Our Man in Strawberry

Blitz - Second Empire Justice

A few months back, I posted rips of the three post-punk singles from Blitz. After considerable cleaning, I have finally been able to get a decent transfer from the 1983 album, Second Empire Justice. My copy was second hand in the late eighties, and suffers from a good few marks, scratches and glue! Decent original copies fetch good money these days, as the initial run of pressings were somewhat limited. There was subsequently a 1990 US compact disc and a recent French white vinyl reissue.

The album was recorded at Stockport's iconic Strawberry Studios with in-house engineer Chris Nagle assuming production duties. Nagle cut his teeth working alongside Martin Hannett, and had already produced two albums, Harmony by The Wake, and The Plateau Phase by Crispy Ambulance.  Given the factoryesque sleeve design, any assumptions that Blitz wanted a particular Mancunian aura to the album are just that. When you listen to the record, you may likely assume the same. Nagle's production style certainly echoes that of his mentor, and whilst on The Plateau Phase he was clearly still learning his chops, Second Empire Justice is much cleaner sounding with layered atmospherics adding depth, but still with a good few delayed snares thrown in for good measure. You will notice (and probably love) how robust the bass guitar is in the mix - just imagine a cross between JJ Burnel and Peter Hook cranked up really loud. Tracks like Underground, White Man and Skin are bass hungry monsters, Acolyte and Flowers & Fire lean more to new-wave. Being a bit of a sucker for weepy melancholy, the colder waves of For You is a personal favourite, whilst Into The Daylight and Telecommunication delve into classic eighties goth-synth territory. Nice work Mr. Nagle, you helped a bunch of Peak District Punks with questionable ability turn out a pretty decent record. Readers will not be surprised to know that Blitz's own oi-punk following hated it.

Ripped from a vinyl album released on Future Records (FL 1) in 1983 to high quality lossless flac audio.

A1 Flowers & Fire
A2 Underground
A3 Acolyte
A4 Into The Daylight
A5 Telecommunication
B1 White Man
B2 For You
B3 Skin
B4 H.M.K. Grey

Image Crisis

Blitz - New Age

Ripped from a 7" vinyl single released on Future Records (FS 1) in 1983 to high quality lossless flac audio.

A. New Age

B. Fatigue

Blitz - Telecommunication

Ripped from a 7" vinyl single released on Future Records (FS 3) in 1983 to high quality lossless flac audio.

A. Telecommunication

B. Teletron

Blitz - Solar

Ripped from a 7" vinyl single released on Future Records (FS 6) in 1983 to high quality lossless flac audio.
A. Solar
B. Husk

Two misconceptions about Blitz. Firstly, it is assumed by many (including me) that they were a Manchester band, they weren't, Blitz were from New Mills in Derbyshire. Geographically, New Mills is a damn sight nearer Manchester than Derby, and in fact borders on Stockport in Cheshire. Secondly, they were an Oi! punk band. In reality, Blitz were wannabe punks with a serious identity crisis, who after feeding off the early eighties Oi! bandwagon for an audience, tried to realign their image. Oi! was mostly known for skinhead nazi leanings, but in reality the movement had been hijacked by the political far-right for its own needs and most bands like Blitz spent much of their time distancing themselves from the genre.

The teen-punk anthem New Age is a classic but probably five years too late to be revered by real punks. It dented the charts after some decent TV exposure but their sound veered off dramatically with the goth-dance of Telecommunication and the passive synth-wave single Solar. Blitz were to split soon after the release of Solar and their bass driven post-punk influenced album Second Empire Justice, which was recorded at Strawberry Studios in 1983 with Chris Nagle. Many will also note the Saville-esque influences on their sleeve artwork as they tried to abandon the oi!-punk image.