Album Review: The Vibrators - "Mars Casino"

 

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that this album crept into the lower end of our Top 50 list for last year. However, due to its late release in the calendar, by the time we got round to listening to it we'd actually used up all of the review slots for December so we're sneaking it in early doors for 2021 instead.

Anyway, the Vibrators. One of the more under-rated punk bands in this reviewer's humble opinion, they put out four highly recommended albums (1977's Pure Mania, 1978's V2, 1982's Guilty and 1984's Alaska 127) which were marked by the group having three principle songwriters in frontman Knox, guitarist John Ellis and bassist Pat Collier who all had a very different approach to songwriting. This would turn out to be those early albums' main selling point as it gave them a wide variety of musical styles that definitely set the group ahead of the standard 1-2-3-4 punk merchants. However, Ellis and Collier's departure in the late '80s (the former to join the Stranglers, the latter to move into production) saw Knox and drummer Eddie carrying the load on their own with various guitarists and bassists coming and going and the album quality suffering a bit as a result.

However, 2018 saw the group's original line-up reunite and put out their strongest effort for many a year in the form of Past, Present And Into The Future. I was under the impression that this would be a one-off affair but it seems that the band were so happy with the result that they've decided to put another album out and I'm glad they have as it's another commendably strong effort. Also along for the ride is none other than Chris Spedding (of Motorbikin' and New Girl In The Neighbourhood fame) who the band cut their first recordings with back in the '70s. From the meaty riff of the opening title track, it's plain that this is a reunion that's worked. The strutting rockabilly riff of Jesus Stole My Little Dog which takes a slightly oddball look at the death of a pet and Garbage Can which owes a sly tip of the hat to I Fought The Law keep the progress going nicely.

It should be pointed out here that Spedding's sky-surfing guitar work definitely adds another layer to the Vibrators' sound and he takes lead vocals as well on the more mid-paced Turn The Pages before John Ellis steps up to the plate on the almost countrified Big Black Sea - elsewhere, Spedding also contributes the T-Rex style glam strutter Platinum Dress and Ellis comes up with the mournful reflective Passing Of Days which is one of the highlights here. Elsewhere, Mars Casino is a pleasingly varied effort from the brooding Follow Your Destiny through the gentle Made In Heaven to the riff attack of closer This Is The Way.

Mars Casino sees the Vibrators continuing their recent run of form nicely. All five members turn in a good performance here to keep things tight while there's an impressively varied set of songs on offer as well. Recommended.

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