Over the years, the reputation of Young Marble Giants has well exceeded their productivity. The Cardiff band recorded one album and a handful of EPs before splitting up in 1980, following just two years together.
The album, Colossal Youth, has since become the stuff of post-punk legend. Recorded in three days for just £1,000, it was originally released by Rough Trade and become something of a secret known among alternative scenesters.
Its lack of availability in recent years hasn't done much to change this. This long overdue re-release, however, draws together the band's album and singles for the first time, with initial quantities including a bonus CD of Peel Session tracks.
Colossal Youth still sounds striking today, perhaps more so than it did in the intrepid post punk era. The jagged rhythm guitars, staccato bass and Galanti organ sit disjointedly with Alison Statton's vocals, laid bare by an absence of studio trickery. Only a handful of songs, notably The Man Amplifier and Brand - New - Life, approach conventionality.
The second disc complements the main selection, with tracks from the band's Final Day single (1980), the instrumental Testcard EP (1981), and their demos for that EP and album, which first saw the light as Salad Days in 2000.
Every song on Colossal Youth sounds like a first take, overdubs are scarce, and the only percussion seems to come from rudimentary synth auto-rhythms or improvised object-bashing. As an exercise in austerity it would be intriguing; that the recordings have retained their other-worldliness for more than 20 years is remarkable.
Words: Joe Goodden
