CD: CDMRED516
RELEASED: 2012
LABEL: Cherry Red

1. Vital Hours
2. Observations
3. Fixed Up
4. Touch And Go
5. White Debt
6. Count For Something
7. Out Of Place
8. Keep The Pain Inside
9. Face To Face
10. Semi-Detached Life
11. Conspiracy Of War
    

Recorded in 1978 and released in the spring of 1979 before they would morph into The Sound, ‘Close Up’ was the second and last album from Adrian Borland’s punk trio, The Outsiders, also featuring bassist Bob Lawrence and drummer/ lyricist Adrian ‘Jan’ Janes. Until now, their two long out-of-print albums ‘Calling On Youth’ and ‘Close Up’ have remained unreleased on CD and purely the preserve of enthusiastic bloggers and vinyl completists. Despite the drubbing the critics had meted out to the band’s May 1977 debut LP ‘Calling On Youth’ (see the notes to the ‘Calling on Youth’ CD) The Outsiders had carried on regardless, bridging the gap between the two albums with a four-track EP ‘One to Infinity’, again recorded with Adrian’s father Bob Borland engineering and released on the Raw Edge label (created by Adrian’s parents) in November 1977. Gone were the acoustic guitars and lengthy solos, replaced by urgency, stabbing riffs and a full-on, hard-edged punk/new wave sound. When ‘Close Up’ arrived, it proved The Outsiders had evolved into a powerful, cohesive unit. Recorded at Spaceward in Cambridge, most of the tracks were still informed by a buzz-saw punk sound a little reminiscent of The Saints or a harder-edged Buzzcocks, yet the whole album sounds refreshingly tight, focussed and intelligent today. Brimming with confidence and swagger, the brilliantly anthemic ‘Vital Hours’ comes racing out of the traps like one of punk’s great lost, shoulda-been hit singles while both ‘Count For Something’ and ‘Semi-Detached Living’ seethe with restless energy.

The nervy, tense discipline of ‘Touch & Go’ and the slow, churning lament ‘Keep The Pain Inside’ are signposts to the aggressive, but atmospheric post-punk peaks The Sound would so memorably go on to scale, while the album’s epic, 6-minute anti-war commentary ‘Conspiracy of War’ could almost be the blueprint for ‘Jeopardy’s key track, the dramatic ‘Missiles.’ The Outsiders continued on into 1979. With Graham Bailey , or ‘Graham Green’ as he called himself at the time , on bass, the band played a short UK tour in the spring, ending at a London pub called The Old Swan on April 29th. After that, Adrian Janes also left The Outsiders to head off to university, although he would still contribute lyrics for The Sound and the Borland/ Bailey side project Second Layer. With Mike Dudley coming in on drums and Bi Marshall also on board, The Sound was born and both Outsiders albums have since remained minor cult items direly in need of re-appraisal.

* this title will be available in Feb 2012. If you choose to order now please be assured that we will send it as soon as possible!

Influences / Similar Artists:
Adrian Borland, The Sound, Honolulu Mountain Daffodils, White Rose Transmission, Second Layer