable exception is 'London Bouncers' was originally recorded for their split EP, and now featuring a dubby middle section that accentuates a sax solo.

IRA ROBBINS, TROUSER PRESS: George Cheex — !Action Pact!'s female singer — sounds perennially outraged, terrified and amazed, all at once. She doesn't quite shriek, but comes damn close to it, which makes the four Londoners rather tiresome, especially as their music manages nowhere near the same level of aggression, holding rather to relatively tame medium-speed punk. Lyrics on Mercury Theatre are pointedly political, addressing royalty ("Blue Blood"), yellow journalism ("Currant Bun"), racism, etc. Aided by guest saxophone, "London Bouncers" resembles X-Ray Spex a bit; otherwise, these best intentions are barely listenable.

DR SYN, PUNK LIVES #5, 1983: THEY HAVE THE GOODS. [read full review here]

Additional Notes

Only available on CD as a twofer with Survial Of The Fattest.

Images

Click here for more (Thanks to Torsten Schitting for some of these scans)