Music
The Passage Reviews
On Pindrop/Degenerates:
‘The Passage took punk and adapted it for their own ends, constructing something passionate and articulate. Wrapped up in the sweetness and neatest of symphonic tones, this collection is one to treasure.’ (Ian Canty, Louder Than War, 2020)
Pindrop
‘This is an astonishing album… Comparisons are futile and confusing, but the most appropriate parallels at the moment are early Joy Divison and late Wire. No, there’s no plagiarism. Pindrop is as innovative and individual as 154 or Unknown Pleasures were. Their imagery is ephemeral, understated, but brought over with such venom and strength that the result is blinding.’ Terry Senai
Enflame
The most complete pop record heard in recent years. [It’s] focussed magnificently upon the real world. Melody Maker
Dark shades and unexpected twists captivate the band’s followers, as well as newcomers. Witts’s vision of romance and power looked at through gimlet eyes still remains paramount, and if he’s more suave than ever, the clattering rush of songs like “Clear as Crystal” and “Horseplay” show Passage had hardly decided to mellow. Ned Raggett, AllMusic
Pindrop:
‘With the disquieting Pindrop, The Passage can be accepted as major even by the cowardly, cautious and cynical. It’s a work of disciplined intellectual aggression, frantic emotions and powerfully idiomatic musicality. Pindrop is densely shaded erratically mixed, rough edged, heavy in an unlovable sense of the word… It’s as shocking as a beautiful nightmare, as stormy and aware a debut LP as Unknown Pleasures. . Their sound is their own. It’s the shock of the new – new shades, textures, noises, pulses, atmospheres, energies, the opening up of new realms of feeling.’ Paul Morley, NME.
Sounds
This album… by one of the greatest, yet least known of the bands of 1980s groups… [is] totally electronic, spooky, intelligent, political, passionate as hell, like Laurie Anderson crossed with The Fall. Nick Currie (Momus).
For All And None
A lance falling straight into a block of ice. Jon Gill, NME
XOYO
The single of the year. Smash Hits (1983).
Live
Live, they represent the purist punk derivative – anarchic, angry and decently frustrated. They use tapes in a singularly unpretentious fashion, using the additional embellishments to accentuate the immediacy of their cutthroat invective without ever turning to stylised arty sloganeering. The live performance is an exhibition that’s once blatant and offensive. Amik Rai, NME
