BLURT ARE back again with an album recorded 'live', so full marks straight off, and a wise move too for the super-sparse line-up of sax or vocals over rhythm guitar and drums would be left floundering in a studio set-up where bass is what it's all about. At the time of 'Get', tearaway Ted Milton and co led the field by the length of a straight when it came to awkward yet listenable musical da-da. Since then, Blurt have gone to ground on the continent and the derivative pack has made up all the leeway. Blurt remain uncompromising but are no longer unorthodox. The pendulum has swung so far in this direction that these days, it's the likes of Bobby Crush who present real alternative. The difficult numbers, such as 'Sugar Coated', 'Gravespit' and 'Deep Frozen Heart' wear a bit thin after a while, and it's the rockier, event-beat items ('Enemy Ears','Kill Time' and 'The Little Death') that really cut through. And There's the paradox – the 'commercial' (well, almost) material is the ideal carrier for Milton's brand of anarchy, crying out for that absent bass. Get out of that, Ted.
© 1984 Andy Hurt/Sounds taken without permission