Title - Songs from a Haunted Ballroom
Artist - Skids
For those unaware, veteran punk rock outfit Skids have returned with a powerful new studio album that pays tribute to the bands hometown venue, the historic Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline, Scotland.
Both a live venue as well as a traditional dance club, the Kinema became a musical and cultural epicenter for the youth in Scotlands Fife province especially during the late 70s, early 80s punk rock movement.
It would also become the home venue for Skids who played numerous shows at the Kinema as both a support act for such legendary bands as The Clash as well as the headliners for multiple sold-out events.
Now, Skids take a walk down memory lane, performing songs by the bands who influenced them in those early years.
Songs from a Haunted Ballroom includes unique and superbly arranged new versions of tracks by The Clash, The Adverts, Ultravox, Sex Pistols, and Magazine PLUS new versions of their own early hits Into The Valley and The Saints Are Coming!
1. Young Savage
2. Complete Control
3. Gary Gilmores Eyes
4. Heart Of The City
5. The Light Pours Out Of Me
6. Rock On
7. Violence
8. 35mm Dreams
9. Submission
10. New York Groove
11. I Wanna Be Your Dog [CD ONLY]
12. The Saints Are Coming
13. Into The Valley
14. Christmas In Fife [CD ONLY]
This blisteringly refreshing flashback of an album opens with their first single off it, a supercharged version of Ultravoxs Young Savage and backs that up with the foot-stomping Complete Control, which they back up seamlessly with the melodic punk of Gary Gilmores Eyes, the forthright late 70s urges of Heart Of The City and the guitar punk hipsway of The Light Pours Out Of Me.
Up next is the most imaginative track on the album, a quite stunning cover of David Essexs renowned Rock On which is in turn backed by the ferocious Violence, and then we get the trilogy of 35mm Dreams, the mid-tempo Submission and the punk funk of New York Groove.
The CD only Iggy & The Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog is a right royal blinder and is followed by a reworking of their very own The Saints Are Coming and the first song of theirs that got me into them all the way back in 1979, the quite brilliant Into The Valley (albeit never sounding the same without the much-loved, much-missed Stuart Adamson on guitar; and who later formed Big Country), ending the album on the CD only, Pogues-esque festive cut, Christmas In Fife.
Skids vocalist Richard Jobson shares the unexpected influence that the stylish, distinctively British new wave band Ultravox had on Skids, saying John Foxx of Ultravox was cool, handsome and wrote poetry rather than lyrics. He made it ok for the rest of us to be a bit arty. Young Savage was a massive hit in the Kinema.
I have loved working on this album, Jobson continues, It reminded me of those early cathartic days, and of course where I came from. The place that made me what I am.
I would like to dedicate the album to all of the Punks and Ghosts from the day of The Kinema who like me had their life transformed through a love of music.
Songs from a Haunted Ballroom will be available on both CD in a deluxe 6-panel digipak and colored vinyl in a gatefold jacket as well as on digital platforms everywhere starting June 4th, 2021!
Official CD Purchase Link
Official Color Vinyl Purchase Link
www.cleorecs.com