Various In The Beginning There Was Rhythm

Various In The Beginning There Was Rhythm

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Angular guitars, funk- and disco-influenced rhythms, dabblings with electronic gadgetry, leftist politics, a dash of irony, and vocals that aren't so much yelled or sung as they're chanted or detachedly intoned must mean one thing and one thing only: post-punk. At the time of In the Beginning There Was Rhythm's release, the level of resurgent interest in the style was so high that one might've expected a ten-part documentary series from Ken Burns. In reality, even Burns himself could've told you that there wasn't a need for a "23 Skidoo: Ken Burns Post-Punk" compilation by the end of 2001. (Well, actually, he would've left them out of the series, so the point is probably moot.) After all, that artery was plugging quickly -- even the smallest blips on the U.K. 1978-1982 radar were re-registering with releases that paired small-time pressings of singles with live shows and otherwise abandoned material. Suddenly, aunties and uncles across the United Kingdom were recollecting sparsely attended gigs by Crispy Ambulance, Drinking Electricity, the Stunt Kites, and the Normil Hawaiians. Meanwhile, across the pond, books like Our Band Could Be Your Life were documenting the American side of post-punk (slightly later and rather different) and bands like Mission of Burma re-joined to play old favorites and don new kneepads. But throughout all of this nostalgic hoopla, one piece of the U.K. post-punk puzzle remained missing: a definitive compilation. The legendary Wanna Buy a Bridge? and C81 compilations (both of which had ties to Rough Trade, a label, shop, and distributor that helped birth the scene) were released while the ball was rolling in the early '80s, but they became valuable out-of-print artifacts of the period at some point. Furthermore, the bootlegged labor of love Messthetics series took the hunter-gathering obscurantism of Nuggets a few steps further into the darkness of collector scumdom. So along came the trusted Soul Jazz label to help matters...and the puzzle remains incomplete. However, the intent with 2002's In the Beginning There Was Rhythm wasn't to provide something definitive. Nothing short of an exhaustive multi-disc set could do such a thing with post-punk, as the scene was far too fertile and vast to distill the whole thing down to 11 songs by nine bands. One hope is that this disc will spawn a series similar to Soul Jazz's own Dynamite series of reggae compilations. Despite the drunken record-shop bins, there are many untapped post-punk resources the label could still cover, and much like the Dynamite series, In the Beginning does a spectacular job of combining the known with the not so known. Within its tightly wrapped confines, In the Beginning demonstrates post-punk's breadth, showcasing within the grooves, jabs, and rattling waves of static the style's influences (disco, funk, reggae, Krautrock, electronic experimentation) and the styles that the style influenced (indie rock, post-rock, almost every stripe of dance music that followed) at the same time. The Human League's "Being Boiled" represents synth pop at ground zero and, like absolutely everything else here, continues to sound fresh and eminently exciting. Throbbing Gristle's "20 Jazz Funk Greats," Cabaret Voltaire's "Sluggin fer Jesus," and This Heat's "24 Track Loop" also lean toward the electronic side of the fence, abandoning guitar heroics for tape splicing, samples, and studio-manipulated scrap heaps of gray noise, all the while finding a way to coax out jerky rhythms through rhythm box throbs, handclaps, and non-traditional means (i.e., no discernible bass or drums) via repetition. Songs from Gang of Four (the perfect choice with "To Hell With Poverty," boasting their best groove), the Pop Group, the Slits (the title track), 23 Skidoo, and A Certain Ratio (one of which is a cover of Banbarra's obscuro funk pearl "Shack Up") embrace funk and reggae in varying degrees, keeping the bass and drums as the central (and often only) focus and using guitars in a pointillistic fashion (if at all), all the while distancing themselves from traditional rock & roll methods and attitudes. Topping it off is a thick booklet full of photos and liner notes that cover each band and tie the music in with the social climate they were residing in. And while one might bemoan the exclusion of Public Image Limited, Associates, the Normal, Magazine, or other bands crucial to the ideology, there's no denying that In the Beginning There Was Rhythm is a great gateway into this expansive, fruitful, trailblazing era.