Thanks to remastering, Burns’s message comes through more clearly on the Ryko CDs than on previous reissues. Inflammable Material, in particular, benefits because it was originally recorded on a small budget at a makeshift studio that Burns recalls as “a small basement studio where you had to knock on a terraced house door and be taken in through somebody’s kitchen.
“I’m not a huge fan of just reissuing an album for the sake of it,” he continues. “It strikes me as: ‘Okay, they changed the packaging slightly and it’s just designed to sort of rip fans off or whatever.’ ” To that end, the Ryko reissues add live bonus tracks to each disc, along with parts of an interview conducted by Commitments director Alan Parker with Burns.
“I think the first two albums were very much of an era,” Burns offers. “They’re the punk albums. Go For It was our first pop album.” Indeed, Go For It branches out creatively with the Bo Diddley-ish instrumental title track, the power-pop of “Fade Away,” and less of the rabble rousing that earned the band the nickname “The Irish Clash.” “Roots, Radicals, Rockers and Reggae,” for example, is a sped-up interpretation of the Bunny Wailer original. Burns likens it to “an Irish jig,” and jokes, “I’m sure that Bunny doesn’t complain when he gets the royalties. But I’m sure he would complain vociferously if he ever actually heard the track.”
Go For It wasn’t the end of SLF: they’ve reunited numerous times over the years. In 2004, Burns and a new line-up released Guitar and Drum (Kung Fu). But, it’s the intensity of those early albums that continues to resonate, particularly among Boston bands.
“Oh, you noticed?,” jokes Albert, confronted with the theory that his band’s genetics trace to “Silver Lining,” a song from Go For It with a mix of swingy brass and buzzing guitars that anticipates countless Bosstones tunes. Bennett’s Suspect Device is clearly in debt to the ripping, pub-rock of Inflammable Material. And McColgan, both on his work with the Murphys and Street Dogs, has imported Burns’ unpretentious autobiographical politics to his native Savin Hill hood.
“The feeling a lot of bands got growing up listening to SLF was that it was okay to be controversial and open up your heart and your mind,” McColgan says. “They set the blueprint as the people’s band.”
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On the Web:
Stiff Little Fingers: //www.slf.com/
Suspect Device: //www.suspectdevice.net/
Street Dogs: //www.street-dogs.com/
