Empire Expensive Sound LP reissue
When commercial success and artistic integrity presented a fork in the road, drummer Mark Laff and guitarist Bob Derwood Andrews left the then (from the label’s point of view) doddering ranks of GENERATION X to form the more alternative-flavored EMPIRE. This LP is a reissue of their debut from 1981, and while the band never saw the chart-ranking success of the Billy Idol-fronted GEN X, they made a hell of a record here. Allegedly inspired by JOY DIVISION, this group wanders a line between late ’70s garage punk with catchy hooks and poppy lyrics like the VIBRATORS, to sparse, guitar-heavy tracks that have the ambience of JOY DIVISION, but sound more like predecessors to FUGAZI or SONIC YOUTH with screaming feedback, pinch harmonics, and heavy drums. Just take the instrumental opener “Empire” that is a long, beautifully sad guitar riff, followed by “Hot Seat” (originally off their self-titled 7” from the same year) that is all jangly “clap the tambourine” power pop. That said, the lyrics on “Hot Seat” are divorced from the songs’ otherwise pop styling; they sing “Sitting here in my armchair / Sitting here without a care / All I have to do is stare / I wonder how long will I live,” an inherently punk apathy. While a lot of this sounds like any UK outfit of its time, the integral nature of Andrews’ guitar really makes this album worth a listen.