1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 396. The Adverts – Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts (1978)

 

I’m kind of surprised that I have absolutely no memory of these guys existing, but I guess they didn’t get the airplay they deserved. I’m also wondering if 1977-79 will have the same degree of “punk” artists that 1967-69 had of “psychedelic”, especially those who were only around for a couple of albums at most, but are good examples of the variation within a genre. 

Because that’s what The Adverts are billed as, a British punk band, but I’d call them more “garage”, They have the high-tempo punk beat, driven by drummer Laurie Driver and bassist Gayle Advert (these are pseudonyms, you may have guessed). Advert, like Tina Weymouth, is a pioneer among women bassists, and by all accounts had to face quite a lot of nonsense about it – the frustrated refrain of Katie White from the Ting-Tings that “they call me ‘her’” probably the least of it. 

But the music is good. Singer TV Smith writes songs that are more melodic than the pure aggro of The Sex Pistols; they sound more like The Undertones or Martha and the Muffins, and bring to mind some more recent bands as well. At times, Smith’s voice sounds a little like the tone affected by American punk of the late 90s – Green Day, Blink-182. Sometimes the tracks sound a little bit Kaiser Chiefs. Or, of course, all those bands sound like The Adverts, since they were there first.

One Chord Wonders is a self-deprecating song about their ability, almost immediately undone by a chord change. Great British Mistake pokes at the pomposity of a British society still trying to pretend that it’s an important Imperial power, but without the nihilistic violence of, say, Anarchy In The UK. All in all, they’re a deeply listenable band even if they do go to the well of ending a track with a repeated chant-like refrain quite a lot of times. I really liked this one.