ALBUM REVIEW: ELECTRAcoustic Volume 3 (Sosumi Recordings)
Ruts DC, the masters of punky reggae, are back with a third helping of stripped-down versions of their songs from their revered back catalogue.
The first volume, released in 2021, featured a clutch of Ruts classics as well as reimagined tracks from their excellent 2016 album Music Must Destroy.
Volume 2, released last year (reviewed here) revisited more oldies, and came right up to date with selected cuts from their 2022 album Counter Culture?
Vol. 3 takes an deeper dive, covering their entire career, from 1979’s The Crack album right through to their most recent studio effort, and even throwing in a brand new song for good measure.
John ‘Segs’ Jennings (bass and vocals), Dave Ruffy (drums) and Leigh Heggarty (guitar) picked 12 songs from a shortlist of 36 which hadn’t received the ElectrAcoustic treatment yet, and the result is an album which yet again shows what a talented bunch they are.
It’s a measure of a good song that you can strip it right back to basics, present it in a completely different arrangement and for it still to sound superb: Ruts DC have done just that here, most notably Human Punk, from The Crack, which has been transformed from punk rager into a rockabilly shuffle.
Things kick off with Vox Teardrop, one of the few songs from MMD that they hadn’t reworked yet, and it’s a fine appetiser for what follows.
For the first time in the series, there’s a new song, Bound In Blood, which doesn’t sound at all out of place alongside old-school favourites like Jah War and Dope For Guns.
Pretty Lunatics, from Counter Culture?, is transformed into a thing of great beauty indeed, and there’s a particularly deep dive in the shape of 1982 B-side Formula Eyes.
The vinyl version has 10 tracks, but if you opt for the extended CD you get three bonus tracks, all absolute bangers from The Ruts’ golden age – a wonderful take on 1982 single Whatever We Do, The Crack track Criminal Minds and Babylon’s Burning‘s B-side Society.
The band say this release completes a trilogy of ELECTRAcoustic albums, but I hope they aren’t done yet, as they have some fine songs which haven’t been revisited yet, not least It Was Cold from the first album and Mighty Soldier from 2013 comeback Rhythm Collision Vol 2. 8.5/10
- Ruts DC’s acoustic sets have become just as anticipated at Rebellion Festival every year as their full-blown electric performances, and the band take their show on the road for a full UK tour in July to accompany the release of ELECTRAcoustic Volume 3.
You can get the album from their website HERE, or at the merch table on the forthcoming tour, whose dates are listed below.
