BOXSET REVIEW: Conflict – Statements Of Intent 1982-1987 (Mortarhate/Cherry Red Records)
“Three punk bands have been the subject of Parliamentary debate. The Sex Pistols, Crass and Conflict. Only one has ever been officially banned from making live appearances by order of a White Paper. And that is Conflict.”
So said Colin Jerwood, vocalist and founding member of South London band Conflict, in a December 2013 interview with webzine Ave Noctum. Those three sentences highlight the impact Conflict – as a collective of musicians – had not only upon the DIY music scene, but also on the wider politics of British society during the 1980s. That is some achievement, and it is documented in this collection of Conflict’s musical output from 1982-1987.
Kings & Punks
This 5CD box set on Cherry Red subsidiary Mortarhate collates all Conflict’s official releases from 1982-87 (with a second set covering 1988-94, reviewed here). Here, we get five albums (50% of which contain live content) and six 7” releases (one of which is also a live recording), providing an impressive 123 tracks in total.
The five albums come in chronological order, with the various singles/EPS added as bonus tracks on three of the discs. This creates an odd sequence that doesn’t reflect the development and changes in Conflict’s sound over the five-year period. So, it’s odd to hear the very Crass-sounding House That Man Built and raucously raw Centro Iberico EPs (1982) follow It’s Time to See Who’s Who LP. And that’s made even more odd with the 100mph abrasion that is A Nation of Animal Lovers EP (1983) sandwiched in between.
Whichever Way You Want It
So Disc 1 has the effect of shifting sonically in a backwards and forwards direction (from 1983 to 1982 to 1983 and 1982 again). The same applies to Disc 2 where Increase the Pressure (1984) precedes The Serenade is Dead 7” (1983), and where Disc 4 sees 1985s This is Not Enough and The Battle Continues 7”s follow The Ungovernable Force LP (1986). This is probably only a minor complaint – and one that will be recognised mainly (or only) by an older audience. But this matter, especially for the punk purists out there, as this time-hopping doesn’t reflect how Conflict changed as a band (lyrically, musically and in their changing line-ups).
The disordered compilation slightly mashes up the way Conflict developed their more obvious, unique and distinctive punk sound on Mortarhate Records (via Corpus Christi) from their Crass Records origins. For some, the organisation of Conflict’s discography in this manner would be as anathema as putting The White Album before A Hard Day’s Night on a similar compilation by The Beatles (because of the different sounds from different times by the same band).
Moaning aside, it was great to hear and revisit this collected work once again. Disc 1 starts with the slightly experimental punk noise of the first LP It’s Time To See Who’s Who, and sees Conflict lay down the foundations of what was to define them politically and musically. 15 tracks bookended by two ‘instrumentals’ sees the band take on politics, warfare and animal welfare. Two tracks stand out here due to their commentary on the so-called ‘UK82’ punk scene. Kings And Punks attacks the ‘posers’ hanging around the Chelsea area of London, with Exploitation providing a similar commentary on The Exploited and their appearance on Top of the Pops.
Wargames
The superbly under-produced (ie supremely raw) first EP follows, with its anti-war, anti-patriarchy sentiments and some of the band’s best-ever material: Brutal Attack and Conflict, with total earworm female vocals/lyrics on I’ve Had Enough. (Does anyone know why Conflict rarely played these 4 tracks live during the 1980s?). A Nation of Animal Lovers follows – featuring tracks written by Steve Ignorant (Crass) who also features on vocals alongside Colin Jerwood. Together they deliver three songs at neck-breaking speed, and all provide verbal assaults on man’s abuse upon animals (whether for sport, food or science). A 6-track live EP closes the first CD, and gives the younger listener an insight into the anger, aggression and breathlessness of early-era Conflict gigs, such as this DIY event, recorded at London’s Centro Iberico club.
