How often does a Deep Purple cover band turn into a punk icon? The chances are extremely slim, yet that’s exactly what happened with Stiff Little Fingers. Starting life as a high-school cover band called Highway Star, the band members soon discovered punk rock and were drawn to it. Or at least a few of them were…
Now, make no mistake: SLF is all about Jake Burns. He is the main composer (although on this album Henry Cluney helps out, too) and he was the one who, together with Henry, veered the band towards their future sound. To his and Henry’s contribute, we have to add that of the band’s unofficial «fifth member», manager Gordon Ogilvie. Now, managers writing for bands is NOT a good thing, but in this case Gordon was as much of a punk as all the other guys, and did not in any way mess up their sound.
When you first listen to this album, in fact, it will rate in your mind as a definite 5/5. At least it did in mine. If, in addition, you have any prior SLF experience, it will sound so much better, because all their following albums were vastly inferior to this one.
What we have in
Inflammable Material is raucous punk-rock, heavily influenced by the likes of the Sex Pistols and The Clash, with just a touch of Ramones added in for good measure. The songs are, in turn, angry or melodic, and Burns varies his vocal delivery to fit the song in question.
Which leads us to songwriting. There are a number of standout moments here, from raucous opener
Suspect Device to the more melodically controlled
Break Out and
Alternative Ulster or the sheer genius of
Barbed Wire Love , arguably the best punk love song ever written. Then, there are a few interesting experiments, such as the short and sweet
Here We Are Nowhere (credited to Cluney) or the oddly minimalistic
Closed Groove.
But not all of the album is brilliant. There are a couple of weaker moments, particularly the reggae pastiche
Johnny Was, which drags on quite a bit at times. However, all is made well by the middle section of
Barbed Wire Love, which seriously pokes fun at the Beach Boys, even including a
Barbara Ann-style guitar riff and stuttering («Ba-ba-ba-barbed wire love!»)
Apart from the 13 tracks on the original album, this reissue gives us three bonus tracks: the rawer-sounding single edit to
Suspect Device (not very interesting), the excellent, previously b-sided
78 RPM and a wildly interesting 15-minute interview with Jake Burns, which is segued in the reissue of SLF’s following album
Nobody’s Hero. However, before you get that one, buy this one. That’s what will determine whether you are an SLF fan or not.
Reccomended Tracks:
Suspect Device
Here We Are Nowhere
Wasted Life
Barbed Wire Love
Alternative Ulster
Closed Groove
