Best known for their classic 1988 album Birth. Work. School. Death., what a lot of folk don’t realise is that the wildly underrated band The Godfathers have released a steady flow of impressive records since then. They had an 18-year hiatus in terms of recording after 1995’s Afterlife, but returned with a vengeance in 2013, releasing the gnarly, primal Jukebox Fury, followed by 2017’s A Big Bad Beautiful Noise and 2022’s Alpha Beta Gammon Delta. This new release is entitled Déjà Vu because it comprises what the band perceive to be the best tracks from those three albums. It proves beyond doubt that The Godfathers have absolutely still got it.
It’s not perfect by any means, though, especially on the tracks taken from that 2013 comeback, which is, by and large, a faithful nod to the authentic British punk music of the 1970s. For example, ‘OCD‘, as thrilling as it is, does also rather remind me of the Not The Nine O’clock News spoof of the genre, ‘Gob On You‘, and ‘Primitive Man‘, which I imagine would be a lot of fun, and exciting, in a live environment, I can’t quite get past the truly appalling lyrics: “Now this Alpha male meat eater / he ain’t no book reader / with a club in his hand / he’s a primitive man“, which is simply cringeworthy, though I do enjoy the rest of the song, especially when it goes a bit T. Rex with its backing vocals.
OK, so, minor quibbles out of the way, there’s some outstanding stuff on these three records, though as you’ve probably gathered, I am personally more a fan of the most recent two releases. Quite a bit of it sounds like The Stranglers, which only makes it more appealing, such as the brilliant ‘Midnight Rider‘, which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the latter band’s superb 2021 album Dark Matters. Other highlights include the defiant, jubilant ‘Till My Heart Stops Beating’ and the more modern sounding ‘I Hate The 21st Century‘, with more of a Libertines style production and feel about it. And ‘I’m Not Your Slave‘ is just sublime, a brooding, heavy guitar backing with the pop sensibilities of Primal Scream‘s 1994 hit ‘Rocks‘. It’s an exhilarating track and a great way to end the compilation.
‘You Don’t Love Me‘ might be my personal favourite track on this set, however, Peter Coyne‘s delightfully dour (“I’m trying all the time / to get you off my mind“) vocals going full-on Jean-Jacques Burnel here, over some spirited, breathtaking guitar playing from the late, great Brian James (of The Damned fame).
If you haven’t been keeping up to date with these fine recent album releases from The Godfathers, Déjà Vu is a perfect way to dip your toes in the water. Fantastic stuff.
Déjà Vu is out now on Cargo Records.
