Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls in Bloomington, MN

When original 1977 Manchester
punk
band
Penetration
split up in 1979, singer
Pauline Murray
immediately went solo, taking bassist/boyfriend
Robert Blamire
with her and putting together a "dream team" backing group hard to beat.
The Invisible Girls
include the LP's legendary producer,
Martin Hannett
(who gives this 1980 LP his trademark
Joy Division
/first
New Order
LP sound; boy has that dated well), as well as
Buzzcocks
drummer extraordinaire
John Maher
(
covered
' "Nostalgia" on their first LP,
Moving Targets
) and guest appearances from
Durruti Column
's
Vini Reilly
, the then unknown
Wayne Hussey
, and
Bernard Sumner
. With this kind of unbelievable talent as support,
Murray
flourishes. The second and final
LP,
Coming Up for Air
, had already posited her as a
post-punk
star, mining ground similar to the later
Skids
, or a less primitive, more tuneful early
Banshees
. Here, with
Hannett
's far-away, odd sound leading the way, she makes a more subconscious, skillful
pop
album, full of dark touches, such as discordant piano, flanged basslines,
Maher
's insistent beat, and strange little background guitar parts. The material is all excellent, especially the knockout opener "Screaming in the Darkness" and the
Magazine
-like single "Mr. X." This was one of the most inspired and unique solo LPs the
generation produced. [
Les Disques du Crepuscule
's remastered and expanded edition, released in 2014, added nonalbum tracks, a
Peel
Session, and live recordings.] ~ Jack Rabid