#288/922
July 1985
Sex Gang Children
Blind
Genre: New Wave
4 out of 5
Highlights:
I’ve Done It All Before
Strike Blind!
From the opener “Dead Metal” all the way through “Strike Blind!” this sounds like a Goth companion piece to Adam and the Ants’ Dirk Wears White Sox. I say that with affection. This album is steeped in late 70s New Wave art punk. Boy, does this make it weirdly anachronistic. And there’s no judgment for that, I just wonder who would be around to be interested in this.
And maybe that’s why it’s so hard to find any information on the 85 vinyl release. Everything I find is about the 1992 CD reissue. Some of it is angular and lovely (The Lennonesque “I’ve Done Is All Before”) and some of it is garabgey nonsense (“The Quick Gas Gang”)
The PiL meets Ants vitriolic theatricality makes the entire thing feel much longer than it really is.
It’s very possible that the reason this album has disappeared can be found in the lyrics for “Strike Blind”, the link to which I’ve included at the bottom. I can’t tell if it’s racist or a commentary on racism but the very first 3 words struck me hard as religion in music seems to be at a fever pitch in the 80s.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1owsFAKnzJ74qmZZXsnPWW?si=ElnY23d1S4WWXYuKFnZBLw
https://www.elyrics.net/read/s/sex-gang-children-lyrics/strike-blind-lyrics.html
