The Advert's 'Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts'- The Press Reaction

It's no secret, I love The Adverts. Use the search facility on this site and you will find quite a bit of stuff on one of the most important bands of the first wave of UK punk.

Once again looking through some old misic press I saw and reread the NME review of the band's debut album, the snappily entitled  'Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts', a name born out of a comment made by NME's Jane Suck, words to the effect that for The Adverts to make an album would be a task comparable to 'crossing the Red Sea'. Such a journey was said in the Old Testament to have taken place when Moses lead the tribes of Israel through the parted waved of the Red Sea in order to deliver them from Egyptian bondage.... it short very hard work!

In his NME review, Charles Shaar Murray spent most of his review bemoaning the fact that in his opinion, from a perspective of musical ability, The Adverts were an unworthy vehicle for songwriter T.V. Smith's powerfully sophisticated lyrics. Murray contends that whilst their contemporaries had moved on in leaps and bounds in terms of musical virtuosity (excluding The Stranglers, The Damned and The Jam, who he states could play from the outset), The Adverts, despite a year of full on gigging were still no masters of their instruments. I would counter-contend that i) as I listen to the album as I type this, musically it sounds fine to me. OK, Gaye's bass may sound a bit plonky if you are looking hard for critisism and the drums are a little 'crash, band, wallop', but ii) this is exactly what I would expect from a rhythm section looking to deliver this material. It's all about underpinning the exitement of the moment of experiencing The Adverts and carrying the urgency and rage involved in Tim's lyrics and his delivery of them.

Record Mirror's Rosalind Russel was on thin ice before she even put pen to paper! She may have a point regarding the wisdom of putting four tracks (of an eleven track LP) that had already been available in single form. She comments that whilst as songs they have a natural home on the 'Red Sea' album 'They should be past the stage of doing this "introduction to The Adverts" stuff and heading towards the future. But hang on a minutes Rosalind, this is a debut album which is by definition something of an introduction to a band. No?

The 'thin ice' referrence relates to a less than favourable review from the same journalist that appeared in Record Mirror's issue of 28th January 1978.

The review provoked a robust response from the band's 'fumbling bass player' who basically offered the unfortunate reviewer out. Record Mirror's editor, Alf Martin, ever with an eye for an angle on a story arranged a photo session for Gaye and Ros, involving an enactment of the threatened retribution with boxing gloves. 

Apparently no teeth were lost in the encounter!

So here then are the two reviews that I have. What's your opinion on the album?

New Musical Express 25th February 1978

Record Mirror 4th February 1978

Postscript:

I posted a couple of weeks ago that T.V. Smith is taking an Adverts' set to the Americas later this year when he provides tour support for The Damned once again. Back in 2021, Steve Lamacq featured the 'Crossing the Red Sea' album on his BBC 6 Music show. In this programme, Tim provides his perspective of the album in a 2015 interview, some 37 years after its release. The show can be found here.