Sometimes hidden treasures are cheap. On iTunes you can find a compilation for £5.99, for that ridiculous price you have the most important tracks of Delta 5, one of the most underrated bands in history: Singles And Sessions. The "Plus" version, re-released in 2011 by Blue Apple Music, adds three live tracks and three remixes, one of them by ex New Order's Peter Hook, to the original set originally published by Kill Rock Stars in 2006.About time to rediscover this band then, which emerged from Leeds with Gang Of Four (they were also part of the Rock Against Racism movement and were assaulted by fascists) and played in New York with Bush Tetras, and these are not simple coincidences. The sound was exactly that post punk funk. Delta 5 might be seen to those bands what Section 25 and The Wake were to New Order. A minor band, yes, but an original part of a scene, and with plenty of great songs to rediscover. I've always wondered why so many Joy Division fans ignore such a masterpiece like Section 25's Always Now. Well, now it's time to wonder why Delta 5's debut album, See The Whirl, hasn't ever been even released on CD, and why so many Gang Of Four fans must ignore these great songs. Much fortunately, we can hear many of them in their original form in this compilation. Tracks like the killer single Mind Your Own Businness, recently covered by Chicks On Speed, you can hear what's special about them: an amazing rhythm section (featuring two basses) dragging you to the dancefloor, a sparse dry guitar and two girls preaching with their minimal yet melodic voices. In his wonderful remix, Peter Hook even adds his own bass. Anticipation is even better, a powerful groove fading in slashed by the guitar chords while the girls might as well be twins of an early Siouxsie.
On the excellent Colour a smooth sax is opposed to an obsessive guitar chord. Alan Riggs' abrasive, minimal, cold and dry guitar is, for me, the most distinctive sound of Delta 5, often a rhythmic tool matching the groovy and wonderful bass and drums more than a melodic instrument and quite different from the harder and noisier guitar of Gang Of Four. The fast and powerful Singing The Praises is the last studio track, the live numbers are fantastic and you just regret you've never had the chance to dance at one of their gigs. The closing Journey is a slower song and it's maybe the most beautiful of the whole compilation, the menacing rhythm comes from somewhere between Joy Division and PIL's Metal Box, the visionary guitar predicts the Pixies' weirdest numbers. It was a hint the unique talent in this band could have evolved into something more personal, but they were too ahead of their time by then, the album on which Journey appeared didn't succeed (maybe leaving Rough Trade for Charisma Pre Records wasn't a wise move after all) and the band split.
Today the former drummer, Kelvin Knight, runs NMB Management, which has rediscovered another great artist from that era, Robert King, which is about to release a single with his really well promising new band, The Opium Kitchen.
He was the frontman of an even more underrated post punk band, The Scars. They also released their debut album, Author! Author!, on Charisma Records, and it's unbelievable there hasn't ever been a digital release of this masterpiece which must find its place in history between Joy Division and Echo and The Bunnymen.
He was the frontman of an even more underrated post punk band, The Scars. They also released their debut album, Author! Author!, on Charisma Records, and it's unbelievable there hasn't ever been a digital release of this masterpiece which must find its place in history between Joy Division and Echo and The Bunnymen.
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