Libertine takes the lead vocals throughout
Crass' third album (the one exception being
de Vivre's turn on the unnerving portrayal of hospitals and waiting for death, "Health Surface"). A powerful and challenging record,
Penis Envy uses the brutal, cruel description of sexism and rape on the opening track, "Bata Motel," as a launching point for a comprehensive rip through societal control and repression throughout. Smart enough to target everything from the mechanics and business of selling romance ("Smother Love") to gender stereotyping ("Systematic Death") and back again, lyrically the sharpest cut is toward those who choose to accept such a system rather than reacting back against it.
Libertine's delivery places her as one of punk and post-punk's most distinct vocalists; if her atypical approach to singing has parallels to everyone from
Poly Styrene to
Pauline Murray, she consciously avoids sugaring the pill as the album continues on its way. One of her finest moments comes on "Where Next Columbus," a smart, blackly humorous riff on notions of discovery and control, on every level from economic and political to personal and back again. If immediate musical variety isn't as evident on
Penis Envy as on
Stations of the Crass' studio cuts, more than a few twists and turns are evident. There's the sudden burst of noise and layered series of voices on the environmental lament "What the Fuck," the nervous crawl into aggro charge on "Poison in a Pretty Pill," even a pretty little guitar figure to start off "Berkertex Bride."
Phil Free's lead guitar work is especially effective, often a trebly white sheet of electric aggression, while
Penny Rimbaud's drumming gets more varied and interesting as well.
Crass' always blunt cover art reaches new but gut-wrenching heights as well, featuring a prepackaged sex doll on the front and gutted pigs on the back. The conceptual effort closes with "Our Wedding," an intentionally sappy romantic number done for a mainstream magazine as a prank.