Visitors - Compatibility (1982)

Visitors were formed in Edinburgh in the late70's by brothers John (keyboards, vocals) and Derek (bass/vocals) McVay, with school friends Colin Craigie on guitar/vocals and rotating drummers Alan Laing and Keith Wilson. They released their debut single 'Electric Heat' on Deep Cuts Records in 1979, picking up airplay from John Peel, who was so impressed that he financed the recording of their next single 'Empty Rooms', which was released the following year on Departure Music. Peel also offered the band a couple of sessons for his show, and in 1981 they released their final single 'Compatibility' on Rational Records, with both tracks taken from their second Peel session. The music was post-punk of the highest order, with twitchy guitars and discordant grooves, and taking influences from bands such as PIL and Wire. I've always loved those three singles and felt that it was real shame that they never got around to making an album, but by adding the Peel session tracks to the officially released songs we can hear the album that they should have made.  

Track listing

01 Electric Heat (single 1979)
02 Moth (b-side of 'Electric Heat')
03 One Line (b-side of 'Electric Heat')
04 Empty Rooms (single 1980)
05 The Orcadian (b-side of 'Empty Rooms')
06 Visitors (b-side of 'Empty Rooms')
07 Compatibility (single 1981)
08 Poets End (b-side of 'Compatibility')
09 Exploiting The Masters (John Peel session 1980)
10 Our Glass (John Peel session 1980)
11 Pattern (John Peel session 1980)
12 Distance (John Peel session 1981)
13 Third Base (John Peel session 1982)
14 Flow (John Peel session 1982)
15 Unit Of Acceptance (John Peel session 1982)