Reverse - Behind These Walls LP - Mustardy Brown Vinyl

Boss Tuneage (2023)

Normally, I don't post any reviews the week of Thanksgiving as I typically take off from work that week and try to relax a bit.  But, since I have missed so many posts over the last few weeks, I'm going to try to power through and get some up this week as well.  It's especially important to try to do this for me as I've gotten in a sudden deluge of new records and want to make sure I've gotten to everything so that I can put together my end of the year list.

That brings us to Reverse and their new album Behind These Walls.  If you want to talk about an album that is guaranteed a top spot on my year end list, this would be one of the first albums I'd be talking about.  Reverse was originally active in the 90s UK punk scene and they put out a string of four 7"s that completely blew my mind at the time.  They disbanded without having put out a full length and most times, that would probably be that.

Fate intervened and the band started to release their 7" tracks and other unreleased goodies on SP records from Japan in the form of two CDs.  Then a new 7" followed and that all led to the band putting out their first proper full length a few years ago, Empty Spaces.  What a record that was.  Somehow, I think Behind These Walls is even better.  If anything the songs feel even closer to the magic the band captured on those early 7"s and I haver been listening to this record non-stop since it arrived.

I feel like I may have said something like this about Reverse before, but Behind These Walls sounds ripped straight out of the 90s.  Not that it's a 90s bands with new tunes that sort of sound like the music of yore.  If you told me that the band actually recorded these songs in 1995 and they were just releasing it now, I would one hundred percent believe you.   And this is not some backhanded compliment insinuating that the songs sound old, they sound fresh and vibrant and exciting in a way that so few bands are able to put together these days.  The album has that glorious feeling that so many of my most favorite albums of the 90s had.  It's a palpable energy that is so difficult for me to describe, but it's there and I feel it in my bones when the record is spinning.

Anyone that is into the mid 90s UK punk scene really needs to give Reverse a listen.  They can stand shoulder to shoulder with groups like Broccoli and Hooton 3 Car, that next batch of bands that were following in the footsteps of Snuff, Leatherface, Senseless Things and Mega City Four.  It's so great that a record like this can exist in 2023 and I hope that the boys in Reverse keep this going for many, many more years.

Reverse - Behind These Walls:
https://bosstuneagerecords.bandcamp.com/album/behind-these-walls

Reverse - Bloody Mary and Grant Hart 7"

SP Records (2019)

This 7" was meant to be a precursor to the excellent Reverse full length album Empty Spaces.  Of course, I am now writing about it ages after the full length actually came out.  This record was in a pile of Japanese releases that Kazu kept aside for me for a period of time that was way longer than reasonable.  I am forever grateful that he helps me acquire the Japanese records I need and am even more thankful that he lets them accumulate at his place waiting for me to finally say 'ship them.'  A total class act.

On to this 7".  Reverse has been a long time favorite band of mine and the fact that they are active again (or as close to active as a band can get these days) is such cause for celebration.  The A side is "Bloody Mary and Grant Hart," which is the closing track on the Empty Spaces LP.  It's a fantastic song that I can completely understand why it was chosen as a single from the album.  It has those wonderfully rugged guitar riffs combine with the melodic, but somewhat gravely vocals I always associate with Reverse.

On the B side is a song that isn't on the album, "You're the Poison."  This one is a straight ahead rocker, blasting forth with a fast paced verse that erupts into a super catchy, singalong chorus.  Ah Reverse is one of the most under-appreciated bands out there.  Everything they put out is tremendous and the fact that the artwork on this 7" matches up to their three earlier 7"s they released in the 90s just makes me smile.

Reverse - Bloody Mary and Grant Hart 7":
https://sprecords.bandcamp.com/album/bloody-mary-grant-hart

Reverse - Empty Spaces LP - Blue Vinyl

Boss Tuneage (2020)

Even just a few years ago, if you had told me that in 2020 one of the best albums of the year would have been put out by Reverse, I don't think I could have possibly believed you.  It's not that I would have any doubt that they would be capable of writing one of the best records, I would have just been in shock that it actually happened.

