We had a good time in the eighties,we really did.Unemployment,strikes,kids inculcated with the Thatcher mantra of making money which has depoliticized the youth of today.Fortunately the hypocrisy of Blair has encouraged a few students to tear themselves away from their business studies and take to the streets.Revolution revives art;it happened in the late 50's and 60's when teenagers rebelled against the staidness of post war England,
and again in the bleak mid 70's when youth rebelled against the poor prospects on offer.Fashion,music and literature are never healthier than when faced with intransigence.
In 1981 the post punk landscape was a glorious directionless quagmire.Record labels littered the nation,some only managing a few releases.Lowther International was home to the Vital Disorders who were angry but not too angry to write a great tune.
The Prams EP contains three slices of political pop,domestic and general.Prams is a scream of feminist outrage,of how women have their dreams ruptured,trapped by the drudgery of daily life,the omnipotent cry of the tyrannical baby squashing their ambitions.

"Lets talk about prams and washing machines,
Lets talk about the end of childhood dreams".

That is the chorus,sung with increasing vitriol as the song progresses,until you can almost feel the phlegm hit your face,as Tina Pilchards spits out those words one final time.Sizzling.

Minimalist pop, and hurrah for that. The ex-Revolution musicians show Prince that they have learned their lessons well and throw in their own funky twirls, too. They eschew the back-up lipstick lesbian persona that characterised their time with Mr Rogers Nelson and dig out a sound that nicely epitomises the late 80's, a great and much-ignored time in funky dance-pop.

An outrageously ambitious number by a 24-year old - an opening awash with horns, before a ridiculous set of lyrics in which Neil goes up in a big wheel with his girl, only to meet God at the top of the revolution, whereupon he tries to argue with him. Neil is on sparkling form, crying with disgust

and the couple in the car above
well I suppose they think that we're in love

Before continuing (his eye must ache with all this winking)...

Then without warning, as we approach the top
The wheel that turns us all comes to a sudden stop

This song also has the greatest cliffhanger ending in rock. Go and listen - you'd be crazy not to. THe rest of this album is brilliant too.

A really really great pop song by dint of the fact it just refuses any categorisation other than 'Ace'. But I'd better give it a go. 'Mother' is a very nineties mix of genres; Gospel-ey piano, driving pop beat, terrible vocals, and great pop lyrics that soars, taking in scat, madchester, falsetto and more before exhausting itself - I can't think of any other song that could conceivably have worked as a blueprint for 90's pop - if we'd worked from this instead of 'Baby one more time' things could have been much different. Re. the song - two things then - 1. it's a fantastically catchy 'choon' with guts and attitude, 2. it's a bit revolutionary, as all good pop should be.

Symphonic metal. The violins in the background are just great, and the lyrics is (if it can be) even better that the voice of the lead singer.

This song makes me want to be a proud american. It's definitely the finest antiwar song I've ever heard. It perfectly sums up my feelings about the bush administration and it conjures up the revolutionary spirit that must have been swirling around before the birth of our country.
That being said, I'm not usually that drawn towards protest songs per se. But this one grabs my attention with its drumcorps-like rhythm and its chanted vocal delivery with many layered voices. The guitar work is incredibly moving dynamic and textural. The meandering flute soloing echoes the lyrical call to "grab your fife and drum!" and then carries the song off into the sunset.
Of course, the lyrics are the most mind-blowing element when you pick them apart. After two poetically scathing verses describing the idiocy of empire, the third verse imagines the unapologetic uprising of the people. I highly recommend downloading the lyrics and getting familiar on that level. Powerful song!!!!