Even as early as the second album, HIT THE PULSE, a sense of commercial success loomed. But, being included on two of the most influential experimental collections - Gary Levermore's RISING FROM THE RED SAND epic volumes and Dave Henderson's (a journalist who deserves all credit for bringing noise to the nation via his Wild Planet columns in 'Sounds') ELEPHANT TABLE ALBUM - sealed their fate in the hearts and minds of both press and fans alike.

This was until a certain major record biz person in the shape of Massive's (in size and nature) Tom Watkins (responsible for Pet Shop Boys and Bros fame) took an interest in their affairs having seen endless possibilities on the eve of the techno-craze. A deal was signed with London Records in '87 and a single recorded with Arthur Baker...I'm
getting ahead of myself now, this was to be a retrospective look at P.C.'s vinyl outings - a kind of self-indulgent nostalgia trip. I've always been amazed and bewildered by the disinterest Portion Control have been shown in the past decade, but there are now numerous people looking back and hopefully the following will be of help in spurring them to track down the full range of material issued.

Please note no cassette or video releases and compilation tracks are mentioned. Look to the end of this article for information on these.

1. HARD RHYTHMIC ELECTRONICS

After a series of cassette releases, abundantly contributed compilations and the debut SURFACE AND BE SEEN 12" (In Phaze PORCON 006, 1982) - a rather disappointing, naive oddity (though it did include the excellent nursery rhyme horror of Terror Leads To Better Days) - Dean (vocals), John and Ian's (electronics and percussion) output came under their Hard, Rhythmic Electronics banner. A slogan of sorts and one which to this day, retains the essence of Portion Control.

I STAGGERED MENTALLY (In Phaze CP007, 1982) a ten-track assault on the body was unleashed. In my opinion it's still the most uniquely sounding electro album in history. Layer upon layer of man-made and artificial rhythms, bass synth sequences, enough cut-ups to envy the most ardent Cabs' fan and Dean's angry growls. Melody definitely, was not the order of the day. In fact, Sure Is Kinda Spooky contains a few seconds melodically twee outburst, which adds the only light touch of comic-relief to the proceedings. Back then of course, 'angry young men' was the driving force of the Industrial crowd and Portion Control used this to their advantage (or disadvantage, if you look at the tag they gained) through such titles as: Out Of Order, All Present And Correct - "I staggered mentally", shouts Dean repeatedly - Sex Crimes and Sex Drive (which on the album became Karsic).

After the rough-edged garage electronics of Staggered came the mini- album which really sparked some major interest. Another release on the innovative In Phaze label - brain-child of Pat Bermingham, who nurtured P.C. and Legendary Pink Dots in their early days - HIT THE PULSE (In Phaze EZ2, 1982), a cross between extended twelve-inch on one side and a more accesible progression of the debut-album type songs on the other. 'Audio Media Assault Group, Pulse Beat Project' marked their entry into dancefloor terrain, but still included a couple of non-commercials, Eat Your Heart and Abbo Dabbo (which has the most aggressive sequences you'll ever hear). (To set the scene, imagine the boys - being ex-catering students - handing freshly cooked pancakes to the audience, while the tapes thrust forth!) Chew You To Bits opened with stabbing, reverbed melodies, clearer vocal angst and steers the listener towards P.C.'s new beginnings.

2. ELECTRO-PUNK

A revamped and soon-to-be very important Illuminated label picked up the band and aired some of their finest work. The first release, RAISE THE PULSE (Illuminated ILL2812, 1983) moved the sound on a little further into a dancefloor extravaganza. Dean gives one of his most manic performances over Raise The Pulse's 127 b.p.m. workout. Not for the faint-hearted though, especially if you flip over and listen to the original '82 version, Bite My Head - deliriously noisesome.

Activity on vinyl ceased until 1984, which was heralded in with a John Peel radio session. Three tracks were recorded and aired on several occasions: Go Talk, Rough Justice and Scramble. Two of these were later to appear as singles with fuller, lavishly-produced sound. The first of these, ROUGH JUSTICE (Illuminated ILL3212, 1984) owed a lot to the sequences of Staggered, but was lifted by live horns and included very restrained vocalisation. Another version, over, simply called Justice was closer to the original radio-take. The Man Who Did Backwards Somersaults time-splice, closed as a delightful look into past numbers.

Before Rough Justice's twin, Go Talk, a compilation of material spanning 1980-1982 was put together by In Phaze, SIMULATE SENSUAL (In Phaze PHA5, 1984, Clear Vinyl/Insert/PVC Sleeve), a twelve-track stringing together
an array of hard and soft moments, including the unreleased and wonderfully titled, If I Could Spit.

