Colossal Youth & Collected Works [Slipcase] (CD - 1980)

Producers: Young Marble Giants, Dave Anderson.

Recorded between 1978 & 1979. Includes liner notes by Stuart Moxham.

The 1994 CD reissue of COLOSSAL YOUTH includes everything released by Young Marble Giants during the band's brief existence--the COLOSSAL YOUTH LP (1980), the TEST CARD EP, three songs from the "Final Day" single and one song, "Ode To Booker T.," from the various-artists compilation IS THE WAR OVER.

Liner Note Author: Simon Reynolds.

Recording information: Foel Studios, England.

Arranger: Dave Anderson.

British trio Young Marble Giants were the Raymond Carver of the post-punk era. While the band's lone album, 1980's COLOSSAL YOUTH, incorporated the influences of punk, dub, and funk as per the spirit of the times, these sounds were filtered through a homespun, minimalist sensibility. Recorded dry, with no reverb or other effects, the scratchy guitar, bobbing bass, and thrift-store organ are transmuted into a striking modernist tableaux, with Alison Statton's appropriately affectless voice floating above. COLOSSAL YOUTH prefigured post-rock by some 15 years, but this generous repackaging appending EP and single cuts as well as early recordings and live material is a testament to their lasting influence.

British trio Young Marble Giants were the Raymond Carver of the post-punk era. While the band's lone album, 1980's COLOSSAL YOUTH, incorporated the influences of punk, dub, and funk as per the spirit of the times, these sounds were filtered through a homespun, minimalist sensibility. Recorded dry, with no reverb or other effects, the scratchy guitar, bobbing bass, and thrift-store organ are transmuted into a striking modernist tableaux, with Alison Statton's appropriately affectless voice floating above. COLOSSAL YOUTH prefigured post-rock by some 15 years, but this generous repackaging, appending EP and single cuts as well as early recordings and live material, is a testament to their lasting influence.

Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth is a collection of sparse, evocative tunes emphasizing Alison Statton's floating vocals and minimal guitar/organ/bass/drum machine arrangements. Comparable to little else from its time or since, this is rock music at its most austere. The original album had 15 songs; subsequent CD editions added a few more. But the 2007 edition on Domino is the one to buy, pushing the total to 46 tracks, with additions from the Testcard EP, the 1979 "Final Day" single, the Salad Days album, a compilation cut, and a 1980 session for John Peel -- everything they ever did, in fact. ~ Richie Unterberger

Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth is a collection of sparse, evocative tunes emphasizing Alison Statton's floating vocals and minimal guitar/organ/bass/drum machine arrangements. Comparable to little else from its time or since, this is rock music at its most austere. The original album had 15 songs; subsequent CD editions added a few more. But the 2007 edition on Domino is the one to buy, pushing the total to 46 tracks, with additions from the Testcard EP, the 1979 "Final Day" single, the Salad Days album, a compilation cut, and a 1980 session for John Peel -- everything they ever did, in fact. ~ Richie Unterberger minimize