Final post of the year and yes, it is a beauty. Traditionally
this is time to reflect, to reminisce over past glories and defeats sipping a
wee dram with family and friends. I was looking for something that embraced
those qualities of hedonistic past glories, along with deafening defeats that
would later be viewed in a different light, with a deeper respect for all that
has passed within the grooves of a slab of black vinyl and a cardboard
protective sleeve, knowing that everything is going to be put right with one
final play.
Slange Var
The original Ruts were a big name on the late seventies
music scene.
Not only did they score a number of genuine hit records
but almost alone out of the second wave UK punk bands, they were also acclaimed
by critics at the time. Signed to a major label and benefiting from a big
budget production, the bands mastery of reggae was better than any other punk
band while staples such as ‘Babylon’s Burning’ and ‘Staring At The Rude Boys’ were anything but punk by numbers. The Ruts sole album, ‘The
Crack’, is a classic while later songs such as ‘West One’ and the moving ‘Love In Vain’ show how
this great band could have progressed if tragedy hadn’t
been waiting around the corner with the death of charismatic but troubled
singer Malcolm Owen.
So what is the D.C?
The remaining Ruts, Segs Jennings, Dave Ruffy and Paul
Fox with the addition of sax player Gary Barnacle felt that they had to
continue with their mission. To differentiate between incarnations, they added
the initials D.C (Da.Capo) – a musical term for back to the beginning, but the
success of The Ruts eluded them and their recorded output remains largely
forgotten. Many people at the time found it hard to give credit to the ‘The
Ruts’ without Malcolm Owen and maybe it was a
mistake not to make a clean break from the past but at its best, Ruts D.C’s music sounds like the natural progression for the band.
Debut single ‘Different View’ is an
excellent follow up to the final Owen era single ‘West
One’, while the album ‘Animal
Now’ also contains many fine moments such as ‘Mirror Smashed’, ‘Dangerous Minds’ and the
extended, superior take of ‘Different View’.
After two albums ‘Animal Now’ and later ‘Rhythm Collision Volume 1’ with
legendary dub producer “Mad Professor” they parted ways to follow their own
musical paths.