While no one could doubt the intent behind the original Record Store Day scheme, there is equally no question that there have been a fair number of cynical releases that have offered little to fans beyond a lengthy queue and (possibly) a coloured variant on an original press. This is frustrating because the whole point was to bring fans and stores together with releases that had some rarity value, or which offered exclusive additional tracks.
Fortunately, for Record Store Day 2021, Asian Dub Foundation have put together a particularly tempting double vinyl set. Repackaging the original fourteen-track Access Denied album from last year, this deluxe version adds five tracks, all previously unreleased, including yet another take on the excellent Stewart Lee collaboration and live reworkings from studio guru Adrian Sherwood. Housed in a gatefold sleeve, and with download card included, this is one release worth tracking down.
Given that the original vinyl release was also a double, some track shuffling has necessarily occurred to make room for the additional pieces. Side one has been expanded to six tracks (although it’s still under the suggested twenty-five-minutes per side), while side two now houses five tracks. In many ways, this actually makes the experience of listening on vinyl a little easier, as you’re not flipping the discs every twelve minutes or so, and it also makes Side three flow better, as it houses the four pieces that echo and augment tracks from earlier in the album.
The first side kicks off with the joyful dub of Can’t Pay Won’t Pay, a guitar-infused track with free-flowing rhymes reminiscent of Dreadzone. Yet, while it’s a warm opener, its good time vibes are soon eclipsed by the searing polemic of Stealing The Future. A perfect example of just how effectively ADF bridge the worlds of dub, rock, hip hop and punk, Stealing The Future sees Chandrasonic’s avant-punk guitar lines going head to head with Flutebox’s eerie flute to great effect. What a start to an album – fiery, and yet not without hope, it’s a multihued soundclash that underlines ADF’s strengths in just ten short minutes. Next up, the blistering Frontline is arguably the most potent rap / rock collision since Zack De La Rocha threw a fist in the air and declared “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me”. Lyrically stunning, the track sees Aktarvator spitting out rhymes with barely restrained fury and, after such a display, the gorgeous acoustic dub of the title track comes as much needed relief despite the anger simmering in the verse. The brief, yet wonderful, Realignment nods to the band’s live soundtrack work, and is utterly beautiful, once again providing a showcase for Flutebox’s deeply impressive excursions. The first side is rounded out with the epic Stewart Lee collaboration Coming Over Here (recently reviewed here), which remains brutally Swiftian in its barbed irony.
The second side opens with the lighter touch of Human 47, which helps to sweep away the clouds that gathered during the oppressive Coming Over Here. Featuring 47 Soul, it’s an elastic dub that sounds, as much of the album does, refreshingly unique at a time when too many acts seem content to play follow the leader. Awash with crazed percussion, Mindlock is a proto-industrial instrumental that harks back to Rafi’s Revenge, paving the way for Swarm, one of the album’s many highlights. In a spectacular move, the track takes the appalling language of the far right and repurposes it as something positive – “Swarm, feel the power together, one mind hive mind one mind.” The power of the sentiment is undeniable, and it’s hard to imagine a better way to counter the rhetoric of the damned, than by turning it into a slogan behind which people can rally. Despite a seemingly hopeless title, Lost In The Shadows provides the beacon of hope that is then set ablaze on Youthquake Part 1`- Greta Speaks. A fantastic piece of music that puts Greta’s poignant speech at its heart, it carries considerable force and shines yet more light on how the actions and greed of the previous generation are conspiring to destroy the future. Yet, if the message is bleak, the youth and vitality of the messenger suggests that change might still be possible, if only enough people care to echo the sentiment.
Side three brings the album full circle, with three tracks that echo earlier pieces. It opens up with New Alignment, an instrumental evolution of the central motif from Realignment. It works well as a palette cleanser after the somewhat harrowing Youthquake Part 1 and leads neatly into Frontline Santiago. It boasts a stunning vocal from Anna Tijoux, who dominates the track, providing the perfect foil for Aktarvator, with her icy rhymes. The original album ends with a frantic dub reworking of Stealing The Future entitled Smash And Grab The Future (Feat. Dub FX). Layering Chandrasonic’s explosive guitar over a skittering breakbeat, it emphasises the track’s punk spirit even as it swaddles it in electronica, and it provides a suitably brutal finale to the record. It’s followed by Coming Over Here (Neolithic), the first of this deluxe edition’s five bonus tracks and yet another take on a track already well-represented on the breakout 12” single. Not that it’s unwelcome, and any excuse to hear more of Stewart Lee’s vicious skewering of professional moron Paul Nuttall can never a bad thing be.
Side four offers up the remaining bonus cuts. First up, Adrian Sherwood provides a “live mix” of Lost In The Shadows entitled Hovering Shadows. Emphasising both the track’s brilliant vocal and Flutebox’s contribution, it’s a worthy cut that allows the listener to appreciate the track in a totally different way. Adrian’s also on hand for a second “live mix” – an instrumental entitled Kursk Down, which conjures up memories of Massive Attack and the Mad Professor. The album’s blissfully dubbed out title track is up next as a Manudigital Remix that seems to echo around the listener as it foregrounds the lovely vocal with which the track is led. The final bonus track is the graceful Panda Dub Remix of Swarm and it seems entirely fitting that the album should conclude with a call for unity.
Cut on gorgeous, crackle-free vinyl and packaged in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner bags featuring the bulk of the lyrics, the deluxe edition of Access Denied is an absolute treasure. With the original album already a masterpiece that reasserts all of Asian Dub Foundation’s myriad strengths, this version adds almost thirty minutes of previously unreleased music, making it absolutely essential, whether you’re a long-time ADF fan or an complete newcomer. An album that combines such wit, passion and musical prowess is not one to be treated lightly and, here, Access Denied is reborn in a limited-edition release that offers real value. Beg, borrow, steal… you need this album in your life. 10/10
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