On to the larger reviews from the music monthlies. This Uncut magazine review from Daniel Dylan Wray in the April 2020 issue scores our reissue at 8/10 and 9/10! Stocks are starting to run low so if you're yet to pick your 2CD and/or LP up head, head to Occultation or Bandcamp.
REDISCOVERED
Uncovering the underrated and overlooked
THE DISTRACTIONS
Nobody's Perfect
MAN IN THE MOON
8/10
Unknown pleasures from forgotten Manc band
1979 was a musically fertile time for Manchester, and Factory Records were at the centre of it all. That year they put out records by the likes of Joy Division, OMD and A Certain Ratio, and also a 7" by a significantly less feted group, The Distractions. If "Time Goes By So Slow" today sounds like a connecting bridge between post-punk and the jangly indie that followed, in 1979 the group's focus was somewhat antithetical to the post-punk rhythm of the times. Swiftly signing to Island, the group, led by vocalist Mike Finney and guitarist Steve Perrin, released their debut album the following year. Despite some critical warmth, however, Nobody's Perfect sold poorly and just a year later The Distractions disbanded.
Forty years on, though, this curious and charming record, now being reissued, remains unshakably infectious, from the buoyant, almost Blue Oyster Cult-esque skip of opener "Waiting For Lorraine" to their soul-drenched cover of Eden Kane's 1964 hit "Boys Cry". Defying easy labelling, the group wriggle around between new wave, punk, post-punk and soul, and there's an inescapable "wrong place, wrong time" feeling that emanates from these 14 tracks. For a start, there's something inherently and inescapably Liverpudlian about this Mancunian group, with Finney's vocals possessing a touch of Ian McCulloch and their jangle-heavy sound almost like a long-lost blueprint for The La's or The Coral.
Just a few years after Nobody's Perfect's release, the unwinding guitar solos, creamy vocal deliveries and melody-drenched hooks that fill the album would come fully into fashion via the likes of Orange Juice and C86. Perrin would later comment that the band were, "Out of time rather than ahead of it - The Distractions have never seem to fit in with a particular period." As a result, they have fallen into place along with the likes of The Freshies and The Chameleons as somewhat forgotten Manchester bands from the era. Although, as this reissue proves, there's plenty of reasons why that should be remedied.
Extras: 9/10. Original and remixed version of the album, along with 20 bonus tracks featuring rarities, demos and alternate versions.
DANIEL DYLAN WRAY
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