On the back of the success they were experiencing, the band decided to move to London, which saw the departure of drummer Brian Faloon and the recruitment in his place of Jim Reilly. They recorded a new single called “Gotta Getaway” and went out and headlined their first ever tour, playing 21 dates around the UK and Ireland. Jim Reilly was quoted in Roland Link’s book “Kicking up a Racket – The Story of Stiff Little Finger 1977-1983" as saying:
"Of all the shows, one of the best, without doubt, was the first time we headlined Belfast's Ulster Hall, on the ‘Gotta Gettaway’ tour. At the height of the Troubles we packed the place and then some, and staring out at that seething mass of young people just enjoying themselves and having a great time to the music, was something that has remained a treasured memory for me all these years. That night I realised we were doing something that none of the politicians were able to do. In that hall, in the midst of a city gripped by sectarian violence, killing and hatred, we brought together the people of our hometown, regardless of religion"
The band entered Olympic Sound Studios in London on January 21, 1980, for ten days of recording time. The album was recorded by what many people consider the classic SLF line-up of Jake Burns (guitar and vocals), Henry Cluney (guitar), Ali McMordie (bass) and new drummer Jim Reilly. It is never easy to follow up a debut album, especially one that has met with a fair amount of success and which the fan base had loved. The album cover was a peculiar barcode-type design, which was supposed to say Stiff Little Fingers if you held it away from you at a certain angle. To this day there are few people who can say that they have actually seen this in evidence. The album was released just five weeks after the recording process had been completed, and was released under the name of “Nobody’s Heroes”.
Prior to the album being released, the band had already brought out two singles, “Gotta Gettaway” and “At the Edge”, both of which were re-recorded for the album. The new version of “Gotta Gettaway” opens up the album, complete with opening guitar and drum beat, before leaving Ali to play the bass riff into the true start of the song, with the other instruments joining in to push the upbeat conglomerate of the song. Track two is “Wait and See”, a song which basically tells the story of the band, and how original drummer Brian Faloon left just at the point where things were taking off for them. Lyrics such as “you’re not good enough to be a dance band, they told us, but we’re not giving up, we’re not giving up, we’re not giving up, we’ll show them!”. Some bands make a career out of dissing former members, but this one is a solid statement about a decision from their former bandmate that didn’t sit well with the other members. Next is the anthemic “Fly the Flag”, which is sung in reference to the era of Thatcherism in the UK, and is more about the masses flying the flag of freedom and justice than political parties flying their flag, with lyrics such as “Gimme a nation where people are free, Free to do and free to be, Free to screw you before you screw me, Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme”. That era in the UK offered plenty of ammunition for punk bands and their songwriting, and this is another example of that.
The second single “At the Edge” is next, and now the band turns their frustrations and anger not against authority as such but from a young man’s perspective against their parents. It’s a real anthem for the youth of the day, with lyrics like “Think of something that you want to do with your life, Nothing that you like that's not allowed, I've no time to talk about it, All your stupid hopes and dreams, Get your feet back on the ground son, It's exams that count not football teams”. There’s plenty of revolution in the opening track of the album, but this one hits pretty hard. In an interview at the time the album was released, Jake Burns was asked what his parents thought about the song, to which he replied “I don’t know, I don’t think they’ve heard it yet. I’m sure we’ll have a conversation about it at some stage”.
The first side of the album concludes with the title track “Nobody’s Hero”, where Jake and frequent lyric composer George Ogilvie try to exhort the masses to “Get up, get out, be what you are”, to be yourself and live by your own ideals, and not live vicariously through your heroes. It’s a nicely written song, simple in output but against with the anthemic quality to steers this punk band away from the usual suspects.
OK, so the first side of the album is almost flawless, and the band has put together an amazing run of songs that are powerful lyrically and barnstorming in the best traditions of punk musically. And then you hit side two of the album, and you wonder what the bloody hell has happened.
“Bloody Dub” opens the proceedings, and is basically what the title suggests, a dub reggae instrumental. And it is so unnecessary given the amazing things they have done on the first half of the album. I’ve never really understood the fascination that punk has with reggae, and to me it just completely blows up an album when it becomes incorporated in it. After the fist pumping and chest beating of the first side, this halts and destroys all of that momentum that has been built up. Worse yet, the song that they choose to follow it up with is “Doesn’t Make It All Right”, a song which Jake merrily confesses “we stole from The Specials”. The ska revival band were on the same label and had included the song on their debut album “Specials” a few months earlier. Jake, who at the time had had nothing positive to say about The Specials, was quoted about why SLF decided to cover one of their songs. “Hmmm, yes, well it’s not exactly a cover version. It’s more than a bit different to theirs. It was exactly the opposite to admiration. We thought, ‘Jesus that’s a good song, they’ve fucken wasted that’. So we went out and decided to show everyone how it should be done, but because The Specials are everyone’s pet band we suffered for it. But again, I think given time that track will stand up easily enough on its own.” But the problem was, it doesn’t. It is awful and it further allows the second side of the album to sink in the mire. It’s such a shame.
