This lack of recognition is perhaps, best encapsulated by the fact that this lot, the Amber Squad, contributed a track (‘Six Of Me’, included here) to the S + T label sampler LP, released in 1981, Where The Hell Is Leicester? So, once again, this latest release from Detour Records is an attempt to redress the North-South Mod Revival divide. As, AreWeHavingAnotherInHereOrWhat!?! is an odds-and-sods representative collection of the Amber Squad’s output that very much proves the point that many of the Revival bands, that were slogging it out in the pubs and the clubs, out in the sticks, quite often forged their own, unique Mod identity. That is, a look that did not pay homage to The Jam and a stage set that stuck two fingers up to the obligatory slick Soul cover (preferring, instead, sweaty R&B). Thus, this lot have far more in common with Wilko Johnson-era Dr. Feelgood, on, say, ‘Don’t Blame Me’, and Nine Below Zero around the time, say, of Don’t Point Your Finger – just listen to the ‘sampler’ track ‘Six Of Me’. Although, instead of the expected Pub-Rock harmonica, you get – especially on the third cut in here, ‘Maybe I Could’ – Moddish Glam-era backing vocals (very much like Jook). That’s not to say, though, that this lot weren’t afraid of chucking in the (at the time) more contemporary musical reference – hence, with the track ‘You Should See What I Do To You In My Dreams’, a bit of a Clash-like Reggae beat is more than detectable.

The songs are, in the main, youthful musical tales of lust, rejection and outright frustration; sometimes all three – take, for instance, their debut single, ‘(I Can’t) Put My Finger On You’ (released on S + T in 1980). Their follow-up, ‘Can We Go Dancing’ (on Lincolnshire-based Dead Good, also released in 1980), really sums up the group sound, as it’s all dustbin lid drum clatter (courtesy of Tuzzy Tyers), and flanged guitar. Indeed, their pent-up sexual frustration all boils over into (almost) outright misogyny – as with the lyrics of the flip side of ‘…Dancing…’ (the aforementioned ‘You Should See What I Do To You In My Dreams’).

With the sleeve booklet photos showing a right motley bunch in mullets and Graham Parker T-shirts, we’re simply not able to narrowly pigeon-hole this lot solely as Mods and are, as such, more realistically representative of the stylistic mix that typified British youth culture in the late-1970s and early-1980s. This is, then, the real ‘sound of the suburbs’. The group, sitting on some dilapidated fence, spitting, wear the style of Mod, but display, instead, the attitude of Punk – with just a hint of the snarl and swagger of some Greaser. As, just ponder, for a moment, the words of the opener, ‘Feet On The Ground’ (where their vocalist Dick Beechey admits that he ‘used to be a Rocker in a Rock ‘n’ Roll band’), and then listen to ‘Slow Starter’, the track that follows, which borrows the beat from ‘Young Man Blues’ and puts it up against a Chords-like ‘wall-of-sound’ (provided by guitarists Paul Fairey, Dusty Miller and Dubber Rawlings). So, it seems that this lot would all be far more comfortable in leathers rather than mohair.

All of the tracks here, it has to be said, are of their time. Hastily recorded, with virtually non-existent production, these are (I’m sorry to say) samey examples of post-Punk musically headbutting the Mod Revival (in particular, track 11, ‘Obscure Connection’). So, in all honesty, what you have here is of curiosity value only. But, for you Revivalist completists out there, you do get, with this package, both singles, the track from the Where… comp., and 14 previously unreleased cuts (including a live version of ‘Tell You A Lie’ recorded down in the cellar bar of the Rutland Angler in Oakham). So, listening to this, it is all a bit of a rose-tinted nostalgia trip, as the fag-end charm of the era comes flooding back: All 3-day weeks, power cuts, picket lines.

Taking into account this album’s title – and the CD tray’s close-up shot of a pint glass – this is very much music to drink Watney’s by. Hence you have the cover shot of the band, showing them, in some pub, under the dartboard, bored out of their skulls. Clutching their jugs of bitter, they are supping up their beer and collecting their fags indeed. This – and the overall sound captured within these tracks – is the grim reality of group of teenage Mods from the Midlands scraping out a living, earning just enough for booze and fags, and dreaming of signing to a major label and writing that ‘My Generation’ for their generation. Dream on boys. OK, they did get aired by John Peel and Mike Read, but – as the sleeve notes here make explicit – ‘they came, they saw, they nipped out for a pint’.

So, in an effort to sum up, here’s another rough-and ready Detour release that helps us to find, down the back of the sofa, yet another piece of the puzzle that is the Mod Revival. In doing so, we – those of us that are inquisitive and open-minded enough to listen to this release – realise that, yes, there was far more to it all than those bands on the Mods Mayday album and on the March of the Mods tour. After all, there was a pin-badge which triumphantly announced that there were, indeed, ‘Midlands Mods’ – not that I, down in South Wales, would’ve been seen dead wearing one though!

Reviewed by Peter Jachimiak (review posted on 25th September 2006)

    More music reviews from Modculture