I learned quite quickly that this band are known by their fans as the jokey malapropism of “The Placemats”, shortened to “The ‘Mats”. Which is largely irrelevent to their sound and this album, but helps work out who people are talking about. But, just as only people that have actually climbed Kilimanjaro are supposedly allowed to call it “Kili”, and only sailors on shore leave call San Francisco "Frisco", I feel that only people that saw this band live are allowed to call them The ‘Mats.
Partly, I’d say, because they were notoriously drunk when playing gigs – not to the Syd Barrett/Keith Moon levels of incapacitation, but certainly enough to make a Replacements gig a pretty chaotic affair. Which made me think that we’ve not had a rock ‘n’ roll drug-fuelled early death for a while – I mused before that this generation of musicians had grown up seeing their idols dying far too young and have largely eschewed such behaviour – possibly also the drug of choice had changed, possibly also the record companies have stopped supplying vast amounts of cocaine to the talent. Turns out, though, the lead guitarist Bob Stinson’s untimely death was probably related to health issues from frequent drug use, so, scratch that. He is kind of an anomoly at this stage of the Eighties though. But all this says nothing about the album itself.
Musically they reminded me of the likes of The Only Ones, the Dictators, a little bit Undertones, a little bit keeping the seat warm for Ash in years to come. They’re nominally “post-punk” and although some tracks begin with the usual bit of a mosh, they pack a lot into short tunes (generally between 1 ½ to 3 minutes). We're Coming Out starts as fast punk/garage, drops into a slow and brooding middle, bursts back into chaotic thrash.
Black Diamond is a great piece of hard rock. Unsatisfied has a very REM sound to it. Seen Your Video has a little bit of Fripp-ish guitar from Bob Stinson and Aladdin Sane piano from Paul Westerberg, mostly instrumental but gives it a little nod to Bowie. Lyrically they tend towards a bit of teen angst, but Androgynous is a piano-based track about a non-gender conforming couple that feels ahead of its time.
It feels like the big flashy albums in 1984 overshadow bands like this, which is a shame. Professionalism doesn’t feel very rock and roll, but it’ll get you the big money. But it also feels a little like MTV being the gatekeeper for musical success – I'd take this album over any of the bigger names we’ve had this year.
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