The Sigla Blog

The Slits
Live At The Gibus Club ***

The annals of music always have a bias and invariably there are omissions and massive generalisations bound to divide and overlook genuine talent. The Slits, for all their uniqueness, were not the only all-girl punk band of the 70s. There were plenty, like The Castrators and The Raincoats but The Slits, for many reasons, were the most high profile. This elevated position in punk history isn’t based their musical prowess . while touring with The Clash they had to get Mick Jones to tune their guitars for them - but then they were never about choreographed performance. Their take-no-prisoners approach to playing was never better than when performed live as guitars took a back seat to dub-fuelled basslines. Their legend status owes something to the fact that singer Ari-Up was just 16 when this album was recorded. Here she bellows and stutters over tracks from their debut album Cut, like combative ‘So Tough’ and the frantic pound of ‘Instant Hit’. Even when wailing a shambolic cover of Femme Fatale, she is all Amazonian presence. Their musical output was relatively small - two albums, a handful of singles and their famous Peel Session - mainly due to constant fighting with their record company who wanted them to change their image (on the cover of Cut they’re sporting loin cloths and caked in mud). However, this live album best captures their unique energy from the overpowering bass riffs to Ari Up’s between-songs banter. Shame it’s without their version of ‘I Heard it Through The Grapevine’, one of the best covers of all time.

Info: Sanctuary Records