ALBUM REVIEW: Skids – BBC Sessions 1978-80 (Last Night From Glasgow)
The Skids, from Dunfermline in Scotland, were one of the most ground-breaking bands of the punk era, and it’s testament to their excellence that they remain a popular live draw 45 years on, even if they only have one original member these days.
Most fans recall them most fondly from their golden years of 1978-1980, and it’s from that period that this excellent 22-track Last Night From Glasgow compilation of BBC session recordings dates.
It gathers together all five sessions that they did for John Peel, and adds their cover of David Bowie’s All The Young Dudes, recorded for Kid Jensen in 1979.
All the tracks have been officially released before (the Bowie cover back in 1980 on the double 7in version of Working For The Yankee Dollar), but unless you shelled out for the 6CD boxset The Virgin Years back in 2015 you might not have heard the rest.
If that’s the case, this release – available for the first time as a 2LP vinyl set or a single CD – is essential listening for all serious Skids fans.
BBC Sessions were known for their quality, and that’s certainly the case with this one. Of course, it’s great to hear subtly different takes on classic singles like The Saints Are Coming, Masquerade and Circus Games, but it’s the deeper cuts – and there are lots of them here – which I enjoyed most.
Album cuts
It opens with Scared To Dance track Of One Skin, always one of my favourite Skids songs, and we’re treated to versions of other album cuts like Dossier Of Fallibility as well as b-sides like Contusion and Night And Day.
There’s several tracks which were knocking about as demos, but never made it is far as vinyl back in the day; namely Summer, Hang On To The Shadows, Withdrawal Symptoms, Zit, War Poets and an excellent cover of Loud Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side.
You can hear the band’s sound changing after the first two albums, getting more experimental on songs like Filming Africa and An Incident In Algiers (both from the second LP which came free with early copies of third album The Absolute Game).
There’s even an appearance for the fan favourite TV Stars (the b-side of biggest hit Into The Valley, which isn’t included). Vocalist Richard Jobson reckons the song, which namechecks Peel, was made up on the spot during the session itself.
Sadly incomplete
It’s a fascinating document of a band who were growing in stature, but sadly also growing apart, as guitarist Stuart Adamson would quit before 1981’s fourth album Joy, later re-emerging with Big Country.
This can’t be called a complete round-up of radio sessions because frustratingly the rest of the 1979 Kid Jensen session which …Dudes was taken from doesn’t appear to be available elsewhere, nor do the three tracks (A Woman In Winter, Arena & Circus Games) which they recorded for him in 1980.
Hopefully someone will find them one day in a state good enough to give them a proper release. Until then, sit back and enjoy masters of their craft at work. 9/10.
