The Work

The compilation covers a large period from 1981 to 2010. It features 11 tracks mastered by Noel Summerville and selected by original members of the legendary ensemble. They propose a plural look on their music : revealing both its experimental, radical and deviant approach of rock, as well as more melodic aspect.  The Work was the missing link between Captain Beefheart and This Heat. It’s dark and cheerful, energetic and brutal, rough and bright, delirious. With creaking guitars, epileptic drums, some other acidic instruments and inimitable voices. Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow, God) Bill Gilonis (Hat shoes, Officer!) Mick Hobbs (Strobe Talbot, Officer!) Rick Wilson (Family Fodder) .
 "It was that time of the century: punk had seen prog off the premises and the New Wave had clambered over their exhausted bodies to claim the citadel for itself. The genius of the New Wave was that it didn’t represent any particular musical idea; it was just a name, so anything could fly under its banner – as long as it observed the accepted musical, attitudinal and sartorial conventions. Poorly disguised hangovers from prog, jazz or metal would be rooted out but, in the newly polymorphous cultural climate, rebranding – if honest – would not be punished; indeed, everyone was at it. And the prize was a novel and reinvigorated aesthetic." Chris Cutler