Clever Tactics

The Sound of the Sound Volume 2
Tactics
Memorandum, 2008
3.5 stars

For those that missed Tactics the first time around - and, if this paper's demographic is accurate (mX is aimed at 18 to 35-year-olds), that should be most of us - The Sound Of The Sound Vol.2 is a great introduction to this important Aussie band. Vol.2 shows off the late-eighties phase of Tactics, with a new line-up and a new sound to that heard on Vol.1, released in 2006. The entire 1986 album Blue and White Future Whale is remastered here, with extra tracks culled from those recorded before the band evaporated in 1990. Musically, they sounds like a cross between Joseph K and early Roxy Music; angular, gothic and extremely playful. Old recordings like this are great because there's none of that modern manuafactured 'roughness' to them - they sound rough and real because they are. With all things late-eighties and early-nineties in vogue at the moment, Fuse couldn't have picked a better time for a re-release.

Artwork: B

Published in mX, Thursday March 20, 2008