''Tumult'' is the third album by Dutch
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
punk rock band
The Ex, originally released in 1983. It was produced by
Jon Langford
Jonathan Denis Langford (born 11 October 1957) is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Langford is a founder member of the punk band The Mekons, the post-punk group The Three Johns, and the alternative country ...
of
The Mekons
The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands.
The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...
and Dolf Planteijdt (credited as "Dolf Anonymusfortaxreasons" in the album's credits).
Background
Right after recording their ''
Dignity of Labour
The dignity of labour is the philosophy that all types of jobs are respected equally, and no occupation is considered superior and none of the jobs should be discriminated on any basis. Regardless of whether one's occupation involves physical wor ...
'' box set, The Ex returned to Koeienverhuur "Cow Rental" Studio to record the 13 songs for ''Tumult'' in January 1983. The Ex's perennial recordist Dolf Planteijdt, co-produced the album with
Jon Langford
Jonathan Denis Langford (born 11 October 1957) is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Langford is a founder member of the punk band The Mekons, the post-punk group The Three Johns, and the alternative country ...
of British bands
The Mekons
The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands.
The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...
and
The Three Johns
The Three Johns were an English post-punk/indie rock band formed in 1981 in Leeds, England, originally consisting of guitarist Jon Langford (co-founder of the Mekons), vocalist John Hyatt and bassist Phillip "John" Brennan, augmented by a dru ...
, who was also recording the Dutch group Eton Crop in Dolf's studio.
The album saw release in April, one month after the band's previous release, and featured a gatefold sleeve along with a full-size poster in its original pressing.
The cover's stark red-white-and-black painting depicts a prisoner bending cell bars to break free,
The album's insert bore the phrase, The record's poster announces "hometaping is killing record companies...and it's about time."
this time adapted from Roode Hulp (“Red Help”) poster drawing attention to
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s needing aid.
The album was first issued on CD, along with The Ex's entire back catalog, in 1993, and then as a digital download on Bandcamp in the 2010s.
Reception
Stewart Mason's review of the album for ''
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
'' was quite positive, writing that the band "are something of a rarity in political rock circles, in that their albums are at least as musically interesting as they are lyrically pungent." He praised Jon Langford's production, who "gives the band a slightly more structured sound, which turns out to be to their advantage; in so doing, Langford minimizes the group's obvious points of comparison (singer G.W. Sok sounds more than a little like
the Fall's
Mark E. Smith
Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...
) and makes them sound more like their own band." The opening track "Bouquet of Barbed Wire", picked as a highlight from the album, was described as "build
ngslowly from a hypnotic guitar riff, adding instruments one at a time before exploding into an intense
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
roar". The "declamatory" "Squat!" was picked as another "musical and sociological high point" while the closing track "Island Race" "ends with an
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
clanging that predates the early records by
Test Department
Test Dept, sometimes credited as Test Department is a British industrial music group from London, England, that was one of the most important and influential early industrial music acts. Their approach was marked by the use of "found" materia ...
and
Einsturzende Neubauten."
[ An unattributed review on The Ex's official website describes the album as the " sic of malcontents, rebellion and impotent rage about everything that is wrong in this world ..But they're quite aware themselves, too, that reality is not always black and white ..What they lack in pure originality, gets compensated by their passion and devotion. In a time during which many of their contemporaries have switched their brain off, the primeval music of The Ex sounds really beneficial."][
]
Track listing
#"Bouquet of Barbed Wire" - 6:58
#"Fear" - 2:17
#"Hunt the Hunters" - 3:34
#"Survival of the Fattest" - 5:18
#"Red Muzak" - 2:44
#"Happy Thoughts" - 5:33
#"The Well-Known Soldier" - 2:22
#"Black and White Statements" - 4:39
#"Squat!" - 2:25
#"Same Old News" - 2:08
#"F.U.N.E.I.D.Y." - 5:23
#"O.S.L. (New Schvienhunt League)" - 2:42
#"Island Race" - 7:17
Personnel & Credits
Adapted from Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...
:
*Bass – Bas
*Drums – Sabien
*Guitar – Terrie
*"Lacquer
Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity.
Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...
Cut"– Porky
*Recording – Dolf Anonymousfortaxreasons, Jon Langford
Jonathan Denis Langford (born 11 October 1957) is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Langford is a founder member of the punk band The Mekons, the post-punk group The Three Johns, and the alternative country ...
*Vocals – Cobie, GW Sok
*Writing – The Ex
Notes
* Cogan, Brian. ''Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture.'' Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006. p. 70. .
* Mount, Heather. "Three Looks into The Ex". In Crane, Larry. Tape Op: The Book About Creative Music Recording, Volume 2. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2010. pp. 230–233.
* Robbins, Ira A., ed. ''The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock: The all-new 5th edition of The Trouser Press Record Guide.'' New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. .
* Sok, G.W. ''A Mix of Bricks & Valentines: Lyrics 1979–2009.'' New York: PM Press, 2011.
* Temporary Services. ''Group Work.'' New York: Printed Matter, March 2007.
References
{{Authority control
The Ex (band) albums
1983 albums