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vaughanography:

Section 25 - Girls Don’t Count (1980)

Yesterday the lead singer of post-punk band Section 25 died. His name was Larry Cassidy, and like the rest of the band, he came from Blackpool. They were formed in 1977, made up of Larry (bass, vocals) and his brother Vin (drums), later to be joined by Paul Wiggin (guitar). They entered the North West music scene by signing to Factory Records in 1979 and had their first single produced by Ian Curtis and his manager Rob Gretton (which is what’s uploaded here). The band had a sparse and stripped back sound, most of their early songs were only bass, drums, vocals, and a little synth. Martin Hannett provided a rather murky production for Always Now (1981), the debut album which became famous for it’s expensive packaging. The second album was The Key Of Dreams (1982), probably the most bewildering post-punk album I’ve ever come across, it’s draped in psychedelia from start to finish, with dark overtones running right through.

Things took a drastic turn with From The Hip (1984) when the band took to building a new sound with electronics, resulting in the minor club hit Looking From A Hilltop, which became famous for being an early experiment into electropop. A lineup change would have been partly responsible for this, guitarist Paul left, and was replaced by Angela and Jenny, who both played keyboards. The trend was continued into Love & Hate (1988), which most regard as their weakest album. The push towards radio friendly synth pop was obvious to all, although there were some good songs here and there, Crazy Wisdom was brilliant.

The band split up in the same year, Larry went off to marry fellow band member Jenny, but she sadly died in 2004 of cancer. This threw the recently reformed band off course, but a new album was eventually released called Part Primitiv (2007). It was a critical success, and the band sounded surprisingly fresh with a post-punk/indie rock outlook which seemed to take them right back to the early days, but without the darkness. Due to the recent Factory revival in the noughties, they’ve managed to have many popular tours. Another album, Nature + Degree (2009) saw more sound change, it looked back to the synth pop side of their work whilst keeping the guitars in the mix.

A release had been planned for this year, a reworkings album called Retrofit, which is apparently revisitations of classic material, but with upgrades to their current sound, could be quite promising. As Larry only died yesterday (with cause of death not confirmed), it isn’t known what will be done to this album, or whether someone will take over vocals duties, but Larry is well worth remembering. His musical contribution to the band was strong, however I was never a fan of his vocals. They worked well with the first couple of albums by blending into their un-nervingly bleak soundscapes, and his lyrics certaintly helped with that in the long run.

Whatever happens with Section 25 in the future, I hope Larry and the rest of the band will be looked back on with postivity and interest.

R.I.P Larry Cassidy 1953-2010