Brilliant('s) Youth-produced GO TALK (illuminated ILL4312, 1984) followed, an out-and-out hard-edged, aggressive drum-track. It's B-side was little more than slimmed-down re-versions, lacking the mania of the title song.

STEP FORWARD (Illuminated JAMS44, 1984) was born with all the ingredients from the previous twelve-inch's being added. Seven 'real' songs connected by six instrumental fillers made the album rather patchy. But, whilst being critical, the songs were outstandingly crafted and overall had an extremely professional approach. (If you saw the band when they supported both Blancmange and Depeche Mode nationwide, the majority of songs performed would have been from Step Forward). It's probably the ideal place to start for beginners. Though containing no singles, Illuminated had planned a version of Step Forward's most popular track, Havoc Man, to be issued, but P.C. decided to go their own way.

The next piece, THE GREAT DIVIDE (Rhythmic RM1C7, 1985) - released on their own label - a classy dance number produced by Pandit Dinesh, with social-inspired lyrics. Visually aware as they had been throughout, check out the secret-police style ethics in the video. Having recognised its definite commercial potential, a slimmed down seven-inch (Rhythmic 7RM1C7, 1985) appeared, together with a very limited Joseph Watt (Razormaid fame) remix twelve-inch (Rhythmic RM1C007, 1985). This was one of his better efforts as he hadn't stripped the song totally bare of its original sound. The vocals though are much thinner.

With The Great Divide being played on the radio one of its more sympathetic D.J.'s, Janice Long, commissioned a session. Taste Of Love, Bolt It, Cut And Thrust and Havoc Man were to be available on cassette via the band's Info Service, but the usual lengthy delays with the BBC obviously got in the way and it never saw the light of day. Shame!

3. LIKE BLADERUNNERS IN HEAT!!!

In 1986 Dave Henderson embarked on his second label creation, Dead Man's Curve. The first offering had to be by his long-term friends, Portion Control. Demand for the earlier single releases sparked the idea to remix three of them. PURGE (Dead Man's Curve DMC001, 1986) was the answer, containing a drastically re-worked Raise The Pulse, an even more threatening Go-Talk and The Great Divide bearing remarkable resemblance to Watts' mix. And a new one, Karateka, a sparse sequenced attack (very C.V. - but they'll hate me for that). What followed can only be described as the ultimate "killing machine".

An album of indulgent excesses, arcade-game origins, it HAD to exist. PSYCHO-BOD SAVES THE WORLD (Dead Man's Curve DMC008, 1986) a no-holds sonic joyride into outer space! Across its broad spectrum sits the older funk-orientated Cut And Thrust, pure pop of Danger Zone, laserblast guitar-thrashed Fistful Of Creds and on Siren City they reach overdrive. Totally outrageous and so was the sleeve!

Psycho in the end was their swansong. Dave H's DMC fizzled out as Red Rhino collapsed and any chance of a twelve-inch from the album died. A hastily assembled mismatch of live tracks did hit the streets from Dave's empire. LIVE IN EUROPE (Savage Int'l BNIA1, 1987), a ten-track ten-inch had some interesting pieces - mainly from Brixton '82 - but the sound quality was awful. Purely curiosity value only.

4. HEART OF THE MATTER

What came next was run-of-the-mill happenings when involved with a major...London paid an advance, recorded a single Conscience - will probably never see daylight - told the band they'd need to lighten the sound and...nothing. The boys realised before it was too late it was a abum deal and got out. Thank God!

They then had to salvage the arsenal and have only re-emerged in 1990 under a new guise of SOLAR ENEMY. Back with another old friend Gary Levermore and his longstanding Third Mind, TECHNO DIVINITY 12" and CD as a debut. An album in the offing promises to be harder and more akin to their natural approach. Scheduled for early '91 watch out for these three innovators to Skinny Puppy et al, to gain back the ground lost due to others' misdemeanours.

"THERE IS HOPE AND THERE IS VISION...

CRADLED IN YOUR INDECISION, I REALLY WONDER WHY."

This feature was included in the extremely limited first issue of FRACTURED magazine. We decided to reprint in MFTEQ to enable exposure to a wider audience (and also due to a number of typesetting errors when first aired). The planned look at PC's cassette releases and full discography will appear in a later issue. Expect SOLAR ENEMY very
soon...

© Music From The Empty Quarter magazine 1991

Digital assistance and credit: Simon Dell <simon@stroppy.demon.co.uk>