Bread And Combat 

(I Pin The Devil) 

Ian S.

Cemental Health Records EEG19

All tracks written by Ian Shuttleworth, © control Anal Memoranda, 
except Iscariot lyrics I.S., music I.S./Eoin Patterson, 
© control Anal Memoranda/Mad Arab Music.

Recorded July 1984–April 1985 at Ghetto.  Produced and engineered by I.S., 
except Fuck recorded at the Winter Headquarters and Ghetto by I.S. and Iain Walker, and where noted.
Digitally remastered November 2004.

This title (P) 1985, 2004 Cemental Health Records.

Thanks to the Circle, etc.
To the first doers (them as can...).

I.S. wields guitar, bass, synthesizers, drum machines and throat.  Some equipment temporarily commandeered from the Popular Front for Iain Walker, which is also responsible for the bongos on Fuck.  Archive drum track on Lines And Dots by The Astounding Bongophone (no relation).

WORDS FROM THE FRONTMAN
“God only knows what I'll do for the next album...” (I.S., notes to Imam? [EEG14], Spring ’84.)
“I mean, most rock’n’roll is just adolescents whingeing on and on about not getting any, right?” (Andy Gill, NME, Spring ’85.)
Bypassing the issues of defining rock’n’roll ’n’ adolescence... I’ve forgotten what I had to say now.
Actually, all things considered, it’s been a fairly productive year, even if this album is three months or so overdue.  The technique this time out is to show you every single tree in microscopic detail and defy you to identify the wood.  (Self-important git.)  Yep, I’m still cantering along on the same old hobby-horses – age/friendship fetish/Grail quest/religion – but with one awesome difference: this time it's almost rock’n’roll.  Whatever that means.

You might also enjoy these fine tunes by other artists:–
The Who 905 • Hot Chocolate You’ll Always Be A Friend • Brian Eno Here Come The Warm Jets • Howard Devoto Out Of Shape With Me • Lynn Anderson Rose Garden • The Yardbirds Shapes Of Things • Positive Noise Ghosts • Roxy Music Remake/Remodel • Phyllis Wilson I Can’t Stand The Rain • The Problem Of Pain Hawking At The Gargoyles • Shriekback My Spine (Is The Bassline) • Bronski Beat (without Marc Almond) I Feel Love • Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Electricity • The Associates Skipping • David Byrne My Big Hands (Fall Through The Cracks) • The Teardrop Explodes When I Dream • The Real Kids All Kindsa Girls • New Order Temptation [12”] • San Jose Argentine Melody (Cancion De Argentina) • ABC Poison Arrow • David Bowie Starman • The Only Ones Another Girl, Another Planet • This "Blue Piano" City Of Tears.
 
 

TRACK LISTING

ORIGINAL
  • The Limits To Growth [instrumental] (5:20): is the random tone-colour symbolic?  Desperate, inarticulate resignation; secret sobs; “They’re here.” 
  • Ensign Crimson (3:09): somewhere between Dr Desmond Morris, Pope Clement V and Mickey Rourke in Diner.  Pool-table reference no. 1.   Mis-titled Ensign Red on the original cassette release.
  • Monkey Trial (2:10): bits of it do mean something.  The river, the revelry, the baked potatoes... see also The Petrified Forest by Robert Emmet Sherwood. 
  • Outside The Observer (5:26): lyrically didactic, trite and generally sub-Howard Jones, but used three months’ supply of riffs.  Yes, I have had coffee in Delaney’s. 
  • Directions (2:59): moves, as these things will, from the general to the particular and then implodes in the face of ecstasy.  Posey, eh?  Small d, too. 
  • Iscariot (3:57): the corollary to the ancient and revered Christ.  Hopefully we are left with a kind of emotional Empedoclean paradox.  When I grow up I wanna be a Cabbie. 
  • ...Tutto Che Scintilla (2:23): part 9 of a verse work-in-progress to be entitled The Föhn Directory.  Almost enlightening, isn’t it?  Oh, by the way, that’s P-E-A-C-E. 
  • ’Round My Head (4:54): the backing tape loop has been in existence for over five years now, just waiting to be turned into a real song.  Tough shit.  And then again... 
  • Ricorso (2:10): part 11 of The Föhn Directory. Originally quite a sparse little number, now a bit more lush and even goes off in a SULK at the end. 
  • Fuck [full version] (4:54): gratuitous?  Dear me, no...  The return of the lovable ol’ Minimalist Funkout, though in an altogether more credible guise.  Bop till you flop. 
  • Lines & Dots (4:38): Steve Lillywhite through the wrong end of the telescope.  My summerwear this year will be a T-shirt emblazoned with the words Power-Pop Lives. 
  • Pale Flag (4:31): plywood brontosaurus, dead left leg, and the ultimate acknowledgment that He can still do it when He wants to.  (That’s an XXL T-shirt.  Or is it XXXL?) 
  • The Limits To Growth [vocal] (4:35): pool-table reference no. 2, fronds, grasping the nettle and getting stung anyway.  Or, love as corporate politics/economics.  All together now...
 BONUS
  • Directions [demo] (3:00)
  • ...Tutto Che Scintilla [re-recording] (2:18)
  • Ricorso [re-recording] (2:29)
  • Lines & Dots [re-recording] (5:12)