Rendition, rendition, rendition

Glaxo Babies - This Is Your Life (1979, EP)

On paper, this EP may appear to have quickly become completely redundant, as all of its tracks reappeared shortly after its release on the odds and sods Put Me on the Guest List LP (1980); except, they mostly did in rather inferior form. In the former they were alive, piercing post-punkish observations on the as subtle as wearing everyday mismatches between social and subjective life ("This is your life / Crying in the subway / Lying to your wife" always feels like an indictment to me, despite my being a very good boy); in the latter they sounded bloodless, stripped, dubbed up and slowed down, like contrived artistic statements on anomy (what difference a little tempo change can make); so, I will take this short release over that whole LP any day of my emotionally hampered life. If you're gonna wish for the downfall of society, say it like you mean it.