Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Josef K - The Only Fun In Town (1981)


Josef K were a short-lived Scottish post-punk outfit named after the main character from Franz Kafka's The Trial. Their entire recorded output was a scant 22 songs in a 3-year period; but their influence has been showing up everywhere lately, especially in the work of bands like Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party (think jagged post-punk guitars over funky bass lines and dance-able drum beats).

Chief songwriter, singer and guitarist Paul Haig broke the band up after what he felt was repeated slights from both the critics and record-buying public (resentful for having never really "made it" outside of Glasgow), he and guitarist Malcolm Ross, bassist David Weddell and drummer Ronnie Torrance all went their separate ways; their official releases would tally five singles and one album.

I'm thinking this record here is a pretty good place to start with Josef K, there's also the 2006 compilation Entomology that has all 22 tracks of theirs, but this record The Only Fun In Town is a more cohesive statement.


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