48 Chairs
70 % Paranoid

LA RECENSIONE

art punk, minimal wave, post punk, punk-jazz

"One of Manchester's best-kept secrets"; thus critics and collectors on 70% Paranoid, the only offspring of the mysterious 48 Chairs whose only credited member is John Scott, who previously played with Gerry and the Holograms and many years later became guitarist, mandolinist, and backing vocalist for Van Morrison.
Released in 1983 by Relentless Records (not to be confused with the namesake English label founded in 1999), it is one of the most underrated and unknown albums of British post-punk, strictly DIY, independent, and anti-genre.

We said "post-punk" to make things easier, but we are in no man's land. And perhaps "the secret" mentioned at the beginning lies in this. What exactly the 48 Chairs played (were they really a band or a creation of Scott alone? Another open question!) is indeed not easy to say, but what matters is that they did it excellently and that they resembled no one. A pity there was no follow-up, who knows why. Perhaps because such a project would not have had hordes of followers (which indeed did not happen) or maybe because perfectly made things happen only once.
In the absence of other material under the name 48 Chairs, in any case, I am more than satisfied with these 36 minutes that take me somewhere, but I'm not sure where. However, it's a nice place!

It starts with "Snap It Around", which received appreciation even from a certain Frank Zappa (in its original version, from 1979). Probably the most punk track of the bunch, featuring a female voice of unknown origin. The drum is actually a synth, the keyboards hint at pop, the guitar weaves a captivating riff. From the start, we realize we are about to hear something slightly unconventional, as well as very good.
The next track "Samouri Swords", the title perhaps wanting to take us back to feudal Japan, actually seems to ship us to Scotland, thanks to military drums and a sax that at times almost sounds like a bagpipe. "Camaracadabra" is an excellently crafted theatre of the absurd: typically post-punk impersonal voice, hypnotic keyboard and guitar, a sax in convulsions, suddenly an accordion, and then a noise that seems to come from a camera. A very well-organized frenzy, far from bewildering. "Rhino Whip", "rhinoceros whip", is a festive tribal dance. Suddenly, here we are in Africa. Explosive horns, an uncontainable bass. Then it's time for "Relentless", obsessive and almost distressing. A pounding drum machine. Quite a lot of no-wave. After the danceable "You where never there", here come the diabolical laughter and noise of "Psycle Sluts", a cover of a song by John Cooper Clarke. "Discolero" is a disco track from the Cold War-era Russia, "Too nice for Nigel" moves over dissonant chords with a vaguely jazz-like touch. The circle is not squared, but it doesn't matter.

A secret that should be blurted out!