W&H previously featured THE ROOM'S magnificent "In Evil Hour" in our 'Rock Hunter' series of great lost albums two years back because we simply assumed no-one else really cared about this most unfairly passed-over of Liverpool post-punk outfits.
Thankfully, the ever-vigilant and tasteful James Nice's LTM imprint had been thinking along the same lines all the time and it was with great delight earlier this year that he unveiled his "No Dream" compilation of The Room's best moments in a career (1979 - 85) that was pregnant with creative possibility but stillborn in commercial terms.
"No Dream" captured the best of The Room's two distinctly different line-ups. The band centred around the nucleus of vocalist Dave Jackson and bassist/ then partner Becky Stringer and initially featured drummer Clive Thomas and guitarist Robyn Odlum. This first Room recorded the jerky and stark debut album "Indoor Fireworks" and several excellent singles, notably the still terrific John Peel fave "Things Have Learnt To Walk That Ought To Crawl."
However, by late 1982, this quartet had crumbled, with Odlum and Thomas departing. Neither did much musically afterwards and according to Jackson's sleevenotes Odlum was last heard of living in Antigua, while South African-born Thomas opened a restaurant in Bath.
1983, then, was something of an experimental year for The Room, who would record the "Clear!" mini-LP with new guitarist Paul Cavanagh, organist Peter Baker and drummer (and ex-Wild Swan) Alan Wills. Cavanagh's jazzier style informed the band's new ideas and Jackson amusingly describes the band's lush sound as "camper than a row of tents" in the sleevenotes in this edition.
"Clear!" was roundly panned in the press at the time, and is certainly best described as 'transitional' with hindsight. Certainly, tracks like "Ringing" and "Sleep Tight" are at odds with The Room's usual intelligent and nervy beat-pop and don't stand the test of time too well. The former features a typically iffy 80s drum sound, sub-Weller funk guitar from Cavanagh and a horribly dodgy synth sound, and despite a luscious Jackson vocal, the forced poppiness sits uneasily with The Room. "Sleep Tight", meanwhile, goes from languid and lightweight to overwrought with piano overkill to the fore and is equally perplexing.
Thankfully, all is not lost thanks to the inclusion of "The Ride" and the closing "On The Beach". The former recalls the motorik efficiency of DAF or Neu! and has drama aplenty, while "On The Beach" is much more like the edgy Room we know and love round here, with Becky's heartbeat bass and Wills' impressively busy drumming spurring on a memorable climax.
Besides, even allowing for its' flaws, its' good to hear "Clear!" on CD at last, and its' inclusion shows how important it was in setting the scene for "In Evil Hour", the band's 1984 masterpiece, which sadly also became their swansong after in-fighting and untimely dropping from their Virgin parent company sounded the band's premature death knell in the summer of 1985.
And it's glorious to finally hear these songs in digital form. "A Shirt Of Fire" remains a lovely, urgent headrush of an opening salvo, with Cavanagh's descriptive guitar figures spurring the whole band on and Jackson wallowing in the first flush of love. It's a little more controlled than the manic, amphetamine version the band seared through on 'Whistle Test' back in the day, but it's still pretty damn good.
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Excellence abounds in its' slipstream, too. Songs like "Whirlpool" and the album's trailer single "New Dreams For Old" are slices of seductive indie guitar pop from an era when such a description was something to be proud of, while the superb "Naive" is an edgy and cautionary alcohol abuse tale delivered with some ferocity by Jackson's rich croon. "The Friendly Enemy", meanwhile, is far more aggressive and closer to the storm the band could whip up live. Built around Becky's hypnotic bassline and Wills' furious drumming, it's the sort of cavernous blowout the band had threatened they could muster all along.
Although the band had mixed feelings about Smiths' deskmeister John Porter's fussy production ("drum machines and all", says Jackson sardonically in his notes), he still brought out the best from the band on all these songs and the legendary Tom Verlaine brought a wilder, live-in-the-studio edge to the remaining tunes which delighted the band. The Television frontman helmed songs such as the romantic spangle-pop of the memorable "Crying Red" and the closing 7-minute epic "Jackpot Jack", which is a cool, Velvets-meets-Fall commentary about "the new pop cack" then infesting the charts. Not that it's changed for the better with any regularity since, mind.
Just to spoil us, LTM have unearthed a couple of extra out-takes from the album sessions and they're both treats. "Run Like A Bastard" (produced by Porter) is poppy and catchy, but slightly psychotic and just the way we like it, but the Verlaine-birthed "In Evil Hour" is a chiming gem that should have made the final cut as the official title track. Good to have it restored in its' rightful place. Of sorts anyway.
It's a great shame The Room split at such a potent artistic peak and an even greater travesty that their finest work would end up mouldering and fading for twenty years afterwards. Still, better late than never and all that, and all credit to LTM for their care and attention in ensuring Jackson and co's legacy has finally come in from the cold. There's been times I thought I'd never live to see the day, I tell ya.
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