Although
John Cooper-Clarke's caustic brand of "talking in tune" initially earned him the label of the new wave
George Formby, he soon won recognition as the British punk scene's poet laureate. Following the Innocents EP and the 1978 album
Ou Est la Maison de Fromage? (both on
Martin Hannett's Rabid Records),
Disguise in Love was
Clarke's major-label debut. This album finds the Mancunian bard at his adenoidal, alliterative best, delivering some of his more memorable satirical verses. Fixated on the daily, warts-and-all miseries of life in postwar Britain and beyond,
Clarke casts a wide misanthropic net, taking on everything from track suits to extraterrestrials. The Invisible Girls (featuring
Bill Nelson,
Pete Shelley, and
Martin Hannett) provide musical backing that complements each poem, from a minimal, heartbeat-style jogging groove ("Health Fanatic") to a cheesy disco pastiche ("Post-War Glamour Girl").
Clarke's performance works well with these arrangements, especially on "(I Married A) Monster from Outer Space" -- a story of intergalactic love gone wrong set to sci-fi electronics -- and "Readers' Wives," on which lurid observations on D.I.Y. Polaroid porn are adorned with an appropriately kitschy soundtrack.
Clarke's ear for the rhythms of everyday language and his galloping, sometimes staccato delivery can be best appreciated on two unaccompanied pieces: "Salome Maloney," an apocalyptic tale of ballroom dancing and death, and "Psycle Sluts 1&2," an amphetamine-paced paean to biker women praised by
Frank Zappa as an example of
Clarke's "exquisite diction." While it's a testament to
Clarke's comic sensibility that these tracks remain laugh-out-loud funny, it's also important to recognize him as an innovator. Just as pop writers like the Merseybeat poets made
Clarke's work possible, so
Clarke opened the doors for numerous (less-talented) ranters and popular wordsmiths such as
Attila the Stockbroker,
Joolz, Seething Wells, and
Benjamin Zephaniah. [This version of the album contains bonus material.] ~ Wilson Neate