Stiff Little Fingers
Inflammable Material
How should I describe the band Stiff Little Fingers, they have been called the “Irish Clash” but I do not think that is fitting. Imagine if you put The Sex Pistols and The Clash at opposite ends of a particle accelerator and smashed them together at supersonic speed. Make the resulting four young men natives of Belfast Northern Ireland where political turmoil would give an endless supply of material for social commentary and you just about have Stiff Little Fingers.
On their debut album Inflammable Material lead guitarist/lead singer Jake Burns sounds as if he has had his throat lined with barbed wire on about 70 percent of the tracks. The rhythm section of the band Ali McMordie on bass and Brian Faloon on drums is drowned out on almost every song, due to Burns’ and Henry Cluney’s hard driving Guitar playing. This album was produced so little that it sounds more like a live show than a studio album, indeed these tracks sound almost identical in quality to the Stiff Little Fingers live album Hanx. Having said that the sound quality on Inflammable Material is rather good and if a band sounds just as good live as it does in the studio it means the guys really can play.
The album starts off with a bang and a flash with the studio version of Stiff Little Fingers first single Suspect Device, you know where the album title came from when Burns screams out “inflammable material planted in my head”. Suspect device sets the stage with its political lyrics and hard, fast tune. The album rolls on with State of Emergency not an exceptional song that serves as a warning against a stagnant state of life. State of Emergency was the first song that Jake Burns wrote and is not his best work but it does improve with listening. Here We Are Nowhere clocks in at just under a minute, and it was (for its time) out of control screaming, and continues Stiff Little Fingers rant against a society that is eager to put both them and their kind down. The fourth track on the album Wasted Life is an exceptional song proposing anti-draft ideals. You begin to realize how well The Fingers lyrics blend both the personal and the political when Burns belts out the chorus “They want to waste my life, they want to waste my time”. Inflammable Material burns on with No More of That the second and final track written by rhythm guitarist Cluney ( the first being Here We Are Nowhere) you can instantly see similarities between both of Cluney’s songs but because No More Of that is twice as long it has more substance and features some rather well written lyrics. Barbed Wire Love is certainly one of the highlights of the album and is arguably the best punk love song ever, with the second chorus transformed into a cliché surf style love riff reminiscent of The Beach Boys Surfer Girl. The Fingers poke fun at their previous gig as a cover band and inject a little variety into the album while making a good song better in the process.
“If the victim’s not a soldier why should we care? Irish bodies don’t count life’s cheaper over there” is one of the verses in White Noise, a fast guttural rant against England’s racism. It may not appear so the first time you hear the album but White Noise is one of the best songs on the album. The next track Breakout is a song that with a somewhat mellower sound could be heard on radio today with the timeless subject of leaving an old life behind, and solid lyrics this song gives a bit of a respite from politically driven songs. Law and Order finds Burns and company back at it with an outpouring of emotion against authority who “don’t do what they ought to”. Rough Trade might to Brit punk fans be reminiscent of the Sex Pistols EMI, the Fingers rage however is directed at Island Records who courted the band, convinced them to quit there jobs in a Northern Ireland with a thirty three percent unemployment rate, and promptly dumped them before a contract signing. Bob Marley aficionados might recognize the next song Johnny Was but then again they might not as the reggae beat is replaced with military march drum rolls and hard guitar. Johnny Was is by far the longest song on the album spanning 8:10 and as with anytime a punk band pushes a Reggae song that far I was worried about dragging parts, but I was pleasantly surprised at this cover as it does not fail to excite and Burns’ throaty vocals even illicit emotion at times. Alternative Ulster the bands largest hit is a call to arms focusing on the need for individuals to change their society, a subject that was briefly touched on in both Suspect Device and Law and Order. One of the greatest punk rock anthems of all time Alternative Ulster calls you to “alter your native land” (note that if you took out the word “your” in the previous quote you would get the word alternative) Alternative Ulster is an amazing song that makes you wish the track was twice as long, it leaves you wanting more, in other words a perfect end to the album. It’s not over, what, another song Closed Groove a track that even the band members wish had been left off the album. A delicate talked over guitar riff and interminably long ending masks the fact that there are actually some clever lines in this song “Must do what you’re told to be free. Think what you like if you agree with me.” If this song had been reworked (and sung instead of just spoken) it might have been good but it ruins what had been adding up to something few bands can boast, a perfect debut album.
This is the U.K. release special edition which has three bonus tracks tacked onto the original album. The first of the bonus tracks is the single version of Suspect Device, this tinny version of the song that got Stiff Little Fingers a record deal is a bit mellower and less guttural than the album version, also the lyric “*** all” has been changed to “sod all”. It is interesting Fingers fans but is nothing spectacular. The next track however 78 rpm B-side to the Alternative Ulster single, is excellent, featuring lyrics giving hope for Northern Ireland’s future, a blistering guitar solo, and a chorus that will have you shouting along “78 revolutions a minute, 78 revolutions a minute… now”. Why 78 rpm wasn’t included on the original Inflammable Material instead of Closed Groove I’ll never know but since you have it, enjoy it. Rounding out the bonus tracks is a segment of a 2001 interview with Jake Burns the other 3 parts of the interview can be found on the re-releases of Hanx, Nobody’s Heroes, and Go for It. This section of the interview details Burns’ beginning motivations, the birth of Stiff Little Fingers, and the production of Inflammable Material, an interesting interview, which because of a few cuss words peppered in have earned the U.K. release of Inflammable Material a parental advisory tag.
Inflammable Material is a landmark album marking both the first independent album ever to hit the top twenty, and the first time an Irish band was able to make its politics known. Stiff Little Fingers paved the way for music legends U2 and have offered inspiration to countless bands (Green Day comes to mind). Every review for a classic punk album says that-insert name of album here- is a must have for punk rock fans so I’m not going to say that. What I will say is that if you are looking for true punk and its fiery beginnings this is a record for you.
Note. The U.K. release is the same as the U.S. release
Recommended tracks.
Suspect Device
Wasted Life
No More of That
Barbed Wire Love
Breakout
78 rpm
