HE BLOCKHEADS
Joining the charactorial ranks of Ada, Trevor and Billy we have "George the Human Pigeon" pounding the streets with a can of Tenants Super in his hand "The biggest issue of George's day is how to quench his thirst".
"No Go Central" next and this is Hussey at his most eloquent, comic, and acerbic - stuck on the wrong side with "a disenfranchised underclass sick of eating bread without the butter" and here Jankel and the Blockheads are in full super massive James Brown mode, top man.
The final track "Elegant Style" is half elegy half resolution and a perfect end to this wonderful and strangely somehow joyous album. "Staring down the Barrel" is most definitely a coherent "album" rather than a bunch of disparate tracks shoved onto plastic (I know we bang on and on about this all the time, but it needs underlining, the ART of constructing an album is being lost - if you are in doubt of how it should be done listen to this one).
Finally - If only we could only see down the barrel of Peter Blake's gun on the front cover, if only there was vague wisp of smoke to be seen, then we would know whether the chamber is still loaded or whether the bullet has already been fatally discharged. "Time alone only time will tell, you think you're in heaven when you're living in hell". - Thanks Bob.