LTM's most recent offerings in its classic 80s line include two extensive CDs from nearly-made-it early eighties indie funsters DISLOCATION DANCE. MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC/SLIP THAT DISC! Is the first. And with 27 tracks to go at you cannot argue about fair rations.
Pre-dating THE SMITHS by about 3 years, and contemporary with the innovations of ORANGE JUICE, DISLOCATION DANCE were among those Manchester pioneers who had listened to disco, to funk and maybe to African dance bands and who really couldn’t see the point of going along with the dreary nihilism of punk. Thatcher might well be ripping up the post war consensus and AIDS was on the horizon. But hey, you could still have a trumpet player, dance, be more or less coherent and probably get an education too.
It has to be said that while ORANGE JUICE have recently been given more of the recognition they should have been given at the time, DISLOCATION DANCE are more of an interesting illustration of how some of the groundwork was being laid for chart breakthroughs by THE SMITHS and JAMES.
Key members Ian Runacres and Andy Diagram later formed BRIGHTEYES and joined JAMES respectively. But what we have in this and companion CD "MIDNIGHT SHIFT + SINGLES" is what must be close to the full repertoire of an interesting band on the way to other things. The lack of a BIG SONG among so many chirpy, sometimes quirky tunes is all the explanation you need in wondering why you might have never heard of them till now. Opening tracks "Stand Me Up" and "Knock Me Down" have a bouncy feel and some remember-them-later qualities. "Footloose" at track 12 has a moody jazz feel that makes it stand out.
But for the most part we have that near-disco tempo with hints of funk and West African guitar playing. None of the songs stand up and shout and none of the playing is beyond competent. Some, indeed is on the pedestrian side, given the fairly ambitious fusion tings being attempted. Maybe bass and drums should get a medal or two for lively invention and tight ensemble playing. But flipping from here to THE SMITHS shows where the gulf lies between the preposterously successful and the nearly-made-it. Not a gap that has narrowed any over the years, it has to be said. There is a slightly weak cover of THE BEATLES "We Can Work It Out" that uses a what sounds like a basic Yamaha preset plus a rather plain trumpet part played in a very average way and a flattening out of the melody in the vocal part. It doesn’t really work at all, despite not being a not terrible idea. But it is the one occasion when the band meet up with a good song and the lack of a strong singer shows itself more plainly than before.
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I've said it before – but this well-chosen archive material could well be scoured by contemporary bands on the hunt for source material. There are all sorts of bits and pieces that could be developed into more exciting tunes than DISLOCATION DANCE have achieved. "Clarinet Source" is, like Footloose, maybe another indication of where DISLOCATION DANCE would rather be – jamming out some spooky jazz in a post be-bop kind of way. Respectable, but no fireworks.
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