Customer Reviews

Sacred City

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sacred City was Shriekback's last release. Rather than showing any sign of decline as so many bands do, this disc instead demonstrates the full flowering of the band's talent. From the industrial Bastard Sons of Enoch to the joyful Hymn to the Local Gods, the album uses a variety of musical styles to explore all facets of the city as an archetype (although Londoners may recognize their city perhaps more than any other). The two instrumental pieces, 3AM and Underground, are not so much music as atmosphere, hauntingly capturing the essence of night in the city with minimalistic genius. Well worth acquiring and listening to repeatedly. (I also recommend walking though your city while playing it on headphones. It will make you appreciate your city and Shriekback's Sacred City in a whole different way.)

When looking back on my collection of Shriekback CD's (and LP's), this one is near the top. After "Go Bang!", I thought I had seen the end of one of my favorite bands - then again I though the same after they released "Jam Science." Sacred City, while not as complete as "Oil & Gold" or "Big Night Music," does contain some excellent songs. If you are reading this and do not have it, buy it - and check out "Local Gods, "Beatles Zebra Crossing, "Signs," and "Every Force..."

This album has never received the respect it deserves - perhaps because few people have actually listened to it. This is too bad because it is actually one of Shriekback's best efforts and is quite enjoyable. With its complex, shifting rhythms, subtly melodic invocations of mystery (a Shriekback specialty), and Wendy and Sarah Partridge backing vocals, the album is an intriguing evolution of the approach the band took with Big Night Music. It's more experimental and less immediately accessible than BNM. It's also a concept album of sorts - each song dealing with aspects of cities. The songwriting is strong. In fact, the strongest tracks on Sacred City rank easily among the best songs Shriekback has recorded. If you're a Shriekback fan and haven't heard this album, you're missing out.

On Shriekback's previous CD, Go Bang, the band stopped singing about prehistoric fish in an attempt to have a hit single.

Let's just say that their version of K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight" didn't rocket to the top of the charts.

On their seventh CD, Sacred City, frontman Barry Andrews (formerly of XTC) returns to the African rhythms that have worked so well for him in the past.

The difference is that this time the package takes the form of a concept album, each song apparently "about myths and phenomena which are common to a city", so say the liner notes.

Unfortunately, the CD is only successful intermittently. For some reason, the producer thought it wise to pump up the bass and turn down the vocals. Coupled with the absence of a lyrics sheet, the CD's "concept" becomes buried and difficult, if not impossible, to discern.

The two standout tracks here are "Hymn to the Local Gods" and "Open Up Your Filthy Heart To Me", a ballad that compares the city to a lover ("like a priestess, like a whore") and easily eclipses everything else on the CD.

For a true taste of Shriekback, one could do no better than giving 1985's Oil and Gold a listen. That CD manages to invoke the ambiance and spirit for which Sacred City aims, but with superior results. Plus, it features no less than three songs about prehistoric fish.