By Jim Rowland
Punk legends Ruts DC follow 2021’s ElectrAcoustiC’ album this month with ‘ElectrAcoustiC Volume Two’ – a second volume of acoustic interpretations that delve into their back catalogue as both The Ruts and Ruts DC, and also re-imagines some of the choice cuts from their latest ‘Counterculture?’ album from last year.
As with the first volume, ‘ElectrAcoustiC Volume Two’ does what is says on the tin – stripped down ‘unplugged’ type versions that mix the acoustic approach with a smattering of electrification. The track listing splits Ruts DC’s more recent output with early Ruts/Ruts DC material down the middle with pretty much a 50/50 split. Last year’s rather fine ‘Counterculture?’ album donates five tracks, with the laid back ‘Second Hand Child’ featuring from the previous equally fine ‘Music Must Destroy’ album.
From the band’s early years, four tracks, namely ‘Mirror Smashed’, ‘Dangerous Minds’, ‘Despondency’ and ‘Different View’, feature from the first Ruts DC album ‘Animal Now’, released the year after the band had lost Malcolm Owen, with the band commenting that dusting off these tracks from a difficult period has proved a cathartic experience. From the original days of The Ruts, ‘Love In Vain’ keeps the dub reggae vibe of the original version, with ‘Backbiter’ and ‘Staring At The Rudeboys’ serving as a reminder that The Ruts penned outstanding tunes right from the off all those years ago.
Indeed, when you get a stripped bare album like this, it’s never going to work if you don’t have decent songs, and that’s what you have here, whether it’s the likes of the recent ‘X Ray Joy’, or the earlier ‘Different View’ or ‘Backbiter’. It works for that reason, because the songs shine through even when taken to a different space altogether.
If you opt for the vinyl issue, you get three less songs – ‘Cyclone’, ‘Mirror Smashed’ and ‘Staring At The Rudeboys’ are only on the CD… but you do get a natty clear vinyl pressing.
- ‘ElectrAcoustiC Volume Two’ is released today.
- Ruts DC tour in December:
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