I missed punk, post punk was my ‘scene’, going to university in Sept 1980 at the height of the Manchester (not Madchester)/Liverpool axis that, arguably, started with the ‘legendary’ Sex Pistols concert at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester that gave us the Buzzcocks, Joy Division and many more. So I arrived at university and in the student magazine was a review of Closer by Joy Division plus many others but I’d already heard Reward by Teardrop Explodes so I was ‘drawn’ to the Liverpool end of the spectrum initially and then you had this debut album – loved it. Obviously much of the focus is on Ian McCullough and Will Sargeant but the drumming of Pete de Freitas was what pulled me in. The reissue contains the 4 tracks from the Shine So Hard live EP and his drumming on Zimbo is stunning. Anyway for a short while I adopted the drab green greatcoat ‘camo’ look that they used at the Buxton Pavilion concert where they recorded the Shine So Hard EP.

Minor claim to fame – Bill Drummond, who produced this album, parents lived at the bottom of the street, not sure if Bill ever lived there but all I can remember was that their boundary fence was made of Rosehip bushes. So as kids we used to nick the rosehips to get the seeds to put down your unsuspecting mates shirt.