The music is punk rock but punk rock with some added ingredients. Phil Sutcliffe of Sounds magazine put it this way after witnessing a live gig in 1978: ‘’Neon have discovered how to play quite elaborately interwoven melodies and rhythmic patterns’ and ‘are a glimpse over the horizon for the New Wave’. In fact it turns out that band members were listening to bands like XTC, Gong, Steve Hillage, Nektar, Camel, The Stranglers, Bill Bruford, Kraan and Neu at the time!
Guitarist/ vocalist Tim Jones grunts and growls his way through 15 songs recorded live at various places in the UK between 1977 and 1978 beginning with the fractured, schizophrenic and totally captivating ‘I’m A Gent’. The red hot intensity becomes positively scary on ‘Piranha’, staccato guitar and vocal depicting perfectly the deadliest of creatures in human form. The band cry is ‘Wuh Wuh!’ and this is followed rapidly by the hormonal ‘All I Want’s Your Body, Yeah!’ which, surprisingly features some playing that sounded to my old ears like ‘out there’ prog rockers High Tide in full flow. 5 minutes of the driving rocker ‘Batman’ allow the band to branch out a bit but generally things are short and snappy. ‘Nuclear Sun’ gives a glimpse of the political and environmental concerns that were to dominate Tim’s later music with Census of Hallucinations. There are many high points on this collection but to me the defining moment is the funky ‘Life’s A D-D-Downer’ (Sounds like a classic period piece caught in aspic) which, it turns out, was actually recorded on a Revox reel to reel in drummer Paddi’s bedroom! (Bass player Mark Dunn goes to town on this one by the way). Tim is joined by a second guitarist Martin Holder on four songs and that helps to fill out the sound (although Tim manages some pretty stunning licks on his own!) To top things off there is a bonus track- a ska version of a famous summer holiday song! Enjoy!
(Contact: www.Aural-Innovations.com/stonepremonitions)
(Stone Premonitions SPCD 047)
(Reviewed by Phil Jackson for Zeitgeist)