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CD
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CDMRED 069CD
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"As part of Cherry Red's 30th anniversary commemorations -- we shall be revisiting many key artists' releases and they will be remastered, repressed and re-promoted. What better than to kickstart proceedings with one of Mike Alway's first signings -- the esteemed band, Eyeless In Gaza. Here's what Martyn Bates himself has to say about the title song on this CD: '"Back From The Rains" -- my personal, utter favorite of anything we've ever, ever done... just something about the instrumentation gets me, really excites and moves me, quite apart from the song itself, which I'm so proud of -- the instrumentation, it's like a mad soupçon of different and clashing elements... the mournful harmonica, crazy wailing voices, a delicious bluesy bass line, and Pete's mad, wonderful drums; he plays a totally unorthodox set of drums, and it really works like a dream on the right song... he played drums all over Rust Red September, and it was his characteristic unorthodox approach that helped to make that album such an individual voice... but now, with this album, it's like we've got the best of both worlds, with Pete and Joby Palmer drumming in the studio. Strengths and weaknesses are shared, according to the demands of each song, whatever each song requires... tho' it's generally Joby who is the solid backbone type drummer, and Pete who is the 'eccentric' player, knocking and tapping and banging everything in sight at eighteen to the dozen... the lyric just has to be one of the most naked and tender things I've ever written... it echoes "Welcome Now" in its sentiment, really, except that it's so much more personal and close, so close it aches... that's me doing the barmy soprano choirboy bit in the background; a duet with myself, thanks to the miracle of technology! ...if I never lift another finger to make any more music, it's almost as if "That's OK, everything's said now"; to me it's so special -- I don't know, we must have been possessed when we recorded this!'"
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CDMRED 145CD
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"Here's an original review back in 1981, for this their second album: 'With animated gestures of disdain Eyeless In Gaza can answer detractors who dismissed their debut LP, Photographs As Memories, as a precious exercise in the art of self-indulgence. Caught In Flux, the band's second offering of the year, is a measure of progress, and though there's still room for growth some mark of maturity has undoubtedly been forged. Caught In Flux a package which includes an additional 'free' 12" Eyeless sampler, The Eyes Of Beautiful Losers is a piercing, poison jab into the blood-stream of rock music's lazy limbs. Radical but clear, Eyeless set the examples for others to follow by eradicating standard rock structures and starting out from now tangents. Accessible experimentalists whose work roughly moulds fresh shapes of things to come, they don't seek to advance or change rock. They seek to destroy it completely. Their alternative is to present frail labyrinth of subtle sound, a strange menagerie of modern mood music that holds melody, has poise and a lot of style. All of which is enhanced by Martyn Bates' distinctive vocals which are as versatile as they are uniquely employed. Whether crooning along to some reflective ballad or spitting out some punchy polemic, Bates' alluring voice is an awesome focus of attention. But Caught In Flux is most specifically an introspective LP, a thoughtful compilation of new songs and sound patterns, skilfully patched together and performed. It's meditative music for active minds, an exciting vision of a brave new whirl. Eyeless... but not blind!'"
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CD
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CDMRED 127CD
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"Martyn Bates and Peter Becker had been recording together for two years when Pale Hands I Loved So Well and Drumming The Beating Heart, respectively the 3rd and 4th Eyeless in Gaza albums, were released. Both albums have a magic that has endured and Pale Hands is especially wondrous, witnessing the maturation of EIG's gift for evocative improvisational impressionism. Drumming opens with 'Transience Blues,' a definitive EIG track that summons April showers with throbbing bass, parched organ, and Bates' impassioned vocals. The organ defines the album, as Bates' singing compliments the instrument's alternately sinuous ('Ill Wind Blows'), sweet ('One By One'), and simmering ('Picture the Day') tone. Improvised settings invest the music with a refreshing openness, as though such songs as 'Veil Like Calm' and 'Lights of April' were sprung straight from the heart -- not from the studio. Drumming's lovely second half looks back at the gorgeous sketch-work of Pale Hands. The latter's scattered strokes of piano, guitar, organ, vocal sighs and chants, bells, sax, glockenspiel, and rough percussion achieve music of rare beauty, imagistic power, and genuine consequence. A masterpiece!"
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CDMRED 166CD
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"Here's an original review back in 1981, for this their first album for Cherry Red: 'The days of the garage groups are gone. The bands of today are being born in bedrooms and the latest in the increasing line of DIY knob-doodling duos are Eyeless In Gaza from Leamington Spa. Much in the mood of Orchestral Manoeuvres, Martyn Bates and Pete Becker take more risks, talk more dirty and act more arty than the Liverboys but you shouldn't let that put you off. Although Photographs As Memories is an awkward album that initially sounds irritating and samey, like a rough assortment of improvisations over very similar backing tracks, further listening reaps rewards, revealing a record made up more of experimental fragments than actual bona-fide songs. Starting and finishing somewhat arbitrarily, each individual track attempts, with varying degrees of success, to define a different mood, ranging from the malice and menace of "Keepsake" and the boisterous bubblegum bop of "No Noise" to the weird and worrying "In Your Painting" -- a sort of "Weaver's Answer" for the Eighties. Predominantly featuring scratchy, freely-scuttling guitar over basic drumbeats, and atmospheric keyboards and occasionally augmented by unnecessary and incongruous Beefheartean sax, Eyeless's real strengths and weaknesses lie in their overblown vocals which, while inhibiting literal understanding, instill the proceedings with crucial emotion. A cross between unbridled passion and stylish effect, the voice is by turns crudely convincing and theatrically histrionic, resulting in an album that simultaneously soothes as it unnerves. Photographs constantly strives for something special, very seldom fully succeeds but even its many pitfalls and failures make for an interesting, invigorating listen.'"
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SR 263CD
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Eyeless in Gaza is UK-based post-punk duo Martyn Bates and Peter Becker and Plague Of Years collects some of their most riveting work from 1981-2005. This CD deals with two sides of the group. First is its deeply lyrical vein, with summits like "See Red" and "Lights of April," tracks that have almost never been included on "best-of" projects, despite the fact that they represent some of the most moving songs these musicians ever wrote. This collection also explores the group's more adventurous side through a number of instrumental pieces. This aspect of their output is little known and often neglected, even though it was there from their very beginnings. These two combining currents, where experimentation precedes lyricism (and the other way around), turn this album into a truly new way of (re)discovering Eyeless in Gaza. This unique architecture creates the impression that each side strengthens the other one's presence. Probably for the first time ever, the 21 tracks so redistributed provide the band with irrefutable arguments toward its rebirth. Yes, Eyeless in Gaza is one of the most underrated groups -- with this release, and the forthcoming Martyn Bates collection from Sub Rosa, hopefully this will no longer be the case.
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