Stiff Little Fingers - Hope Street [Expanded Re-issue]

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Stiff Little Fingers - Hope Street [Expanded Re-issue]

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Finally, SLF makes an LP that gets them back to the territory they were reaching for when they broke up in 1982. Since coming back in 1987, Jake Burns has attempted to straddle the original, incredible punk LP(s) that made the band an underground favorite, with the less popular power pop they left off with. The results were mixed, so finally he's picked up that 1982 thread, from their delicious, under appreciated Now Then… LP and half of the previous year's Go for It. Thus, Hope Street is more jaunty, heavy guitar pop with echoes of fun songs such as "Silver Lining" in the title track here, "Bits of Kids" in "Tantalize," "Is That What You Fought the War For" in "What Does It Take?," and so on. (And the horn-laden ska song "Last Train From the Wasteland" recalls their wonderful 1980 cover of the Specials.) In so doing, Burns finally makes the best use of ex-Jam bassist Bruce Foxton, who was born to play this sort of more-post-punk, more ambitious stuff, rather than any straight punk. As well, the production is the best the group has enjoyed since Now Then…, having signed to EMI, which also suggests that their last few LPs were too cheaply recorded to really compete with their older legacy. A surprisingly great pop record. But will anyone check it out? Perhaps to insure that people in England will, Burns quite cunningly selects his favorite 13 songs from the original four LPs, 1979-1982, to form a bonus disc here called "And Best of All…," complete with his liner note remembrances. Let's hope it works, because Hope Street is what really counts here – unless, of course, you've never heard "Suspect Device," "Alternative Ulster," "Tin Soldiers," and so on, in which case, have we got a double LP for you, sonnyboy (or sunnygirl)! –-Jack Rabid, AMG

HOPE STREET, the 1999 release from Stiff Little Fingers, contains two exclusive interview tracks.

EMI was really playing with fire here, coupling HOPE STREET, the re-formed Stiff Little Fingers' 1999 album, with a dozen remastered numbers from the original band's heyday across a two disc set. But, oddly, it works. Does the newer material hold a candle to these many punk masterpieces? Not always, but SLF weren't trying to re-create the past, having long ago moved on. Much of HOPE STREET is washed in R&B, an influence their initial spit and snarl easily overwhelmed, but now it's allowed to come to the forefront, most spectacularly on the group's Stax-ified cover of Jimmy Cliff's "You Can Get it If You Really Want," but also on their own, more funky "No Faith." From the Stones-esque R&B of "Be Seeing You" to the pubby glam rock R&B of the anthemic "All the Rest," the band's musical horizons have widened wonderfully. Still, the title track is a sharp reminder that SLF haven't lost their original punk edge, while "Half a Life Away," a heartfelt rail against injustice, drives home the fact that they haven't lost their political or social conscience either. –-Unknown reviewer