Purple Hearts - Extraordinary Sensations - Studio and Live 1979-1986

Purple Hearts initially grew out of the punk band The Sockets, which was bassist Jeff Shadbolt, guitarist Simon Stebbing, singer Bob Manton and drummer Nicky Lake.  During that time they played some local shows and even won audition night at the London punk club The Roxy, but in 1978 Lake broke his leg and they took a time out.  With punk fading at this time, and the band feeling like they were improving as musicians, they wanted to try incorporating more of a sixties flavor into their music.  They ended up bringing in drummer Gary Sparks to replace Lake, and Purple Hearts were born.  While they were lumped in with the mod revival of the late seventies, alongside bands like The Chords and Secret Affair, there really was more to the sound of Purple Hearts.  Extraordinary Sensations - Studio and Live 1979-1986 is a great new three CD box set that contains both of their studio albums, 1980’s Beat That! and 1986’s Pop-ish Frenzy, the A and B sides of their six singles, two demos produced by Paul Weller, and five by Sham 69’s Jimmy Pursey, plus live tracks recorded at several different shows and more.  

Disc one opens with their debut album and while cuts like “Frustration” and “Jimmy” (their second and third singles) are standouts that stick the closest to the Mod sound with slicing guitars, pop hooks and a punky beat, “Perfect World” and “Nothing’s Left” follow a similar path, but with a hint of The Kinks and early Who (the latter has some very Townsend influenced guitar licks).  “Something You Can’t Have” and “Beat That!” both have more of a driving beat but mix things up with guitar that is more psychedelic on the former track and jangly on the latter.  Driven by a thumping bass. a jazzier beat and the occasional punk blast “Can’t Stay Here” has some disjointed elements of more experimental New Wave.  The album also has a couple of covers with a slow and dirty, kind of snotty, blues take on Wilson Pickett’s “If You Need Me”, which has a bit of a Stones feel, and a sped up punkier mod version of Bowie’s “Cant Help Thinking About Me”.  After slowing things down with the really cool “Slay It With Flowers”, a track that is dark and moody, but still mod sounding, they wrap up the album with “I’ve Been Away”, which starts off more midtempo, but builds and builds in intensity and is the perfect closer.  Disc one is also loaded with bonus tracks starting with their first single “Millions Like Us”, an extremely catchy, high octane mod track that ended up being their biggest hit reaching number 57 in the UK (also included is the single’s b-side, an earlier version of “Beat That!”, which is rawer and more ragged than the album version).  The flipsides of their second and third singles (“Frustration” and “Jimmy”) are up next with “Extraordinary Sensations”, another strong shot of mod, full of hooks and stabbing guitars and a great aggressive instrumental section, and “What Am I Gonna Do”, which is more of an aggressive punk tune.  The six demos produced by Pursey are for songs that all either ended up on the debut album or singles and while they aren’t that far removed from the versions that were released, they are rawer and more ragged.  After their debut sold only 6000 copies the band was dropped by their label Fiction resulting in a on-off single with Safari Records.  For these cuts the band made a purposeful decision to record something more commercial.  This is most apparent on the title track, “My Life’s A Jigsaw”, a very synth heavy track that finds them moving in more of a new wave direction.  The other two tracks, “Just To Please You” and “The Guy Who Made Her A Star” aren’t quite as poppy and have a bit more of a mod sound but are still way more commercial than prior releases.  In February of 1981 they were invited by Paul Weller to record a couple tracks for potential release on his label Respond Records.  Not only did he produce, but he also sang harmony vocals on "Plane Crash" and played piano and organ.  These demos found them shifting back in the direction of their earlier releases with “Concrete Mixer” also throwing in a touch of Clash-like reggae beats, bit unfortunately, the deal with Weller’s label never happened.  Closing out disc one is the demo of “My Life’s A Jigsaw”, which relies less on the synths and more on the guitar.

While disc two opens with the band’s sophomore full-lengther, 1986’s Pop-ish Frenzy, the band recorded numerous demos in 1981 and 1982 and also re-recorded “Plane Crash” for a single released on Roadrunner Records in 1982.  The single version is similar to one produced by Weller, but a little poppier.  Also included on that single was a fun, punched up cover of “Scooby Doo” and “Gun Of Life”, a really strong rocker with a rootsier sound and ringing guitars, that Is reminiscent of bands of that era like Red Rockers.  Over the next couple of years, the band continued to record demos, several of which ended up on the next album, including notable tracks like the incredible acoustic take on “I’ll Make You Mine”, an edgier “Gun Of Life” that like the single includes piano, and “When I See You”, which kicks off with a great ringing guitar that’s missing on the album.  Among the demos that didn’t make the album are two versions of “Smashing Time”, one that is more new wave with a beat reminiscent of Adam and the Ants and another that is a punkier and more aggressive, along with “Another Day”, a ragged power pop track.  Not long after recording the demos the band split up, but a few years later reunited for some live shows that ended up with them recording Pop-ish Frenzy.  That album found them largely moving away from mod towards a variety of styles that worked well on some songs, but not much on others.  It opens strongly with “Friends Again”, a hook-heavy track with more of a new wave edge.  Some of the other highlights include “Call Of The Wild” and another take on “Gun Of Life” both with a rootsy sound and big ringing guitars, “I’ll Make You Mine”, a hypnotic track that’s a bit darker and moodier with a hint of psychedelia, the high tension rocker “I Can’t Dream” with its rapid fire beat, and “Hi Baby!”, hearkening back to the mod sound with a bit of a beat influence.  Following the album, they released one last single consisting of a new version of “Friends Again”, which was an interesting twist on that track with the very prominent addition of horns.  The flipside was “Head On Collision Time”, a dark and meandering track, once again with horns, that is very good, but very different for them.  

The bulk of the final disc is live tracks taken from three different shows, starting with a previously unreleased show recorded at The Hippodrome in London on November 9, 1986.  The thirteen song set is a mixture of songs from both albums and some single tracks as well as a great cover of The Creation’s “Painter Man”.  Next up is their four song performance at the Mod Aid Alldayer on December 15, 1985 and while there is an overlap on three of the songs, this show also contains an excellent version of “Plane Crash”.  Lastly are two tracks from their reunion at Mods Mayday 99.  Their energetic performance of “I’ve Been Away” and a cover of Solomon Burke's ”Everybody Needs Somebody” show that they still had it.  The performance through all three shows is really strong and the band sounds great with the only drawback being the recording, which is a little thin on all three (the last two cuts sound the best), but definitely very listenable.  Also included here are several two track recordings that are an interesting listen and great for completists, but not something that will most likely get repeat listens.  Also included here is a booklet that includes an interview with guitarist and songwriter Stebbing.  While the definitely had plenty of ups and downs over the years, Extraordinary Sensations - Studio and Live 1979-1986 is a much-deserved collection that is well worth a listen.

(Cherry Red Records)