Aah it’s so good to have them back even if they haven’t really ever gone away. And in such bloody good form as well. ‘Little Sparta’ is a wondrous taster for the second album and it’s a cracker. As warm as the heights of summer and as cold and brittle as the depths of the Scottish winter, it’s a joyous song resplendent with a dark, hard centre, sweet melodies and angelic voices delivering a bittersweet song of loss, brutality and redemption. From the opening bass drum to the melodic New Order bass motif through to the raucous driven ending I adore this song. Saint Jude’s Infirmary really excel at songs of contrast and texture, not pulling their punches but wrapping their fists in velvet first before knocking you into the middle of next week. The stark rhythms are offset by some lovely guitar and strings while the vocals swoop and soar throughout ‘Little Sparta’s tale of love and obsession in a cold, hard climate.
‘P.S. Scotland’ is a rougher beast. While the Saint Jude’s of ‘Little Sparta’ may come around your house with gifts and charm you while imparting a few home truths the little devils on the flipside will put their muddy feet on the furniture, drink your beer, steal your records and still charm you. It’s no less wonderful for being a bit rough around the edges number driven by a primitive ramshackle rhythmic base, buzzsaw guitar and a manic street preacher railing at the fading of the socialist dream and the mundane betrayals and betrayals of everyday life.. It’s the Velvets via a Fife mining town, inventive, scuzzy and educational, name checking Jocky Wilson, Arthur Scargill and containing some of my favourite lyrics of recent times. In the end it’s a toss-up between the hilarious declamations of the “Jocky Wilson said” line and these equally hilarious and biting tender lines that I love so much:
When Margaret Thatcher dies
We will raise a tin of Tennants
Up on Arthur’s Seat.
Sheer class. The male voice sounds sardonic, beaten but not bowed. There’s also some fiery distortion and the most brutal of rhythms holding it altogether to excellent effect. A sublime rather brilliant single. Saint Jude may be the patron saint of lost causes but this group are on the side of the angels.