It was November 26th 1989 when MTV first aired “Unplugged”, which means its just over 31 years since Squeeze, Syd Straw and Elliot Easton (and if you have heard of the last two then you are a better man than me) first stripped down.
I’ve got to be honest here, I’ve not watched MTV since about 1998, so it came as a bit of a shock this morning to see that Unplugged was still going strong! There’s been some this year, which just goes to show, really, the enduring power of the format.
Certainly it made for some iconic moments. I am yet to meet the person that didn’t like Nirvana’s version, for example and I’ve always thought that being able to translate your songs into this situation – that is to say, where their power was in the fact it was raw – was proof of having great songs.
That being the case Dead Posey have passed this litmus test with flying colours.
“Malfunction x Broken Down” is the four songs that were on their “Malfunction” record from the spring, and a cover of Depeche Mode. When I reviewed that EP in the Spring I said this: “It’s 20 years or more since Brian Warner bet his mate he could outrage a nation and became Marilyn Manson. Industrial, electro music always manages to sound superb when lurking in the shadows. When it gets really good, though, is when it wraps that around an unashamed pop hook. On the basis that “Malfunction” does exactly that, you’d best keep an eye on Dead Posey as whatever passes for fame in these times could be theirs.”
So I didn’t know, really, how it was going to go when Danyell and Tony F stuck this out. I mean, lets be honest, you don’t always think of industrial bands as being the type to do acoustics do you? Well, think again because this is just as good – if not better – than the original.
And that is largely because it sounds like it’s being confessed to you and not sung. Like its 3am in the morning, and it you and your thoughts. Yes, there’s a touch of Courtney Love about “Head Of The Snake”, and the promise that it all could go wrong very quick, but it never does.
That’s the skill, the power is in the sparsity. “Parallel” takes you into a maelstrom, and the backing vocals are haunting, and the disconcerting way that “Bad Things” is done rather continues the spiral, Danyell sounds like she’s going to cry here. It is a real jolt.
“Holy Roller”, the one I picked out as being the best on the album, is worthy of Nick Cave here, and it seems to begin the fightback, and if I could never claim to be an expert on Depeche Mode, then I can tell you this, “Never Let You Down Again” sounds like its ready to smash into pieces.
I don’t know whether this EP was planned, or was the result of lockdown boredom and a need for creativity. Either way, it underlines what I thought in April. Dead Posey are one of the best, most original and interesting duo’s around.
Rating 9/10
