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Death Is Bigger 1984-85
Artist
Getting The Fear
ReleaseProduct
Death Is Bigger 1984-85
Label
Dais Records
Catalogue Number
DAIS175digital
Release Date
June 18, 2021

  • Vinyl 1×LP, Limited Coloured

    $23.99
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    White vinyl

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    DAIS175LPC1

    • 12 panel booklet with liner notes, rare archival photos and art
    • Archival demos, unreleased material and out of print B-sides

  • Vinyl 1×LP

    Sale $23.99$21.99
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    • + MP3

    DAIS175LP

    • 12 panel booklet with liner notes, rare archival photos and art
    • Archival demos, unreleased material and out of print B-sides

Genres

Press Release

It's testament to how fertile England's mid-80's musical landscape was that the splintering of short-lived post-punk pioneers The Southern Death Cult seeded so many memorable but divergent groups – from widescreen rock legends The Cult to romantic pop duo Into A Circle to “the Asian Public Enemy,” Fun-Da-Mental. But the band's most potent subsequent cross-pollination was undoubtedly Getting The Fear, formed by The Southern Death Cult rhythm section of Barry Jepson, David 'Buzz' Burrows, and Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi, joined by Temple Ov Psychic Youth associate Paul ‘Bee’ Hampshire on vocals.

Galvanized by Margaret Thatcher's “iron fist” austerity policies and the cultural liberation of punk, the group blazed to creative fruition, quickly landing a lucrative deal with RCA. But immediately after recording their 1984 debut single, Last Salute, a shake-up at the label left them stranded and without support. Rather than stall in music industry purgatory they chose to dissolve, escaping their restrictive contract. Bee's lyrics on “Last Salute” are fitting final words: “If this must end let it pass me by / I’ll remain your friend, only flowers die.”

But this is of course only part of the story. Death Is Bigger: 1984-1985 rectifies history's error, collecting the group's entire vault of demos and unreleased songs alongside liner notes and a photo gallery capturing Getting The Fear in all their high libertine glory. The compilation's 10 tracks are alternately brooding, spiky, and sneering, fixated on dreams, sex, and Charles Manson (the sleeve of Last Salute famously features a detail from Manson's embroidered waistcoat, unbeknownst to label execs). Razor wire guitars slice across tense rhythms, veering between minimal and melodic, occasionally flowering into psychedelic poetry, revealing Bee's deep affinity with Psychic TV.

Taken as a whole, the album showcases the breadth of forking paths facing UK post-punk in 1984: pop eating itself, new wave while still new, transgression as alternative not affectation. Getting The Fear's music feels eclectic and unfettered, following whim, lust, and impulse, glinting with darkness against the fires of youth: “The earth is still beneath my feet, I start to sink to lose myself / Friends and lovers stand around unconcerned, their eyes in flames.”

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Digital Track List

  1. 1 Rise (Demo Version) 3:43 Buy

    Rise (Demo Version)

  2. 2 Dune Buggy Attack 4:38 Buy

    Dune Buggy Attack

  3. 3 Last Salute (Demo Version) 3:03 Buy

    Last Salute (Demo Version)

  4. 4 Against The Wind 3:40 Buy

    Against The Wind

  5. 5 We Struggle 4:45 Buy

    We Struggle

  6. 6 Sometimes 3:51 Buy

    Sometimes

  7. 7 Yurune (Demo Version) 4:34 Buy

    Yurune (Demo Version)

  8. 8 Fatal Date 3:43 Buy

    Fatal Date

  9. 9 Getting The Fear 2:49 Buy

    Getting The Fear

  10. 10 Swell (Demo Version) 4:42 Buy

    Swell (Demo Version)

  11. 11 Michael (Row The Boat Ashore) 2:53 Buy

    Michael (Row The Boat Ashore)

  12. 12 Spirit Of Youth 3:49 Buy

    Spirit Of Youth

Dais Records

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Alternative / Indie / Post-rock

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