Hungry Beat

The Fire Engines' brief career is well summed up here with almost every track they recorded. As much a part of the early 80's Scottish small independent scene as the likes of Josef K and Orange Juice, The Fire Engines instead concentrated on lo-fi, first take, minimal song construction. Quite a lot here is instrumental, showing a warts n all approach of jagged guitars, reedy minimalist vocals and sloppy drumming - and it's all the more fascinating as a result. When they get going it's the intertwining of those disparate sounds that adds depth. Influential on many bands that followed, not least Franz Ferdinand, their biggest 'hit' (if you can call it that) Candyskin is the standout here. If you remember this group from John Peel sessions you know what your getting - rough, ready atonal, and with more credibility than much overly produced sounds of this era. The antithesis of Duran Duran.

Postcard Records was the 'Sound of Young Scotland', but proof is here that Edinburgh's Fire Engines may have produced the definitive cuts. They rarely get the credit they deserve, mainly due to a meagre output which makes the equally-vital Josef K look prolific. Everything they issued is here - what could they add? The perfect career. Excellent liner notes recall bleak years in the Capital, either side of 1980, when it 'always seemed to rain'. The angular amphetamine rush of these succinct tracks still takes the breath away, and reflects the times more readily than the fragile beauty of Orange Juice. Yet Fire Engines sound vital and now. Meat Whiplash says it all, really, and for me just pips the wondrous Get Up and Use Me,

Excellent product as described. Prompt delivery. Would recommend seller

This CD sounds great, buy with confidence.

Most music is of its era, and this is from the early eighties, Scottish post punk movement, that also included Josef K, and Orange Juice. If you were there at the time, then it has left its indelible mark on you, otherwise the music faces a tougher test in convincing you of its merits.On first listen this is a sort of Scottish, slightly less spiky version of the Fall. In fact you can easily find yourself singing along Fall lyrics to the songs.Frankly on subsequent listens I started to find this a bit samey, some music draws you in deeper as you get to know it better, but for me, this just sounded like more of the same. The Fire Engines are a fine Scottish band, and deserve to be better know, but for most people, I suspect that a copy of Candyskin and Meat Whiplash will suffice.

Came promptly. Well packaged. Exactly what was wanted and so made a very successful gift. Haven't listened to it yet so cannot comment on the band, although like other music the members have made.

Ah, it is good to listen to this music again. 'Hungry Beat' offers a wild and spiky trip down memory lane, compiling as it does the Fire Engines' entire recorded output and filling the gap left by Rev-Ola's long-deleted 'Fond' CD.I first came across the Fire Engines in 1981. At the time I lived in the bottom corner of Ireland. I was intrigued by a glowing review in 'Hot Press' - Ireland's answer to NME - of the Fire Engines' 'Aufgeladen und Bereit fur Action und Spass', an LP on Fast Records that combined their 'Lubricate Your Living Room' mini-LP with both sides of the 'Candyskin'/'Meat Whiplash' single. I managed to get hold of a copy...and proceeded to play it to death for the next two years. I'll grant you, I'd have liked a few more actual songs rather than all of those instrumental tracks, but ultimately it didn't matter: there was an infectious, frenetic energy to the music that I absolutely loved. The fact that nobody else I knew had even heard of the Fire Engines, still less heard their records, only heightened the appeal: they were like my own personal band.How bizarre it is then, all of these years later, to find the Fire Engines held up as the Holy Grail of post-punk. At the time they were a minority interest at best. And much as I loved them, I would never have claimed that they were without faults (as I mentioned above: a few more properly realised songs instead of the endless guitar-riffing would have been nice).But here it all is again, warts, blisters, verrucas and all. And it is so good to have it back! The sequencing on this new compilation is far superior to that on Rev-Ola's 'Fond' CD, although the latter did feature a couple of Peel session tracks absent here. No matter; the packaging on 'Hungry Beat' more than makes up for it: the cover is a montage of the Pop Art breakfast from 'Lubricate Your Living Room' LP, the pink from 'Aufgeladen...', the Fairy Liquid bottle from the 'Get Up and Use Me' single, plus (most nostalgic of all) a miniature image of a price sticker from the Notting Hill Tape & Record Exchange.The energy and humour remains infectious. These tracks have been embedded in my subconscious for over a quarter of a century now and still I have not grown tired of them. So I must naturally award the CD a full five stars; its very existence makes this middle-aged man beam with happiness.

Less well known than the other Scottish bands of the early 1980s like Orange Juice and Josef K, Fire Engines are well-worth checking out if you like rhythmic and discordant at the same time.