Vice Versa - The Neutron Archives (Ninthwave)

The north of England, 1979. Economically depressing. Musically exploding. Guitars were finished. Punk was decaying with the rest of London down south. In Sheffield, Kraftwerk were inspiring a new wave to make music with what now seem like such primitive technology. But at the time a Korg Micro Preset or a Roland JD8000 was the most futuristic musical instrument in the country. Fortunately this didn’t turn people the way of Wakeman or Roxy-era Eno – these keyboard players didn’t feel the need to wear silver space suits and wizard outfits. Instead they fused the new machines with attitude and song-writing of their time and surroundings. Urbana. The result: Sheffield spawned the Human League, Heaven 17, Caberet Voltaire, and Vice Versa.

Vice Versa were Martin Fry, Stephen Singleton and Mark White. Their music was explosive, electronic energy. Smash and grab techno twenty years ahead of time. Despite lasting just over two years, their output was comprehensive, buoyed on by the punk’s DIY ethos – which spawned Vice Versa tapes, cards, EPs manifestos, and seven inch singles, all on their own Neutron record label. Neutron’s ‘1980: The First Fifteen Minutes’ become a legendary UK indie single which packaged Vice Versa with early work from I’m So Hollow, the Stunt Kites, and Clock DVA. They followed with the ‘Music 4’ EP, especially notable for ‘Camille’ – a track of vocal cuts and synth drones. Perhaps the missing link between Byrne/Eno’s ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’ with The KLF’s ‘Chill Out’.

Other tracks here have been dusted down from the Neutron archives, before closing with Vice Versa’s final and most accomplished burst. A session for Rotterdam’s Backstreet/Backlash Records produced the ‘Stilyagi’ 7”, which went on to become a collectors item not least due to the trios imminent metamorphosis into something altogether different, of whih singleton explains, “Instead of writing about tower blocks and pylons, we wanted to use a lot of different influences. We wanted this kind of grandiose epic”…

Vice Versa became ABC and Fry, Singleton and White went on to write another chapter of pop history. First with everyone's classic 80s album, The Lexicon of Love, followed by the ‘80s most underrated classic, Beauty Stab. All this naturally detracted from their earlier work under the more anonymous guise of Vice Versa. There were no recognisable faces on Pete Hill’s “videograph” cover for ‘Stilyagi’. But when the needle hit the vinyl, fireworks erupted.