The Downliners Sect were the most unapologetically rough band to emerge from the British R&B explosion of the '60s (as well as one of the wittiest), so its no great surprise that the U.K.'s leading rock & roll primitive,
Billy Childish, would happen to be a big fan. What one might not expect is just how well
Childish's band Thee Headcoats would collaborate with former
Downliners Sect men Don Craine and
Keith Grant; on
Ready Sect Go!,
Thee Headcoats Sect (featuring Craine and
Grant teaming up with
Childish and his bandmates Bruce Brand and Johnny Johnson) tear though a dozen songs (two new numbers from
Childish and ten classic covers) with a gritty swagger that flatters the style of both acts. While
Childish's recording projects often sound like three or four guys bashing away in a garage as documented by a cheap boom box (which usually plays like a virtue), on
Ready Sect Go! Craine and
Grant bring a modicum of professionalism to the project, and
Liam Watson's monophonic engineering clearly captures a band that's tight, powerful and disciplined without losing their rough edges. At the same time,
Childish's back-to-basics world view complements the gutsy, elemental attack of Craine's guitar and
Grant's bass work, and with the exception of the Pirates' excellent comeback recordings in the '70s and '80s, you'd be hard pressed to name a "reunion" effort from a classic British beat group that delivers as much potent rock action as
Thee Headcoats Sect generate in these sessions.
Ready Sect Go! is a superb meeting of the minds between two schools of like-minded U.K. rockers, and fans of British beat madness both old and new will groove hard behind this stuff. ~ Mark Deming