The Slits - In The Beginning

They make a few appearances in the Rebel Dread (Don Letts) documentary on Amazon 😍

Is this the RSD release?

If you aren't familiar, the Slits are one of the most influential bands of all time, paving the way for the Riot grrrl movement of the 90s (along with other bands such as the Raincoats, in which Palmolive, the drummer in the Slits, also played) and female musicians in general. The Slits were musically adventurous, starting out as a punk band and eventually working their way into a reggae/dub/world-influenced experimental rock sound that was truly unique to them. It's likely their incredible blend of sounds was only possible because of how culturally diverse the band was; Palmolive (drummer) is Spanish, Viv Albertine (guitarist) is Australian, Tessa Pollitt (bass guitarist) is English, and Ari Up (lead vocalist) was German. Ari Up tragically died in 2010 due to breast cancer; she rejected chemotherapy treatment because she didn't want to lose her hair (as a Rastafarian, her hair was religiously/spiritually significant to her).

This compilation album collects fifteen live performances that do a wonderful job of representing the musical growth of the band. The first eight tracks are from their early years, with lots of aggressive screeching. Ari Up was famously selected by the band when they heard her yelling at her mom at a Patti Smith concert, and the raw power of her vocals is all over in these tracks. My personal favorite tracks are Vindictive (I always smile at the line "let's do the splits and I'll shit on it") and Shoplifting; the latter features some absolutely great shrieks by Ari. As an added bonus, the track Number One Enemy - Acoustic features some guest vocals by one of my favorite artists, Nina Hagen, another hugely influential German artist.

Tracks nine through fifteen display their later sound with more refined vocals and instrumentals. In The Beginning is lightly jazzy with groovy keyboard, bass guitar, and whistles, but it slowly builds to a really raucous moment around 4:30 that's purely a wall of noise. New Town is a really mellow dub beat that showcases Ari's interesting and incredibly fast vibrato (think Post Malone's goat-like vibrato trick) towards the end, followed by a full-on shriek that's reminiscent of Diamanda Galas. Man Next Door is a super chill seven-minute reggae/dub track with some really cool bestial vocals/noises, and in fact, their ability to make you feel like you're actually in a jungle is one of my favorite things about the band; it's even more impressive that they were capable of doing this live. The compilation album wouldn't be complete without the tracks I Heard It Through The Grapevine and Typical Girls, their most famous tracks.

To top it all off, some of the live tracks were recorded here in Cincinnati (there is a live compilation album collecting their Cincinnati and San Francisco performances that has been on my wishlist for a while now, and I'm glad to finally own some of them via this collection), and the last track, an epic twelve-minute live performance of In The Beginning (that saxophone is killer), is from their very last performance. The Record Store Day 2024 version of this album is pressed on transparent blue vinyl and includes some new photos of the band and liner notes by Mick Mercer.

Do yourself a favor and at least stream this album, Cut (their first studio album), or Return of the Giant Slits (their second studio album, and my favorite) so you can experience this one-of-a-kind band.

*Photos taken from Discogs listing for convenience.