Ruts DC Warehouse Liverpool 18th August 1982 (20 from '82 (1))

 

Genuinely exited about this one! So, here's how it increasingly tends to work on the Aural Sculptors site. I have quite a large collection of old music press which I will dip into occasionally of an evening. One thing I am inclined to do at such times is turn to the gig listings page and run my eye over the list that corresponds to whichever day of the week it is. Upon scanning the list I will decide which gig I would have gone to. Very nerdy behaviour I know, but I will stake money on it that I am not the only person that has done this! Other times, I will spot a gig ad, an album promo or a live review and then with that as a start I will try to pull a bit of  comtemporary story together, gig ad + review + recording (if I really am on a winning streak). You get the idea then.

Earlier this week I was engaged in this nerdy pursuit when the Ruts DC 'Superman' logo caught my eye (see below). This was in an ad for the band's 'Rhythm Collision Volume 1' album, their first foray into the world of dub reggae. Scouting around I located the album review.... good going so far. A recording would complete the picture, but the Ruts DC live fossil record for 1982 is very incomplete. In fact as of yesterday I had nothing bar a couple of 'RC1' demo tracks. I did check on a friend's list and lo and behold one of the gigs listed was none other than one of the handful of gigs from August 1982 that feature in the album/tour advert below.

Support on the night were a little known Liverpool group who went by the name of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

I have it on good authority (Andy Peart) that this gig was very close to the band's demise, the gig at the Sea Cadet Hall in Cambridge, four days after Liverpool, was to be their last.

New Musical Express (7th August 1982)

The gig is from the Warehouse in Liverpool and it sounds pretty good! Of course the boys were compelled to play some if not all of the big numbers from the Ruts back catalogue and material from the previous year's 'Animal Now' but this is the biggest collection of live 'Rhythm Collision Volume 1' material that I have seen. Presence of any of this materal in the sets from 2011 onwards was short lived... 'Whatever We Do' was in there for a bit as was 'Weak Heart', but they soon gave up their places to newer material (such is the prolificacy of the band that songs pass into and out of their sets quite rapidly). 

Thank you Peter for the very prompt share. Highly appreciated!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-BwfQfczPsK

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-UMHZNi0t4D

Ruts DC did not have it easy post Malcolm, he left big boots for fill in his wake, but despite being floored by the tragedy of their lead singer's death, Paul, Segs and Ruffy rose from the ashes, firstly with the dark and deeply reflective 'Animal Now' album (a difficult album for the surviving members of the band to this day)... after which they changed direction significantly with 'Rhythm Collision Volume 1'. In the rare set above, they mix their take on dub with their earlier punk/reggae material. They did it well in 1982 and they continue to do it well today, effortlessly jumping between the rock and reggae genres.

And here then is the critics viewpoint.... positive words from the pen of NME's writer.

New Musical Express (21st August 1982)