After the breakup of The Beat, Dave Wakeling and Roger Charlery (Ranking Roger) joined up with guitarist Mick Jones from The Clash, bassist Horace Panter from The Specials, keyboardist Mickey Billingham and drummer Stoker both from Dexys Midnight Runners to form a kind of supergroup which they called General Public. Their debut album `All the Rage` was released at the beginning of 1984 and nearly forty years on is being re-issued on vinyl.
Opening track `Hot You’re Cool` is a dreamy, summery almost thruway kind of number that has some delightful saxophones tinges. My favourite GP song `Tenderness` follows and for me it`s an almost perfect pop song and although it was top thirty in The States, it had little or no impact here in the UK, which always surprised me.
`Anxious` does have that sense of unease about it but it`s really a reggae-tinged earworm of a track with some stunning brass supplied by Aswad`s Horn section. For me `Never You Done That` was a bit of a neither here nor there track.
`Burning Bright` has some political observations subtly melded within its guitar driven soundscape while `As a Matter of Fact` seems to be of its time with a rap-like intro and some synthy vibes.
`Are You Leading Me On?` starts quite pop-like before having a chugging reggae segment then continues this pattern until closing out. It has a brief fragment with Roger toasting, but the piece is a bit stop-start throughout. There`s a bouncy dance-like texture about `Day-to-Day` which is wrapped up in everyday problems or routines.
`Where’s the Line?` is a funky offering which again had that “of the time” feeling. The album closes with `General Public` which is almost a defiant statement of fact as to this band and what it stands for. There`s a kind of us against them feel with is not aggressive but more join us as you know we`re right.
I saw General Public a few times and loved them as I did The Beat, but they come from my hometown so maybe there`s a bit of that intertwined.
I haven`t played my Beat or General Public albums for a while so this re-issue was a chance for me to re-acquaint myself with the band. The album will be forty years old next year but the majority of the tracks within still hold up and a few had me reminiscing about when I first heard them in my late teens / early twenties.
A re-issue well worth investing in.
Rating 8 /10
REVIEW: GENERAL PUBLIC – ALL THE RAGE (2023)
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