The Associates - 4th Drawer Down
#516
By Julia Talbot
October 7, 1981
The Associates
4th Drawer Down
Genre: Scottish post punk easy listening electronic dirges
Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5
Julia’s Rating: 3.5 out 5
So… full confession here. When I signed up for this review, I had the Association on my mind. Not the Associates. Very different genres. Very different bands. My, was I surprised when I was ready to tuck into whatever the Association had to say in 1981 (their last actual album was released in 1971, it was gonna be great!) and realized that I had misread the list and signed up for something, um, different. Despite both bands speaking English and all the members being human, white males, there is really not a lot of crossover between the Association’s California sunshine pop stylings and the Associates’ Scottish post-punk/new wave genre-wise. Maybe they all used a lot of Dippity Doo? Chain smoked? Were not vegetarians? Hard to know, and I for one am too lazy to bother to find out.
In other cases of mistaken identification, I’ve been watching the first season of Star Trek: Discovery lately and while this particular incarnation of the Star Trek universe is not as horribly sexist as I recall the original series being (Bonus - the uniforms are just as adorable), the fact that the douche-baggy captain is the same guy who played Lucius Malfoy in all the Harry Potter movies never fails to trip me up. I spend a lot of time wondering if I am just biased and knee-jerk writing this character off because I so hate Slytherin. In other not really relevant news, I recently reviewed a Cliff Richards album and doing my diligence on the review listened to the album several times. This has completely confused the Spotify algorithm, one that I count on to show me stuff I LIKE… like every cover ever produced of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon and old R&B stuff. Now it’s less of that and more Cliff Richards. Nooooooo. 2021 is not off to a good start, I mean aside from the rebel insurrection and all the rest. It is because of this that I did not listen to this album a ton.
So, getting back to the Association and “4th Drawer Down”. This is a band that is well regarded and well-reviewed by music critics but really never experienced much commercial success in America (one song, Fire and Ice, made it to #30 in 1990) and only modest success in Britain – with a total of seven of their songs cracking the top 75. As far as I could tell, the record sales never much followed. People were happy to hear them on the radio and let it stay at that. Of the band members and production team that put out this album, the bassist, Michael Demsey, played in the Cure and Roxy Music but hardly became a household name. The production team: Mike Hedges and Flood are much more successful. Both subsequently went on to produce much more famous albums and bands.
So as for the music itself. When I began my reviews for this page, I think I started with Spandau Ballet, which represented a kicking off point in the musical offerings and genres of 1981. While the album I reviewed was pretty uninspiring, the Association’s album, released at the end of the 1981 does indicate progress in the new romantic style, coming at the genre from a post punk starting point and incorporating electronica and synthesized dance elements that were still fairly new to everyone’s ears back then. Their prior album, “The Affectionate Punch” released in 1980 has an overall sound that is a lot rawer and more unpolished. “4th Drawer Down” has a tighter, more controlled, dance music-y feel to it. From an academic standpoint, it is interesting to listen to these two albums for comparative purposes. I am not sure if would listen to either of just because I wanted to rock out to these largely forgettable tunes. Without some sort of sentimental hook, they just aren’t that gripping.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3K15ES8t2CF51i4QWpaz2c?si=HmDinCD-Q56V93GRh7KSXg
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