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Glasshouse

Party Day are all about emotions. Sometimes they whisper 'I love you', yet at other times they'll scream 'I hate you' - and occasionally they'll curl up, bury their faces, weep openly and admit their inner turmoil. The great thing about 'Glasshouse' is, simply, all this is here.

This is the return of versatility, as Party Day drift from a bittersweet six-string charge of energy to a melancholy sigh and back again. This music is . . . intense, certainly.

It's pop music, too, especially the dizzily infectious 'Firehorse' - and it's just about everything I want for the moment. That's how spectacular an LP 'Glasshouse' is. More soon, please.

Mr Spencer - SOUNDS 1985

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"I liked to see you when you smile"

Party Day, a band name that fits well here. Not that this is such a party album, on the contrary, but it is one big party to listen to. Not only is it a feast of recognition, because all influences are unmistakably audible, but it is also performed in such a way that it is like a warm bath for your ears. It is a cocktail in which the greats of the genre are tastefully brought together to what has been called Party Day. So I can't help mentioning some landmarks here and there.

'Rabbit Pie' already has something instantly recognizable. I strongly think of The Sound, but that doesn't matter. After all, it sounds delicious. The singer has something fragile in his voice. I can imagine that some would fall for the voice, but for me it's fine, there's something pure about it.

The second track of the record, 'Firehorse', made me look again at the year of this album. 1985, the same year as The Cure's The Head on the Door. I hear the riff of 'Push' here. Not that this song is a copy of said song, but I can imagine that an unconscious inspiration played a role here. This is also what makes this record good, as I wrote in my introduction.

'Carousel' is full of fire and persuasion. This band puts down a wonderful fat sound where everything is just right. These guys really know what they are doing. Certainly the drummer also plays an important role in this and the singer throws his whole soul into it.

Unmistakably, Twenty Four Hours by Joy Division served as a model for the song 'Atoms', but I also hear the sound of Modern English' 'Mesh & Lace'. All in all a song with a nice drive.

Guitar feedback, drums and a fat bass sound like a starting engine that sets the song 'Boredom' in motion. Uplifting and enchanting sounds to let you be carried away. The monotonous lament completes it.

'Grace' has the blissful build-up we all dream of in a post-punk song. A bit like A Forest, but different. I can hear it over and over at loud volume. It's a classic, but without the fame of it.

Anger and frustration are expressed in 'Row the Boat Ashore'. Energetic and convincing. I don't understand why this album hasn't become more famous and why this band has never released more than two albums independently. Presumably they would have been if this record had been released in 1981.

The last song 'Athena' also sounds incredibly fat. The wonderful rhythmic build-up makes me spring up like a young God and bounce across the room as if time has stood still for 30 years. This easily ranks among the better post-punk.

As far as I'm concerned, this album is one that you should not miss if you are a fan of the genre.

Glasshouse LP review PDF

New WavePostPunkReviews Feb 2018

From the dour sardine sandwiches of New Model Army to the curdled milkshakes of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, "The North" has always offered a darker side to melancholia. but Party Day have hauled themselves up by their armpits, standing atop some crusty fortress to bellow their belligerent, gloomy broadcasts.

Thumping on like commando rabbits, through ‘Sovereign’, albeit a touch repetitive in tone, and ‘Passing Pain’ they are big and bold, like Fergie's enormous bottom. The head-in-hands malaise that so often stifles this style

Simplicity

of music  is cauterised by the shameless pretty ‘Laughter’, a gentle wandering strum of acoustics and soothing vocals with a demented ending.

Proving that they've grasped more than an inspirational nettle, the recurrent throb finds their trousers igniting during the quite punctilious rawk of the title track, the urgent prodding of ‘Career’, which reminded me uncomfortably of early Killing Joke and the attractive, though slightly over-wrought black sheep, ‘Glorious Days’, which could have brought a lump to Mario Lanza's trousers.

Even the duffer ideas, like the numb rumblings of ‘Stay in My  Heart’ and the workmanlike ‘The Other Side’, make gentle stepping stones between the fires and treacherous swamplands they have to offer the cautious traveller.

I suppose I ought to make some ‘Invitation’ type one-liner now, but I really can't be bothered. The Art of smarties!

Mick Mercer - MELODY MAKER 12 July 1986

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