Western Industrial Dance and Trance---Red Lorry Yellow Lorry--Paint Your Wagon!

I bought Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's 2nd album without knowing a thing about them. They are from Leeds, England. I got it in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois at the Record Stop. The combination of the fiery Wagon Wheel cover art (and the always helpful spot-on handwritten descriptions on the albums penned on little quarter sized stickies on the plastic slipcovers) were what sold me. Turned out to be a good decision. Back in the 80's, I know I listened to this a lot.

I'm not sure what the album is about--singer Chris Reed plays the role of a deep voiced disco religious revivalist here. He certainly does a lot of chanting short mantras on this album. Between the album art and the song titles, thematically the music is about the American West. But overall it sounds like proto-industrial dance music to me, and without the aforementioned cues, I probably would not view this as a Western Album.

The disc I am listening to is an old Cherry Red reissue which also contains their 1st album, Talk About the Weather. Talk about the Weather is a perfectly good album, and Reed is noticeably singing in the style of Ian Curtis. But there are other elements at work, in the music, like early Killing Joke and Gang of Four. Maybe Jesus & Mary Chain. This particular release is a very nice twofer.

Chris Reed: Vocals and Guitar
David Wolfenden: Guitar
Leon Phillips: Bass
Chris Oldroyd: Drums



Having the two albums on the same disc allows the listener an opportunity to really contrast how the music changed in a short period of time. They are sounding much more original. Right out of the gate, on Walking on Your Hands you hear the assertive drumming right up front in the mix. The droning shrapnelly guitar riffs sync up nicely with the beats, with the malevolent vocals laying over the top. They are sonically impressive on this record, noisy yet somehow pop accessible. Certainly this is functional music, like an noisy engine built for use the dance floor. And while the band is in a groove throughout the recording, the songs don't all sound the same.



The Lorries wound up recording 5 albums in total before splitting up. Though it does seem like they have gotten back together and performed as recently as this year.

When I listen to the great sound that they achieved on Paint Your Wagon, I have to conclude that they were an innovative bunch. Don't go looking for profundity in the lyrics--it wasn't really the point here. There simply were not a lot of lyrics, and they were repeated and repeated in order to create a mesmerizing affect. Overall a pretty successful effort by a talented band well worth investigating.