There hadn't been many all-female groups who weren't manufactured pop vocal acts before the "great punk revolution" of the late 1970s, but a number appeared during this time delivering something worth listening to, and arguably it was The Slits who had the most distinctive sound of any of them.
Cut was their debut album famous for its cover of the band topless, covered in mud (drummer Budgie didn't quite fit the vibe). Empowering? Exploitative? Exploiting who, the band or me, the male listener made more likely to buy the album ("I bought this album six months ago, and I've just discovered there's no disc in it" being the piss poor joke made at the time)? Yes, of course I bought it, and didn't take long to replace it on CD when the time came.
The trademark sound of powerful bass and drums delivering a reggae beat, minimalist guitar (Viv Albertine via tuition from PIL's Keith Levene) and Ari Up's vocals, powerful but not overpowering, makes for a breath of fresh air throughout the album, and where it works, it's fantastic. Opener Instant Hit (it wasn't) takes a repetitive theme and carries it beautifully for the length of the song, telling the listener that this won't be your ordinary 'punk album'. So Tough is a harsher listen, musically and lyrically, but is none the worse for that, and Spend, Spend, Spend slows the pace down again, but that bass and drum rhythm keeps it interesting. Shoplifting is a more frantic, and playful couple of minutes.
FM has a fuller and more poppy sound, and for me this doesn't work as well as what's gone before, but the reggae beat of Newtown soon restores things. Ping Pong Affair and Love Und Romance are decent enough songs without really impressing, but as we come towards the end, we get the magnificent Typical Girls, the bass and guitar driving the verses in what is my highlight track on the album.
The original album finishes with Adventures Close To Home, again, a reasonable song, but not one of their more remarkable.
The CD contains two bonus tracks, the band's cover of I Heard It Through The Grapevine, which was the first thing I ever heard by the band, on the budget label We Do 'Em Our Way punk cover album and a slow instrumental version of Love Und Romance (here Liebe And Romanze) - not quite dub raggae.
It's a great album, a fantastic debut, and a late 1970s must listen. Not everything works, but when it does, it's a joy to hear.
4* - the band's definitive album, on which they establish their sound. Wonderful!
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