Terry Edwards And The Scapegoats - I Didn't Get Where I Am Today

  by Jon Rogers

published: 11 / 11 / 2009

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Review

In an era where musical styles are becoming more and more departmentalised and sectioned off its refreshing to welcome back someone who really does have eclectic tastes. That eclecticism served Terry Edwards well for this re-release which was first issued in 1997 by Gary Walker’s Wiiija label, but now comes with a whole host of other goodies released by Edwards for the imprint on his own label, Sartorial Records. The founder member of the Higsons and multi-instrumentalist Edwards first came to the public’s attention in 1991 when he started releasing a series of EPs featuring covers of artists that had inspired him. So we got Edwards’ take on songs like the Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘Never Understand’, The Fall’s ‘Totally Wired’ as well as a whole selection by jazz innovator Miles Davis. The quirky, left-field nature of those recordings built up Edwards as a quirky, almost kitsch, underground attraction. Things got more serious with later EPs which dropped the covers and explored Edwards’ rich interest in musical styles. That period hit a high watermark with the 1997 release of ‘I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today’. That eclectic taste is fully realised displaying a whole gamut of influences. ‘I Like My Low-Life Low’ is a lumpen slab of hardcore while 'Good Time: Strange Thing’ could be an outtake from Dexy’s Midnight Runners classic ‘Searching for the Young Soul Rebels’. There’s even a wild take on Iggy Pop’s ‘Dog Food’, which sees Gallon Drunk’s James Johnston on harmonica. And the extras included also prove to be interesting. There’s the blunt political message of ‘Margaret Thatcher We Still Hate You’ which sees Edwards take on thrash metal through the Gavin Bryars inspired experimentation of ‘Show Me a Sane Man and I Will Cure Him for You’ to the Parliament funk of ‘Blue Funk’. With a whole hotch-potch of styles you’d be forgiven for thinking that ‘I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today’ is just a horrible mess of styles and influences and just a rag-bag of impressions. While there is something to be said for that argument it does though still manage to hold itself together. But Edwards does manage to blend together a whole spectrum of influences from the likes of John Zorn to Ian Dury to even the comedic Marx Brothers. But one small quibble. Is it just me or is there a large dollop of irony in including ‘Stop Trying to Sell Me Back My Past’. The song sees Edwards lambast those musicians who plunder rock’s past for inspiration. Er, isn’t that exactly what you’re doing in re-releasing this album?

Track Listing:-

1 The King Of Cheap Thing
2 Boots Off!!
3 I Like My Low-Life Low
4 Asthma
5 The Lurch
6 Ditch
7 Good-Time-Strange-Thing
8 Out Of The Clear
9 Evening Falls
10 Tallis's Canon
11 Dog Food
12 I Didn't Get Where I Am Today