Back in the 90s, Reverse released three 7"s and a split 7" with Exit Condition.  These songs along with the one from the Best Punk Rock In England comp were some of my very favorite of the era.  To this day I will put the song "Stagnant" up against anything that came out of that mid 90s UK scene.  It's one of the best of the best.  We never even got a full length Reverse album back then and the band was (at least to me being in America) somewhat mysterious. They cranked of four perfect singles and then vanished.

Now, luckily there has been action from the Reverse camp in the intervening years.  I took possession of one of their demo tapes that had songs that weren't on the singles (more on that later) and their singles were compiled on to the Glance Sideways CD along with some extra tracks by SP records in Japan.  A few years later came Chasing Ghosts, with more unreleased Reverse songs.  I may be mistaken here, but my impression was always that those were older songs and wasn't a proper new full length.  That said, it was incredible and I was happy to have more music by such a great band.  They also put out a new 7" last year.  I don't have that yet as it is sitting in a pile of records put aside for me by a friend in Japan that I haven't been able to get from him yet.  Pandemic and other issues being a key driver of that...

But now, somehow, miraculously, Reverse has a full length album of new songs in the year 2020.  This has been a shitty fucked up year, but Reverse putting out a new album takes just a a fraction of the sting away.  It sounds like it could have been released the week after their last 7" in the 90s.  A perfect blend of melody and punk rock.  This is such a quintessentially sounding UK punk record and I cannot get enough of it.  That scene with Snuff, Leatherface, Broccoli, Hooton 3 Car, Mega City Four, Chopper, Skimmer, Crocodile God, Donfisher and more was my favorite time and place in all of recorded music and this record is every bit as good as anything that came out back then.

The thing about Reverse that gets my more than anything is their complete and total mastery of the chorus.  This has always been the case.  You're listening to one of their songs and the verse is good to great and then they get to the chorus and the song blows your fucking mind.  That happens over and over and over on this record.  From opener "Empty Spaces" to "Opinions" to "Fire Flies" I am never not amazed when that chorus comes blasting in.

Another cool thing is to hear a newly recorded version of a song called "Missuser." Remember that demo tape I mentioned?  This was one of the songs on it that didn't also end up on the Glance Sideways comp.  It was really cool to hear it again in the context of a full album and it fits in perfectly.

Here I go writing way more than I expected to once again, but if you can't tell, when I get really excited about a record I tend to go on and on and on.  Well, I love this record.  It is one of the best two or three albums I have heard all year and the fact that it exists just makes the world a better place in my opinion.  Thank you Reverse, please make more records.

Reverse - Empty Spaces (Only the first two songs are streaming on Bandcamp):
https://bosstuneagerecords.bandcamp.com/album/empty-spaces

Reverse - Chasing Ghosts CD

SP Records (2011)

I couldn't possibly explain why it took so long for me to finally buy this CD.  I love Reverse.  They had a string of 7"s that came out on Damaged Goods in the mid 90's that are among my favorite 7"s in my collection.  Not quite as remembered as some of the other titans of the UK scene of the time, this Stoke-on-Trent band was one that I've always wanted to hear more from.  I vividly remember trying to convince Dave, the trombone player from Snuff, to give me the Reverse shirt he had when Snuff toured America one time.  He wouldn't part with it (though he did end up giving me a really excellent Letherface 'Mackem Bastards' shirt, so nothing but good feelings towards Dave).

A little bit prior to this CD, SP records had released a CD of Reverse singles as well as some previously unheard songs they had amassed. The fact that they had another seventeen songs hanging around after that release kind of boggles my mind.  Why didn't any of these come out back then?  I will say this, while there are some truly fantastic songs on this record, they don't quite live up to my favorite songs from the 7"s.  I'm sure that has a lot to do with the fact that I've been listening to the 7" ones for about twenty years while I haven't lived with the songs on this CD for anywhere near as long.  

Still, there's something about songs like "Denial," when the band is just tearing through their chorus with tons of vocal harmonies and energy to spare.  Some of the slower songs on this CD don't grab me the same way, but Reverse still has a way of drawing me in with their gravely vocals and unabashed pop hooks.  I can't really explain why they've been lost to history, but both this CD and the singles comp, Glance Sideways, are overlooked gems that deserve more attention than they get.

Reverse - Chasing Ghosts (4 songs sampler):

https://sprecords.bandcamp.com/album/chasing-ghosts