THE PASSAGE were another of those great, pigeonhole-swerving outfits that enriched the Mancunian hinterland in the creatively fertile early 1980s, leaving behind a singular casket of buried treasure to unearth in the 21st century.
Because, believe me, excavation is necessary in the case of "Seedy", collecting, as it does, 17 fascinating reasons why THE PASSAGE continue to stand alone from the pack.
Featuring DICK WITTS (keyboards/ synths/ percussion/ vocals/ songs), ANDREW WILSON (guitars/ vocals) and superb Liverpudlian drummer JOEY McKECHNIE, by their very nature - no bass, strangely tuned guitars and a keyboard-dominated sound - THE PASSAGE were bound to go out on a limb and tweak rock's features into new, weird shapes. And so it proved, often to very engaging results.
Actually, THE PASSAGE was a sparse, but rhythmically-dexterous beast, usually driven by McKechnie's insistent beats and Witts' eerie keyboard washes (as on the unsettling likes of "Fear"). In rock terms, Andrew Wilson's guitar played an oddly subservient role (on record anyway), all hollow twangs and de-tuned strums, like on "Carnal" and the genuinely scary "A Good And Useful Life", where Witts audibly mutters about "Hoffman La Roche," also the subject for THE FALL'S ace "Rowche Rumble," of course. Even when Wilson does establish an angry riff (like on "Man Of War") it's peeled off in shockingly economic fashion. According to Witts' informative liner notes, Wilson "jiggled a metal bar" to achieve this effect.
Tackling love and all sorts of sexual deviancy lyrically (song titles like "Taboos," "Carnal" and "Armour" are all intriguingly ambiguous), Witts' wrote some fascinating songs about human responses. Although disarmingly honest in his sleeve notes, I feel he's doing himself a disservice when he says: "we were spineless about singing," as his own voice is rich, suggestive and capable of surprising and jarring. For instance, it's a real jolt to the system when he suddenly screams, "Fuck 'em!" at the end of "A Good And Useful Life."
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Besides, like all great bands, THE PASSAGE didn't shun putting their own slant on recognisable pop, as their singles like "XOYO" and "Wave" prove. These songs, along with the disconcerting electro classic "Drugface" - since sampled by MOBY - showcase a group very much at ease in twisting electronica and motorik, Krautrock grooves into something very much of their own patent.
Amusingly - but rather unfairly - Witts now describes the single "Taboos" as sounding like "an Orange Order marching band", but I feel the heavy percussion and bells only add to its' allure. And talking of alluring, how about "Devils And Angels"? Perhaps the best song of all here, it offsets McKechnie's strident drums against guest Lizzie Johnstone's sumptuous vocals. Allegedly, it's an optimistic answer to JOY DIVISION'S "Heart And Soul", but whether or not that's true, it's still an excellent piece of work.
Undeniably, the likes of contemporaries such as THE FALL (in the bitten-off riffs) and WIRE (the relentless experimentation) do feature in THE PASSAGE'S make up, but hauling in elements of arty free-form and embracing futuristic synthscapes, this hugely original band sound as though they're ahead of the game even two decades on.
Having said that, what would have ensued had one STEVEN PATRICK MORRISSEY passed his audition for lead vocalist we can only speculate.
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