Jackson Free Press

So it's clear there's a "Scotland Thing" going on, with the amount of love surrounding Franz Ferdinand, Sons and Daughters, Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai and more. But before those bands picked up their guitars, there were three seminal punk rock bands that emerged in the late 70's to change the landscape of Scottish music and influence those who are now bringing all eyes to Scotland: The Fire Engines were one such band, and now Domino Records is bringing you *all* of their glorious, cacophonous songs that have *never* been released prior to this coming November....

The Fire Engines existed for a total of eighteen months (1980 to 1981, for the most part), but the impact they had on the Scottish punk scene reverberates through the music community there today. Jagged, disorienting, urgent and exciting, the Edinburgh quartet played songs riddled with abrasive melodies and singer Davey Henderson's anxious lyrical cries. Alongside Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, the band's punk gems garnered attention nationwide, with a sound so loud, you can still hear it as an influence today. Pretty impressive for a band who released only one full length album and a handful of singles.

Codex Teenage Premonition is a primer in ecstatic punk rock, and a history lesson in the growth of Scotland's incredible music scene. The album starts off with five studio outtakes that never made it onto the band's debut album. The next ten songs are collected from live gigs, the last three of which are from their very first show ever at Leith Town Hall in 1980. The US release of the album sees three additional bonus tracks: two early Peel Session tracks and a cover of Franz Ferdinand's "Jacqueline," which was recorded for a split single with Franz when they reformed to open for them last December in Glasgow.

The tracklisting follows…

1. Sympathetic Anaesthetic 11. Plastic Gift
2. Get Up and Use Me 12. Hungry Beat
3. Hungry Beat 13. The Untitled One
4. Everything's Roses 14. Everything's Nothing
5. The Untitled One 15. Discord
6. 12.01.81 16. Discord (Peel Session)
7. Meat Whiplash 17. Candyskin (Pee Session)
8. Discord 18. Jacqueline
9. Get up and Use Me
10. New Things in Cartons

So yeah, there's a "Scotland Thing" going on, but The Fire Engines started it. After one listen to Codex Teenage Premonition, you'll soon be saying, "Man, I wish I could have been there when…"