“I Don’t Like You” brings the album back into equilibrium, rising back into the music this band does best, and back to biting lyrics that express exactly what the band wants to say to a certain breeding of people, but all without a swear word in sight. Instead we have “If a thought came into your head, It would die of loneliness, You rate absolute zero, No more and not even less. Look at you Oh, what a state? Next to you Short planks are underweight. You oughta scratch from the human race, You are a waste of a name, A waste of time and a waste of space, You've only one claim to fame, I don't like you”
“No Change” sees guitarist Henry Cluney take on lead vocals, and addresses people’s changing attitudes to the band when they went back to Ireland, which they had left for London as they sought to make it in the music industry. And the album comes to its conclusion on a high note with the excellent “Tin Soldiers”, released as a double A-side single with “Nobody’s Hero”, and remains a popular live set closer to this day. The lyrics talk about a fan who signed up to the army “He joined up for just three years, it seemed a small amount, but they didn’t tell him that the first two didn’t count. At the age of 17 how was he to know, that at the age of 21 he'd still have one to go?”. This is a great song, with Jim Reilly’s drumming, incorporating a marching beat that further emphasises the lyrics, being a highlight.
My introduction to the Stiff Little Fingers was from a mixed tape that was put together for a mate in high school by his older brother who was very much into the punk scene at the time. This tape, full of bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Birthday Party, The Clash, Dead Kennedys and others, was one I first heard at an end of year school camp in 1985, and the song I first heard was the instrumental “Go for It” that came from the album of the same name that followed this one. It was also the song that a group of my friends mimed and ‘air-band’ to at the end of camp Talent Night, to much applause and cheers. From here, the only actual album I got of the band around that time was the live album “Hanx!” that was released after this album. Eventually when I reached university and went on one of my Wednesday arvo saunters to Illawarra Books and Records, I bought the double LP best of called “All the Best”, which suited me for that period of time. Eventually, there came a time when I collected the first four Stiff Little Fingers albums and was able to not only enjoy the songs that I knew but the ones I wasn’t familiar with.
I’ve always been most endeared with the band’s debut album “Inflammable Material”. I’m not really sure of the reason. It probably comes from it being the first of their albums I owned, and that it does have two of their greatest songs that bookend the album. And yet, this album really does have more. Well, let me be clear – the first side of this album is basically superior to anything else that Stiff Little Fingers produced. It has the angst and anger, the anthemic lines and music, the call to arms and the fuck you attitude that the best punk rock has and that the time was breeding. The band has taken on everything they had learned from recording their first album, then moved to London to get wider exposure and then come into this sophomore effort with all metaphoric guns blazing.
There is a far better use of Ali McMordie here on bass guitar, the sound he gets from his instrument and where it lays in the mix on “Nobody’s Heroes” is far better and the band is all the better for it. Jim Reilly’s drumming is excellent, clean and crisp and adds to the flavour of songs like “Tin Soldiers” and “At the Edge” with its succinct rhythm. And the dual guitars of Henry Cluney and Jake Burns are forthright and chugging. And Jakes vocals with their raspy quality here leave you in no doubt of the emotion of the track as he sings it.
The second half of the album is, for the most part, a disappointment though. The first five songs are electrifying, and then the second five, apart from the excellent “Tin Soldiers’ just can’t carry a candle to them. To me, it was a mistake to include a dub reggae track and a cover of what is a ska track. It doesn’t work and really cools off the album after a terrific opening half.
I have thoroughly enjoyed having this album back in the rotation this week. It has brought back lots of great memories, not only of old school days with old friends, the majority of whom I still see often to this day, but of seeing the band live. I feared I would never see them live in concert and finally did for the first time at Soundwave in 2012. Better yet, I’ve seen them on all of their three tours since, and they never fail to deliver.
Ranking the ten Stiff Little Fingers albums is not an easy task, but the top two is not difficult. It is however hard to choose a number one from those two, and on any given day there is every chance it could change. But the lacklustre second half of this album always eventually has me ranking it at #2 behind “Inflammable Material”. And nothing much has changed this week to make me change my mind.
True punk had a small window where it was the king of the world. This album was still in that window, and it thrived as a result. With just a couple of small changes, this album in my mind could have been absolutely legendary. It instead sits in the top echelon of punk albums, a spot reserved for very few.
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