Their first major label release for over a decade it may be, but Guitar And Drum shows no sign of rustiness in the SLF camp. Based these days around the nucleus of Jake Burns and ex-Jam bassist Bruce Foxton, this is a lesson on how to hold onto a legacy while maintaining your dignity.
The fire of old still burns brightly here, it’s just been tempered slightly. Burns’ razor sharp vision has a whole new range of targets, from his disgust at the current pop culture on the title track (ah, the irony of it all) to the general inhumanity of society (the lovely album closer ‘Protect & Serve’). The white noise of yore is evident on much of the record, yet the willingness to push the boundaries that was even evident on Inflammable Material is here too – ‘Be True To Yourself’ dabbles with reggae while ‘Dead Man Walking’ is covered in sun drenched harmonies. One of the reasons the Sex Pistols’ reunion was so pitiful was that they were desperately trying to recreate their personas from 1977. Stiff Little Fingers realise that there is far more interest to be garnered from who they are these days. Joe Strummer knew it too, and his benign spirit circles the entire album, not least in Burns’ ‘Strummerville’ tribute – “goodbye inspiration, voice of a generation”. If nothing else, this earns SLF the right to drag ‘Alternative Ulster’, ‘Barbed Wire Love’ and the rest out on the road for another wee while.