Wall of Voodoo

Wall of Voodoo were one of the pioneering electronic groups on the Los Angeles punk/new wave scene, and while most synth-based acts seemed determined to create a shining and streamlined aural vision of the future, Wall of Voodoo used their machines to create clanking and disorienting visions of an industrial society on the verge of collapse. Prior to signing with I.R.S. Records, where they recorded their best-known work, Wall of Voodoo released a pair of EPs on the independent Index label, and this collection features the six studio tracks they released through Index (including an off-kilter cover of "Ring of Fire" that was a local hit in L.A.) along with their celebrated live medley of spaghetti Western themes for Hang 'Em High and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, along with nine other numbers recorded at the same 1979 show. In many ways, Wall of Voodoo were still working out their ideas on these recordings, and "Longarm," "Back in Flesh," and "Struggle" sound like variations on the themes the band would bring to full flower on their best album, 1982's Call of the West. But "Can't Make Love" shows Stanard Ridgway was already a superb songwriter and bitingly idiosyncratic vocalist, and Marc Moreland's guitar and Joe Nanini's percussion weren't like anyone else on the scene at the time. Best of all, the live material serves as a potent reminder of just how powerful the first edition of this band could be on-stage, a quality they lost when Ridgway left the group. The Index Masters is a worthy document of an underrated band's formative days, though while Rykodisc remastered these recordings for the 2005 reissue, the label sadly didn't do the same for the accompanying booklet; the artwork is murky, many of the credits are difficult to read, and can anyone tell who wrote the essay on page three? ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide