By its’ very nature, a collection of rarities, out-takes, demos and live recordings is bound to have a slightly scabby, grab-bag feel and will probably offer a variable quality control to say the least.
To be fair, though, “The Last One Back” – selections from THE STOCKHOLM MONSTERS’ own archives including all the above variables – doesn’t fare too badly under the modern microscope.
Featuring 20 tracks in all, “The Last One Back” opens with five tunes recorded at the band’s final Suite 16 demos circa spring 1987. “No More” and “Dear” sound sketchy and unfinished, the group flailing and searching for the switches. The janglesome “Before Your Eyes” is an improvement, but it’s “Stupid” and “House Is Not A Home” that clock up brownie points in the “What If..?” department. “Stupid” is nagging and spooky, with a sustained noir-ish quality worthy of JOSEF K and icy keyboards, whilst “House Is Not A Home” tackles destructive marital disharmony with Tony France answering his own vocals. Affecting.
The other studio-germinated tracks here include pre-release demo mixes of the landmarks “How Corrupt Is Rough Trade?” and “Kan Kill!” Both are cleaner than the definitive versions and lack the same murky edge, though this “Rough Trade” does allow Tony France’s lyrical invective to register with greater clarity. The remainder date back to the MONSTERS two earliest demos (circa 1980 and 81 respectively). Even cleaned up, the muddy “Catch Me In Confusion” and “We Are Nation” have only a very primitive charm at best, but the 1981 session shows greater promise, including the smouldering “Future” and a slower, haunting take of “Fairy Tales” that compares favourably with the Martin Hannett version.
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The eight live selections range from the struggling to the sublime. Pick of the crop is probably a dynamite “Partyline” from GRANADA TV (early 1987) where Tony France survives a ‘grilling’ from the notorious Richard Madeley on completion of the tune.
Outside of that, the three tracks from Walthamstow Assembly Rooms (November 1985) are well-recorded and show the Mancunians growing in confidence, not least “When I Smile” with its’ keyboard fantails. The songs recorded at Sheffield Poly (September 1981) are grey by comparison, finding the band still trapped in NEW ORDER’S shadow. Believe me: I have a well-worn tape of t’ORDER’S headlining set from the same gig.
Before signing off, I must mention that I do concur with the sleeve notes when they debate the notion of the MONSTERS as a forerunner of THE HAPPY MONDAYS. A ‘street’ image and the formidable power of Shan Hira’s drums (not dissimilar in style to GAZ WHELAN) aside, I can’t see this as a credible argument either.
Still, THE STOCKHOLM MONSTERS made stealthy progress during their chequered seven years and whilst “The Last One Back” is – perhaps logically – the weakest of these three releases, they bequeathed a catalogue that more than holds its’ head up in these critically-recycling 21st Century days. Well done LTM for bringing them in from the cold.
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