Talk about an odd bunch: The Brainiac 5 are some middle-aged dudes (as you might expect for a band who started out back in the 70s), a rag-tag collective of eccentrics and rockers, and the band pic shows them posing on / in front of Lanyon Quoit. The album cover features a gory-looking depiction of a humanoid alien with its head exploding, and houses tunes that incorporate elements of funk, reggae and jazz in their quintessentially English post-punk pub rock.
At times there’s a keen punk vibe - opener ‘Haphazard!’ has and calls to mind The Adverts, and there are liberal sax licks reminiscent of The Psychedelic Furs in their early years.
It’s not as far out or revolutionary as the band’s name, history, or connections may suggest – it’s been mixed by their longtime engineer, Hawkwind’s Martin Griffin – but it’s solid enough, at times pretty zany, especially in the lyrical department. It also features some interesting guest vocal appearances from writers living and dead, notably founder member and renowned Cornish poet Bert Biscoe, as well as GI Gurdjieff and Gertrude Stein. And that’s not something you get every day.
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The Brainiac 5 Online
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