Disc 2 kicks off with Increase The Pressure, the first LP released on Conflict’s own Mortarhate Records. Often regarded as the best of all Conflict’s albums. If it is not the best, then it is definitely the most angry! By now, (1984) Conflict as a band had matured and graduated from the Crass school of tribalism and also carved their own identity onto the punk scene with a distinctive hard, abrasive and aggressive sound. If the first album was about sorting the posers from the punks, this one was the clarion call for the protests to begin, and for protestors to increase the pressure.
From Protest To Resistance
Cruise – an explosive anti-nukes/anti-Thatcher protest song which concludes the seven-track ‘studio side’ – defines the whole album. The rest of the album (11 tracks on Side B in old money) is a live recording from Brixton Ace (08.10.1983) featuring a version of Stop The City that seems to be recorded outside, as traffic noise and passers-by can be clearly heard.
Remarkably, the album cover reminds me that this short, sharp shock of aural pleasure cost only £3.75 back in the day! Disc 2 closes with the 1983 7” single (and equally cheap at 49p), The Serenade is Dead. This was the very first release on Mortarhate Records and features three tracks – The Serenade is Dead, The Positive Junk and The System Maintains – which were all live favourites. Disc 2 is a fantastic collection of 21 cuts of pure punk rage.
Disc 3 is a live recording of Conflict’s appearance at the Los Angeles Nagasaki Nightmare peace festival on 09 August 1985 (the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese city). The record is a standard quality live-recording, but the band’s vocal and sonic rage is obvious throughout. We hear Jerwood rage against not only Reagan and Thatcher, but also people in the crowd who seem intent on violence (possibly security staff?). At one point Jerwood snarls if somebody wants ‘to go home and get their dummy’ – at a time when we in the UK had never heard the American term ‘pacifier’!
As live albums go, Only Stupid Bastards Help EMI captures the spirit of the (r)age and the anti-nuclear war/anti-special relationship between USA and UK in the band’s first-ever appearance across the Pond. But it is the back story to this release that many may find more interesting.
First, it was a benefit gig, released on (Mortarhate offshoot) New Army Records as a fundraiser for various protestors/protest groups. The title also nods a wink at a certain band from Bradford who signed to EMI Records around the same time in 1985 (who are still performing and recording in 2021).
What isn’t stated in the sleeve notes is that the same Bradford band were touting the slogan Only Stupid Bastards Take Heroin at this time (in connection with their No Rest/Heroin 7” release). It should be remembered that the first heroin epidemic had taken root in many of the de-industrialised towns and cities of Thatcher’s Britain. It was a drug that was also responsible for the spread of a new virus called HIV. And the reasons for the antagonism against EMI had nothing to do with the Sex Pistols’ experience of the label (see Never Mind the Bollocks), but of the former’s alleged connections, at that time, with the arms trade.
These war-related connections are documented on the back of the original album cover (12” vinyl version) for Only Stupid Bastards Help EMI, and Conflict’s message was simple: punk bands don’t ‘sell out’ to multi-national companies, especially those involved in the manufacture of weapons. This message continued in Conflict’s track Custom Rock (on the next LP The Ungovernable Force) which weaves song titles from said band into the lyrics of a tune that clearly is intended to emulate the distinctive bass/drum sound of same band.
Disc 4 takes us on a punk journey through 1985 and 1986. Starting with the 12 tracks of the band’s 4th LP, The Ungovernable Force (TUF). This album probably represents Conflict at their most … ungovernable. By 1986 they had clearly developed into a total wall of protest; musically, sonically, lyrically and politically. The tunes on TUF are much more crafted and skilled and the lyrics maintain and intensify vehemence and rage. The guitars crash and thrash, the drums pound powerfully (Paco RIP), but the politics of protest and punk remain the standard fayre, delivered with typical sneer and snarl.
