23 Skidoo - The Gospel According To 23 Skidoo (1983)

After listening to some A Certain Ratio a while back while researching a future post by them, I thought about 23 Skidoo, who were a band very much in the same vein, but who never really got past a loyal cult following. I fancied hearing their classic 12" singles 'The Gospel According To New Guinea' and 'Coup' again, but I couldn't find them anywhere on the net, and so as I was at my record buying peak during the punk and New Wave era in the UK, and still had a lot of the original records that I bought at the time, I went up into the loft and brought down all my 12" singles to rip to mp3. Their first 7" single was more of a post/punk effort, very much like A Certain Ratio's 'All Night Party', after which both bands went down the indie/dance route for their subsequent releases. Following a couple of well received 12" singles and some experimental music that incorporated Burundi drumming or Gamelan percussion, they employed the services of Peter 'Sketch' Martin from the recently disbanded Linx to become a superb indie/funk band. The fact that 'The Gospel...' 12" was produced by Cabaret Voltaire, their debut album 'Seven Songs' was co-produced by Genesis P. Orridge, and 'Coup' utilised the services of Aswad's horn section, showed they certainly had a diverse range of influences, and they could pen a commercial dance track when they wanted to. This collection is from their first five releases, from 1980 to 1984, which is also my favourite period from the band, and although I know a lot of people will never have heard of them, please give them a try as they were a very under-rated part of the whole indie/dance/funk scene of the early 80's.

Track listing

01 Ethics
02 Another Baby's Face
03 The Gospel Comes To New Guinea
04 Last Words
05 Tearing Up The Plans I
06 Tearing Up The Plans II
07 Just Like Everybody
08 Gregouka
09 Coup
10 Version (In The Palace)
11 Language