<p><span><span>- One of the biggest challenges in putting this review together was choosing the song to be aired with the broadcast version. Despite its reputation as an austere post-punk album, this reissue of <em>Colossal Youth</em>, the classic first and only album to be released by Welsh band <strong>Young Marble Giants</strong>, is chock full of great tunes. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Originally released in February 1980, this record's impact cannot be overstated. Its influence can be clearly heard in later indie titans like <strong>Belle And Sebastian</strong>, <strong>Yo La Tengo</strong> and <strong>Galaxie 500</strong>, but Young Marble Giants also happened to be <strong>Kurt Cobain’s</strong> favourite band: their minimalist, cleanly melodic songs clearly making an impact on the <strong>Nirvana</strong> frontman, who frequently found himself inspired by music far removed from the usual punk and proto-grunge you would expect. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>For most of their career, the group comprised solely of vocalist <strong>Alison Statton</strong> and brothers <strong>Philip</strong> and <strong>Stuart Moxham</strong> on bass and guitar/organ respectively. Backed with drum machine patterns that were primitive even by early '80’s standards, Statton would sing the songs in a pure, melodic and unforced manner, which countless indie singers have since imitated. Meanwhile, Philip would play simple but very melodic bass lines underneath while Stuart filled the arrangements with ice-rink organ and slashes of guitar that were reminiscent of punk and power pop. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Quintessential Young Marble Giants could be summed up in tracks like pulsing opener <em>Searching For Mr Right</em>, the proto-<strong>Broadcast</strong> transmissions of the title track and the eerie little earworm <em>Wurlitzer Jukebox</em>. Cobain’s love of the band is not that surprising when you consider the pacey <em>Credit In The Strange World</em> and <em>Include Me Out</em>, punk songs in every conceivable way, except in actual execution – Nirvana could have done devastatingly good versions of either.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This fortieth anniversary edition of the album also includes four demos from their <em>Salad Days</em> compilation and their first ever appearance on record (<em>Ode To Booker T</em>, from the 1979 compilation <em>Is The War Over?</em>). The reissue is generously filled out by the <em>Final Day</em> single and B-sides, the mostly instrumental <em>Testcard</em> EP and, most curiously, a DVD of their final live performance in New York in November 1980. The band would reconvene for live shows from time to time in the 2000s and 2010s, but their most important legacy remains their extraordinary debut album with its sparse, lo-fi arrangements and crystal clear melodies. This expansive reissue is a superb reminder on just how timeless Young Marble Giants have always sounded.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Matt Thrower.</span></span></p>