As with other releases, throughout this record there are multiple references to the ’80s punk scene and the punk movement. Listen out for a splash of protest reggae, the Anarchy in the UK riffs during A Piss in the Ocean, the ode to Crass in the ‘sort-of-cover version’ of Banned from the Roxy. And there’s yet more digs at the aforementioned Bradford band and even some musical similarities to Antisect (who were also at their peak around the time of this release).
Throughout TUG there’s also some backing vocals provided by fellow Mortarhate bands ExitStance and Liberty. These group vocals are most notable on the superb Force Or Service, which has a bit of Cockney Rejects sound to it, and the most fantastic rap monologue midway through … concluding with a lager-raising Chas ‘N’ Dave-esque cockernee knees up singalong. Who says Conflict ‘have no humour and don’t know how to laugh’ (oh hang on, that’s Crass innit?).
To Be Continued
One of the most stand-out tracks on this album though, is undoubtedly the crashing angelic choral sound of To Be Continued, which provides an aural respite to the medley of rage and bile of the previous 14 tracks. The sound is that of haunting and haunted female vocals – in a style to be later emulated by Anathema and My Dying Bride many years later in the Goth metal genre.
The song itself seems to be about some kind of symbolic battle between light and darkness, which may also be a reference to the use of heroin during this particular time – and/or the alleged use of heroin by big-name bands in the punk scene at the time? Or maybe not. Disc 4 closes with two singles from the previous year (1985), This is Not Enough and The Battle Continues, and provide a return to rage following the respite provided by To Be Continued.
Disc 5 was the one I was looking forward to the most, mainly because I’d never heard any of the material on it before. And I was not to be disappointed. The title of the album here is Turning Rebellion Into Money and is yet another punk reference (this time to a lyric by Joe Strummer of The Clash). This 1987 release (which also came out on VHS video) is Conflict’s second live recording, released as another fund raiser (for similar causes to those for Only Stupid Bastards…). It’s Conflict’s set on 18 April 1987, as part of The Gathering of the 5000, a multi-purpose benefit gig held at Brixton Academy, South London.
Punk Innit
At this point in time, the punk scene had fractured, arguably in decline; Crass had split three years before, Conflict hadn’t gigged for six months and the scene was dominated by punk superstar bands. ‘The Gathering’ was a gig that was organised by Conflict with their new full-time member, one Steve Ignorant from Crass. The event was designed to bring people together from all corners of the UK (with organised coach trips from many towns and cities). It aimed to prove DIY punk gigs could be organised in venues holding up to 5,000 people without the aid of major promoters, and to refresh the punk movement with an all-day event featuring several other bands (including one Benjamin Zephaniah).
The result is 77 minutes of one of Conflict’s best live recordings – and probably their most controversial ever. There’s 32 tracks – 17 Conflict and 15 Crass songs – delivered together by Jerwood and Ignorant (who was playing ‘songs by Crass’ long before he hooked up with Paranoid Visions), with the addition of some experimental use of saxophone (especially during Major General Despair, and Mighty And Superior).
One of the stand-out tracks on this album is How Does it Feel, an anti-war song by Crass about Thatcher’s foreign policy in the Falkland Islands during 1982. Not only is this song delivered in the musical style of Conflict’s aggressive, no-compromise, hardcore approach, but it has rarely been captured with such quality on an official live recording (though there are plenty of poor quality bootlegs) by Conflict or Crass.
Punk Is Dead
The gig also features Jerwood and Ignorant chastising and ranting at the crowd (or possibly security), especially during a flashpoint where somebody on stage says (you’re) ‘supposed to be paid to keep the peace not provoke violence’. However, it was the well-documented riot, civil disorder and police brutality after the gig that makes this one of the most historic and controversial recordings in this entire box set.
In fact, it was the scale of violence and disorder that led to the Parliamentary debate about Conflict mentioned at the start of this piece – and which subsequently led to them being banned from undertaking any live performance throughout the UK. However, as one might expect with a band like Conflict, this banning order didn’t stop the band from playing gigs – or from recording further material. (To Be Continued). 8/10.
