Go 2 (1978)

Go 2 (1978)

Let’s chalk this one up to youthful folly. After bursting forth into the UK indie scene with the wiry and delightfully off-kilter White Music, the band (at this point a quartet with Partridge, Moulding, Chambers, and keyboardist Barry Andrews) attempted to maintain the momentum of the first LP and their hectic touring schedule to incredibly mixed results. Or, as Partridge put it in the notes for the 1991 CD issue of this album, “Four weeks worth of songs, hastily scribbled on hotel notepaper and beermats. We were living out of carrier bags and in rental vans, making nasty noises at each other and with each other. Something had to give and here it is.”

The tension within the band at that time, with the dueling egos of Partridge and Andrews wrestling over the steering wheel, is all over Go 2. The work of both songwriters on here seems strained. Occasionally that yielded some interesting results: the withdrawal itch attack of “Red” (a song that features none of Andrews’ signature circus tent synth) is marvelous, and “Battery Brides” is as brooding and creepy as the band ever got. The rest, though, are just knuckleheaded efforts that never really coalesce, a sentiment that goes double for Andrews’ two contributions, “Super-Tuff” and “My Weapon.”

This ended up being the ideal situation for Moulding. By avoiding the slings and arrows being hurled at each other by his bandmates, he was able to knuckle down and contribute some gems here. The three tracks stacked up in the middle of side one of the original vinyl/cassette release find that perfect meeting place between the group’s interest in hopped up ska, garage-born punk, and their still blossoming pop chops. Sadly, his fourth effort, the album-closing “I Am The Audience,” offers up a great opening burst of firecracker guitar and organ work but resorts to a plodding groove for the rest of its three-and-a-half minutes.

The raw numbers here offer up the potential solution that trimming the conceptual fat and adding on the brilliant non-album single “Are You Receiving Me?” could have solved this album’s issues. But even without the messier bits, the good stuff doesn’t mesh together well. It sounds like the product of a band that stopped listening to one another, both musically and personally. “Buzzcity Talking” is too large of a sonic leap to follow “Battery Brides,” as is the back-to-back “The Rhythm” and “Red.” And it only makes the discordant sounds and personalities of the real duds (“Meccanik Dancing (Oh We Go!)” and “Life Is Good In The Greenhouse”) glare out even louder.