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Feb 4, '78 Sounds singles reviews Brian Eno & Snatch 'RAF'/'Kings Lead Hat' (Eno only) (Polydor 2001 762) |
'Montage music"? Perhaps. Whatever - a perfect combination of music,
subject and atmosphere. SO strong, it's almost like a movie: you're right
IN there, sucked into the mood. Reeks of air-conditioning, rarified
aeroplane air, hidden tannoys, cameras, bugs - contemporary technological
paranoias of complete control which would only have bred AND resulted
from the Red Army Faction (RAF) - Baader/Meinhof sypathisers. No
judgements, no conclusions - just the presentation of a scene that allows
you to make them if you will. Unspecific: it's too early, too complex.
Begins with rock solid discoid beat/massive bass, with a German newscast on top. It's possible to pick out words: 'Polizei'/'Dr Schleyer'/Stammheim', and you can hear the 'authority' in the woman's voice as she TELLS you what's happening. Synthesiser does little fear things in one channel, disorientating, unexpected. Moves to walkie-talkie mutated urgency, then to Pat Palladin: 'These seats are so uncomfortable too... guess I might as well go do my make-up/in case we get out of this thing/I wanna look good in those pictures... my only claim to fame this far.' Judy Nylon: 'This might be your only contribution to being alive.' Pat: 'You think anyone's worried about you?' (twice). No answer. In the plane at Mogadishu: women terrorists or beauty queens? No answer. Ends with a whistle, a 'Heil', a shot, and a screamed 'No sacrifice!' After all that, in mentioning the strict A-side it's possible to say that it's uptempo Eno in playful mood in a surreal short story, featuring brilliant playing from the album which you should have anyway blah blah but just catch 'RAF'... [Jon Savage] |
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Mar 11, '78 NME singles reviews Snatch: All I Want (Lightning) |
Patti Palladin and Judy Nylon sound like the GTOs, all sweet schoolgirl sneering. All women have a great man behind them (GTOs had Zappa), but Snatch don't appear to have anyone. Recorded a year ago and it shows. |
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Mar 11, '78 Record Mirror singles reviews Recommended... Snatch: 'All I Want' (Lightning LIG 505) |
A chanting, nostalgic piece of new wave enthusiasm from Pat Palladin and Judy Nylon. Recorded nearly a year ago and now released 'by popular demand'. Doesn't sound a million miles from the Runaways mind you, but fun all the same. [John Shearlaw] |
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Mar 11, '78 Melody Maker singles reviews Snatch: "All I Want" (Lightning) |
The cover is going to get more attention than the insides. A massively
decadent concoction, it has two panting pix of Judy Nylon and Pat
Palladin framed in gilt and set against a kind of mock satin background.
Slip it under your anglespoise and watch how the light plays eerie
tricks... Lightning must have spent a fortune on it.
They recorded it over a year ago and the time differential unfortunately shows. New York street hustling oozes from their every pore while the pick-up band of Keeth Paul (guitar), Bruce Douglas (bass), Nick, ex-Roogalator, Plytas (piano) and Jerry, ex-Hearbreakers, Nolan (drums) stomp and swerve in leering manner. Undoubtedly a collector's item in the making. [Ian Birch] |
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Mar 25, '78 Sounds news: Snatch sell out |
Snatch's "All I Want" single with its expensive 'shimmer' sleeve has proved so popular that a further 15,000 are being released with this special artwork. |
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Dec 17, '83 Sounds album reviews Snatch 'Snatch' (Pandemonium WITCH 1) * * * * |
Since '77, Snatch have built up a near legendary persona without really
doing very much. Four excellent singles, without doubt, but it's really
since they split, some time ago, that they've developed the myth through
their subsequent solo outings.
Patti Palladin, later of Batcave infame, and Judy Nylon, purveyor of a forgotten classic on Adrian Sherwood's On-U-Sound label last year, entitled 'Pal Judy', were really the odd couple of punk. Two New Yorkers who looked bruised and hungover amidst a sea of teenage pop politicians, they never really managed to play live often but their vinyl outings were something to behold. The primeval 'Stanley' still stands as a screeching opus of hormones and hard-ons while the low key 'IRT' extoles the virtue of travelling on the New York underground with a bunch of perverts. Snatch were always, somehow, more streetwise than their brash boyfriends and later learnt the real thrill of rock'n'roll by burning themselves out before they had time to equip themselves satisfactorily. They're like the audio equivalent of Hitchcock's darkest rooms. The sleaze of underhand escapades builds into a warming ambience as their harmonic convulsions screech from the speakers. Subsequent outings with Eno on 'RAF' and on the Leiber and Stoller classic 'Shopping For Clothes' are turned into psychopathic fantasies where the simplest of lullabies are transformed with eerie glee. The music is timeless too. If this were a new group they'd be cited as innovative. Maybe a bit patchy, but superbly subversive. I think that's how they should be remembered. [Dave Henderson] |
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