Maximum Joy - Station M.X.J.Y
Firstly I find it quite incredible that this album has never ever been re-pressed or reissued since its original release in 1982. There was a limited CD version restricted to the Japanese market (a bootleg perhaps?) a few years back but nothing since. A German label attempted a singles compilation recently with the promise of
Station M.X.J.Y to follow, but this never happened.
I put
Station M.X.J.Y. up there with A Certain Ratio's
Sextet at the pinnacles of British indie-funk. Where
Sextet is a post-industrial soundtrack to the dark alleys and dirty canals of early eighties Manchester,
Station M.X.J.Y celebrates the multicultural influences and diversity of a post-colonial Bristol. Like
Sextet there is a balance of instrumental mood pieces like
Where's Deke? where the sounds of the Bristol streets mingle to an uptempo jazz beat,
Temple Bomb Twist could well be an ACR track, save for the sax and west country chants of "
tie me up later".Vocal tracks such as
Mouse An' Me is a dubby dreamy joy, clearly emphasised by the hands of Adrian Sherwood on the desk, who also gets to mix-up
In The Air into the album version,
Let It Take You There.
Do It Today and
Searching For A Feeling are pure classic disco funk. The album ends with a blend of everything in the aptly titled six minute jam that is
All Wrapped Up!
Ripped from a vinyl album released on Y Records (Y 28) in 1982 to high resolution 24bit FLAC audio.
A1. Dancing On My Boomerang
A2. Do It Today
A3. Let It Take You There
A4. Searching For A Feeling
B1. Where's Deke?
B2. Temple Bomb Twist
B3. Mouse An' Me
B4. All Wrapped Up!
