The 1981 Listening Post - Alternative TV - Strange Kicks

 Reviewed by Jim Coursey

Released: July 1981 Alternative TV Strange Kicks Genre: Ska-Tinged New Wave Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: Strange Kicks There Goes My Date With Doug Alternative TV is a duo comprised of Mark Perry and Alex Ferguson and loosely associated with the more industrial-minded Psychic TV. (Ferguson played in PTV on and off, while PTV’s Genesis P-Orridge played drums early on in ATV.) While ATV’s mostly live recordings seem forgotten, at least in North America, they apparently made some waves in the UK. As Steve Taylor writes in “The A to X of Alternative Music,” "Alternative TV pioneered reggae rhythms in punk and then moved on to redefine the musical rules." [1] I’d long heard their name but never heard their music until I came across 2001’s “Revolution” recently. While that album sounded very much like a couple ex-punks sticking to their roots (standout “Never Going to Give It Up” is about just that), “Strange Kicks” is a departure from the band’s previous sound in an apparent attempt to catch up with the new wave. Whatever their expectations, the resulting album doesn’t work. Perry’s brusque, tuneless and heavily accented vocals sound just right over a punk tune (see again 2001’s “Never Going to Give It Up” for one) but generally degrade the mishmosh of 60s throwbacks, 80s pop, ska, and new wave heard here [2]. There are numerous treacly songs that could have just as easily appeared on a Madness album, but Suggs could polish his voice up just enough to sweeten the sentimental tunes. We need a better “common thug with a heart of gold” here. Meanwhile the music is generally passable as new wave but rarely any better. There are, to my ear, only two highlights here. The first is the title track, which offers strange kicks indeed. Alternating between Blondie-esque new wave instrumentals and Motown girl-group verses and choruses (again in a Madness style), the band’s weird slew of influences become more than the sum of their parts. Less unpredictable but equally winsome is “There Goes My Date With Doug”, which is greatly helped by Dee Dee Thorne’s (tuneful) guest vocals and the hilariously insipid lyrics about “dreamboat” Doug that she and Perry sing. The song is worth a listen, but the lyrics work just as well on the page: “I’m just a teenage girl Looking forward to my date with Doug He’s the favorite with all the girls But he picked me out from all the crowd I’m sure looking forward to my date with Doug!” And then tragically, but in the same gleeful tone… “My brother kicked his football It smushed in my face I got a broken nose There goes my date with Doug!” The album’s true nadir is the third track “Communicate”, a heaping slab of Eurotrashy goth dance music that Visage was doing far better at the time. It’s completely out of place here, or unfortunately anywhere. And after bouncing around from style to style and failing to score a hit, they put the album to bed with “Sleep in Bed,” which sadly features legitimately good songcraft that unfortunately the band is incapable of pulling off. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_TV [2] See also various Psychic TV’s forays into 60s music, such as endless iterations on the Stones’ “As Tears Go By.” But I prefer Genesis P-Orridge’s caterwauling over over 60s fare to Perry’s.