Those Were The Days

Defiantly working class and staunchly political, The Blades stood apart from almost every other Dublin outfit that stalked the over-blown 1980’s rawk landscape.

Their early singles, ‘Hot For You’, ‘Ghost of A Chance’ and ‘The Bride Wore White’ sparkled with post-punk urgency, showcasing Paul Cleary’s breathless melodies and the band’s deft, power-pop riffs. Later they would add a brass section, veer towards a Stax/Volt sound and bag a record deal. But for sheer consistency and brilliance those early gems stand out.

This long overdue and eagerly anticipated re-issue pairs The Blades’ album Raytown Revisited, a compilation of singles and b-sides (with some previously unreleased tracks added) and their only album proper, the John Porter produced Last Man In Europe.

In some senses Raytown... paints a more accurate picture of the true essence of the Blades. The aforementioned ‘Ghost Of A Chance’, which vies with ‘Teenage Kicks’ as one of the great Irish singles, sounds remarkably fresh almost (gasp!) twenty years after its original release. Similarly, ‘The Bride Wore White’ and the brassy ‘Revelations Of Heartbreak’ are lessons in the lost art of the sub-three minute single, while the sublime ‘Some People Smile’ displays Cleary’s country leanings.

Not that The Last Man In Europe didn’t have its moments. Despite some dodgy synth doodling and Mel Collins’ indulgent and unnecessary sax soloing, it does have a trio of live favourites: the reggae-fied ‘Always Talk About Listening’, ‘That’s Not Love’ and the yearning nostalgia that is ‘Those Were The Days’.

More crucially, Last Man also contains what is arguably The Blades most fully realised creation. The utterly superb ‘Downmarket’ is an epic tune in every sense of the word and as pointed a commentary on the dire economic straits of the time as has ever been written.

In the end The Blades’ fortunes foundered through a combination of record company machinations and the changing tastes of the post-Live Aid pre-MTV generation.