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The Passage \ Pindrop [LTMCD 2356]

Pindrop is the lauded first album by Manchester group The Passage, recorded at Graveyard Studio in Prestwich in 1980 and originally issued by Object Music.

On Pindrop mainman Richard 'Dick' Witts performed most of the material alone. Stand-out tracks on this dark, dense postpunk classic include Watching You Dance, Troops Out and epic centrepiece 16 Hours.

The expanded remaster includes no less than 13 bonus tracks, including all material from the first two Passage EPs on Object (featuring ex-Fall member Tony Friel), and an outstanding Manchester radio session from February 1981. CD booklet features extensive liner notes.

CD tracklist:

1. Fear
2. Troops Out
3. Carnal
4. Watching You Dance
5. Hunt
6. Anderton's Hall
7. From the Heart
8. Locust
9. 2711
10. 16 Hours
11. Carmen
12. A Certain Way to Go
13. Prelude
14. Love Song
15. Competition
16. Slit Machine
17. New Kind of Love
18. Taking My Time
19. Clock Paradox
20. 16 Hours
21. Time Delay
22. Mr Terror - Chief of Police
23. My One Request
24. The Beginning, The Dawn
25. A Man Set Out
26. Tangled
27. Shave Your Head

Available on CD only. To order CD please select correct shipping option and click on Add To Cart button below cover image, or else contact LTM by email for other payment options.

Pindrop [LTMCD 2356]
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Reviews:

"Lyrically they were bluntly polemical, and more explicitly than Joy Division, they caught the strange mood cocktail of hedonism and mortal fear of the early 80s" (Uncut, 06/2003)

"My, they've aged well. Lovingly compiled, and brimming with extra tracks and sharp-eyed sleevenotes" (Q, 07/2003)

"Pindrop chilled and thrilled - vocals switching between panicky whisper and desperate chant, drums beaten with a relentless passion, synth lines coiling around your heart like a creeper" (The Wire, 12/2003)

"With the disquieting Pindrop, The Passage can be accepted as major. It's a work of disciplined intellectual aggression, frantic emotions and powerfully idiomatic musicality. It's as shocking a beautiful nightmare, as stormy and aware a debut LP as Unknown Pleasures" (Paul Morley, NME, 10/1980)

"An astounding first LP - the most appropriate parallels are early Joy Division and late Wire, but their technique is unique to them" (Sounds, 10/1980)

"Pindrop never ceases to haunt and provoke no matter how many times you refer back to it. Troops Out has all the hallmarks of a great post-punk hit single, and the Piccadilly Radio session is largely fantastic. The two rare Object EPs feature Tony Friel's propulsive input and are pretty startling too" (Whisperin' & Hollerin', 04/2003)

"Riven with muggy, claustrophobic urgency. Of all Manchester's sons to crawl from punk's fallout, Dick Witts was possibly the cleverest" (Glasgow Herald, 04/2003)

"A welcome electronic diversion" (Careless Talk, 05/2003)