Punk should, of course, be raw. It shouldn’t give a fuck, about anything: the establishment, about mainstream politics, about matters of taste, about, well, as I said, anything. Especially not about making a pleasant, approachable sound.
So how does a concept album sit within the parameters of punk? Reissued on CD and for available for the first time on vinyl, Rudimentary Peni’s 1995 album, ‘Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric’ is a concept album. Legend has it the songs were written while singer / guitarist Nick Blinko was residing in a psychiatric hospital under Section 3 of the UK 1983 Mental Health Act. The story goes that the ‘concept’ centres around Blinko’s delusion that he was to assume the Papacy, and become ‘Pope Adrian 37th’.
With the words ‘Papus Adrianas’ looped throughout the entire album replicating those voices in the singer’s head, (and it’s something you can’t tune out... it comes to the fore between songs, but it’s there throughout every single second of the 44 minute running time and is enough to drive anyone potty) ‘Pope Adrian’ is a full-tilt derangement of the senses, in that it’s a relentless punk rock assault. It never lets off the pace, it’s utterly deranged and the production is non-existent.
Remastered from the original analogue tape, it sounds like it’s been copied straight from a C60 – and that’s actually in its favour. There’s nothing about this reissue that could be said to impinge on the direct impact of the original.
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But beneath the fizzing guitars that half bury the vocals (a sneering drone that out-Rottens Johnny Rotten) there are some neat hooks and brilliant strolling basslines that suggest that these guys can actually play.
It’s a gloriously chaotic recording that’s almost guaranteed to induce a headache, not least of all because of its running time it’s a long time to be exposed to such a barrage of toppy noise (and that fucking loop). But if it wasn’t ramshackle and thoroughly maddening would it be a proper punk release? Arguably not. While many fans may contend that ‘Pope Adrian’ is most definitely not RP’s definitive work, it is indisputably a brain-bludgeoningly challenging album that’s 100% unadulterated punk in both spirit and performance.
Rudimentary Peni Online
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