Owned since: 2008-ish
Genre: Indie pop before indie pop really became a thing
Where I bought it: Can’t recall honestly
Year: 1981
Label/pressing: Epic
When we talk Scottish post-punk, some bands come to mind. Most long forgotten-ish beside cult followings (Scars, The Fire Engines) and some that are better remembered (Jesus and the Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins and The Associates). Overall their brand of post-punk, beside some outliers, was known for two things: the tweeness of postcard records home to bands like Josef K and Orange Juice and the harshness of the Jesus and the Mary Chains. Somewhere also around here the Proclaimers kind of come in and out the picture and even how odd that sounds they did play in a fair bit of Scottish punk bands that never went anywhere. There’s a pretty rich list of Scottish punk outwash bands and the one most overlooked for sure is Altered Images.
I was reading Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie great autobiography a while back and he talked about how he did some fill-in work for the band when they started. Altered Images are mostly remembered for one thing these days, the title track of this record, but their starting point is as a bunch of overzealous Siouxsie and The Banshees fanclub members getting the spot to support them live in 1980. This was just a year after the band formed and during their short 4 year run they released 3 full length albums and one of the finest post-punk singles out there.
The Glasgow scene being tiny really leads to the band being kind of everywhere. They came up with most of the members of Primal Scream dancing at places like the Glasgow College of Technology and various shady night clubs long gone. Grogan worked bars for most post-punk nights and got injured by thrown glass in her face which lead to the scar she has on right side of her face to this day. From Gillespie’s book it becomes clear this sort of violence was fairly normal surrounding the scene but little in the scene.
Dead Pop Stars poorly is a non-album single but for sure is a reminder we’re dealing with the Banshees fans. Very goth-like post-punk dirge about, well, pop star iconship snarled by a then 17 year old vocalist Clare Grogan and backed by some great guitar work by Gerard “Caesar” McInulty who would’ve been gone already when Happy Birthday was recorded.
After that the band signed with Epic and started working on this record produced by Banshee Steven Severin. It is the point their most famous song got refined into for sure what most people remember; a slightly clean cut band in dress shirts with the pixie like Clare up front singing in breathy high pitch vocals. Their music is a sort of midway between the Banshees goth-punk and the first sounds of twee bands to come around that time also, like the Pastels (also from Scotland). It’s also where the title track of this album starts.
Happy Birthday isn’t a great song, but it’s an effective one. An earworm first class with its xylophone intro and the bouncy focus on bass/drums through it all while the lyrics repeat themselves. It’s pretty classic pop music writing and a bit of an outlier on the record but it never felt like a song this band didn’t write.
Most of Happy Birthday the album is a lot closer to what you expect from 1980’s post-punk. Wavy guitars, moody bass/drum combos and a lot of mid-tempo rhythms all tied together with Grogan’s sing-talky vocals over it. Honestly I think it’s at least an upper tier record for that movement because, while a lot of bands playing the same field got lost in overthought songs and dark thoughts, Altered Images present a fairly unique sound that never comes overwhelming sweet.
Where to even start with this album. Its start is mostly full of great little post-punk pop songs that show the band’s influences on their sleeve, no song really goes over the 3,5 minute mark. You hear a bit of the Banshees in the bleak Legionnaire, Gang of Four in the catchy Idols and even a bit of enteral gloom lords The Cure in A Days Wait on the B-side. Still, while they never were the most original band sound wise it never really tires. Lyrically, it is an interesting one; it’s very much set up that the happier songs are up front and the second side is full of heartbreak and just clear misery penned by Crogan. Leave Me Alone a bitter scribe at an ex-girlfriend(?) has the catchy bit of
I hate her now, despise her now, loathe her now
Hate hate hate, hate her now, yeah
She’s disgusting
Disgusting to me
Absolute highlight of this record is Insects, which was released for the first time here. There’s an alternative more punchy mix on the I Could Be Happy single from the next record, but I always liked the original drowsiness a bit more. Guitar hook filled stuff with Grogan endlessly going on about insects crawling and moving. It has no real purpose to it and yet it will be stuck in your head for days on end. Even better when you hear it on the more crunchy Old Grey Whistle Test version.
A surprising note from the album that is best known for the sweeter-than-taffy title track, but really showcases quite a bite underneath. It was a bit the calling card of the Images, they were a good fit either opening for most the post-punk acts but easily could’ve been put on a kids show also playing their songs. The follow up albums cut off most of their rougher edges still here, they are really solid pop albums also, but this really is where the band shines the most. Somewhere between their beloved Banshees and the pop charts.
Happy Birthday is an odd record and one you can still find dirt cheap. Hiding behind its sugarsweet veneer is some great post-punk that still gets overlooked, made by some young Scottish people. The band would go on to do two more records after this, which I both also own, which saw them hang way more to (electronic) pop music and by the third record most of the original band was gone. Grogan has reunited various versions of the band over the years. They’ve been an active band again, mostly consisting of her and third album guitarist Steve Lironi, since last year and got a new album coming out when I write this in August 2022.
Just before this record Grogan also starred in Bruce Forsyth’s lovely Gregory’s Girl. An extremely Scottish movie about having crushes on the girl that replaced you in your all male football team and then all the stuff that comes with it. Absolutely wonderful movie with a lot of horrible haircuts and very 80’s settings. Highly recommended.
Altsloot Images: Diet Cig for Gen X. I was only familiar with the title track, but this was a pleasant surprise. The moodier second half was definitely what I was in the mood for.