Detailed Twang

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

 

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Originally inspired by both the DIY ethic of the punk movement and the likes of Throbbing Gristle and File Under Pop, two friends Nag and Bendle decided to form The Door And The Window in March '79. Lacking any musical experience, the first thing they did was to book a gig, then set off to a rehearsal studio to record their first single on a cassette recorder. "Initially we had little interest in making "music"; we were interested in sound and noise. I had a cheap guitar and a collection of 2nd hand tape recorders, and Nag had a cheap synth. It was an advantage that we couldn't play anything. When the guy running the rehearsal studio proclaimed that we were the "worst band he had ever heard" we took it as a complement and drunkenly carolled his sentiment back to him. And recorded that, too." - Bendle
The first single 'Don't Kill Colin EP' came from the pressing plant in plain white labels and sleeves. The band pain stakingly hand-made the labels and sleeves and managed to self-distribute all 1000 copies.
The success led to a distribution deal with Rough Trade. Their next single 'Production Line EP' was joint NME 'Single Of The Week' with Ian Dury's '(Hit Me With Your) Rhythm Stick'. Inspired by Crass, the Pay No More Than 55p on the sleeve caused problems for the distributors, but the single still sold an impressive 2000 copies.
As true exponents of the DIY ethic the band produced a fanzine called 'Common Knowledge' devoted to the politics of record reproduction and included the likes of the Desperate Bicycles.
The Door And The Window were becoming more popular and highly respected. They played with the Pop Group, Scritti Politti, Delta Five, Swell Maps and Raincoats. They even had one of the earliest versions of The The support them.
The line-up of the band was always fluid and sometime members included Fritz (23 Skidoo), Dennis Burns (ATV/Good Missionaries), Grant Showbiz (The Fall) and Giblet (49 Americans). In late 1979, Mark Perry, disillusioned by the constraints and expectations of Alternative TV joined the band as drummer and co-songwriter.
As more bands formed with the same attitude the band toured as part of the 'Weird Noise Tour' with The Instant Automatons and 012 - a band fronted by Kif Kif and made up of members of that nights audience.
1980 saw the release of the album 'Detailed Twang' which sold 2000 copies at the ridiculously cheap price of £3.00, before the band split up in the summer of '81, although they've reformed on an occasional basis to experiment with new ideas. "The punk movement had showed that to make music you didn't need to have first acquired some musical understanding and/or instrumental dexterity.
Understanding that music has no unbreakable rules, and then proving this by breaking them, is a fine thing. But Nag and Bendle went further - they refused to learn what the rules were in the first place. This lack of musical pretension is what still separates them from the all-too-knowing purveyors of what's called "experimental music". The Door And The Window were the true experimenters. They had the courage to skip all the theory and just pick up the instruments, to see what would happen." - Igor
This CD complies for the first time on CD their album, singles and compilation appearances and contains sleeve notes from Nag, Bendle and Mark Perry.

I was looking forward to hearing this CD, as I'd heard a lot about TDATW and how 'Detailed Twang' is a supposedly 'seminal' lo-fi, post-punk album, scribbled down on a thousand punk record collectors' 'Wants' lists (and usually accompanied by extortionate price tags).

Well, thank God I never wasted my money on the original, as this is just pure garbage from start to finish. I know what fans of the DIY ethic are thinking, 'That's the whole point', but it's not the Poundstretcher production, amateur musicianship or wilfully obscurist approach that makes this release such an utterly depressing aural experience. It's the fact that it's wet, limp, shambling and completely BORING. Many other punk / post-punk / art-punk bands similarly lacked musical chops but managed to put out releases that were invigorating, inspired and exciting - at least capable of producing genuine emotion. 'Detailed Twang' is a soulless exercise in navel gazing, the sound of a bedsit on a wet Wednesday afternoon, the sound of living death, dirty socks, drunken slobs and wasted time. Where's the passion?

'I Like Sound' sounds identical to the kind of tapes you might have made as a teenager, armed with an untuned guitar, a cheap cassette recorder and tin biscuits for drums. The kind of thing that's great fun to play, but absolutely diabolical to listen to. The rest of the album can be summarised as follows - inept Throbbing Gristle / Fall / Desperate Bicycles rip-offs and dull stream-of-consciousness poetry, either bludgeoning themselves into repetition or punctuated by irritating time changes throughout. After playing this, watching Top of the Pops was a delight. And that's coming from someone who likes Throbbing Gristle, The Pop Group and Whitehouse.

If you insist on checking this out, just remember you've been sufficiently warned, you will regret it. This is dross, not even 'so bad it's good', just awful the whole way through. The kindest thing to say about 'Detailed Twang' is that it'd make a great contraceptive - play this and nobody'll go to bed with you.

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