Deep breath, PLAY DEAD release a career-spanning 5x CD box set with 79 tracks.  Between 1980 and 1985, the band were one of the leading post-punk bands in the UK underground with regular indie chart hits and a loyal live following, thanks to people like John Peel, who recorded several sessions and plenty of live shows with the likes of UK Decay, Sex Gang Children, Killing Joke and The Cult, to name a few. They headlined UK and EU tours in their own right, and I first became aware of them via a spot on The Tube. 

Included in this extensive release is a very nice 36-page booklet with notes by Adi Vines & unseen photos, joining these five albums in the box ‘The First Flower’, ‘From the Promised Land’, ‘John Peel Sessions’, ‘Into the Fire‘ and ‘Company of Justice’, expanded with extra singles, remixes & related tracks, so fans of the band looking to complete the circle, this is your chance, and for people who might have been too young or just missed them for whatever reason (we’re talking pre-internet here, kids)

Clearly a real labour of love, the recordings have been tracked down from various labels. The band issued a series of singles and three studio albums: ‘The First Flower’, ‘From the Promised Land’ and ‘Company of Justice’, joining them are the three John Peel Sessions and the live album Into the Fire (now extended and remixed) and if that wasn’t enough, numerous singles, remixes, obscurities, etc. – and all remastered. So when it says complete works, be happy in the knowledge that it is absolutely complete.

These recordings were originally released on Jungle, Clay and Beggars Banquet, so if you have no idea what they sound like, then there’s more than a clue in those labels: they’re mixing post-punk with a dash of metal and then, of course, hitching their wagon to the tribal scene with some obvious Goth tones. When they toured with Sex Gang Children and Killing Joke, it’s easy to see how when you dig into the albums and sessions. With Joy Division also as an influence, Play Dead had plenty going on for widespread fame, and here it is all these years later in one neat box for your listening pleasure. So paint your nails black, practice your chicken dancing and turn up songs like ‘Walk Away’ from their second album or ‘Effigy’ from the Peel Sessions in its Goth-tastic majesty, brings back some fantastic memories and will be the perfect companion on the long drive to Whitby for Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival. How cool would it be for this to also have been pressed on vinyl? Maybe next time, eh? Buy it!

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Author: Dom Daley