éVoid

Tracks:

  1. Shoes [3.42]
  2. Jiving to the Weekend Beat [3.40]
  3. Language Of Love [4.37]
  4. Race of Tan [4.26]
  5. Ordinary Love [4.10]
  6. Ikologi [4.37]
  7. (Sing A Song) Of Children Gone [4.31]
  8. Shadows [5.05]
  9. Jeremiah and Josephine [3.57]
  10. Civil Servant [4.28]
  11. Mix It Up [4.10]
  12. Round And Round [3.16]

All songs written by Lucien and Erik Windrich

Musicians:

  • Lucien Windrich: vocals, guitars
  • Erik Windrich: vocals, keyboards, bass synthesizers

Release information:

Limited edition cassette sold at gigs at London's Springbok Bar circa 1993. Some of these songs have been released as bonus tracks on the éVoid RetroFresh CD releases.

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Review:

Hands up who enjoyed the extra tracks on the recent Retro Fresh re-release of the seminal debut of éVoid. What do you mean you haven't bought it yet? Ed, please escort that person off the mailing list (and onto the nearest One World website).

With the exception of the alternate take of "I am a Fadget", the rest of the bonus tracks seemed to have been culled from a tape that éVoid were selling at their gigs when I saw them at the Springbok Bar in 1993. So (except for the person evicted in the previous paragraph) you should now have heard the alternate take of "Shadows", the highly jive-able to "Jiving to the Weekend Beat", the haunting, searching and thoughtful"Race of Tan" with its "Invisible Sun" by the Police intro, and the bittersweet tale of love in the Townships in "Jeremiah & Josephine"

My guess is that these recordings are going to raided again for the bonus tracks on the re-release of the often overlooked yet highly creditable second album"Here Comes the Rot". So what can we (and here I am including 1st paragraph person on the assumption that they have learnt their lesson) look forward to apart from the exceptional"Rot"?

Opening the tape is "Shoes" which sounds like "Shadows" would have sounded like if it hadn't been so deliciously dramatic. It is an upbeat jive tune that would have had the Springbok Bar bouncing. "Language of Love" and "Ordinary Life" have a sadness about them but is kept from being depressing by a gently lilting beat.

"Ikologi" works on two levels, one as a straight forward Green song expressing concerns for the planet, but looking beyond the obvious, is a cleverly worded song about the ecology of the human spirit especially in relation to apartheid and posed the question "What do we do when the river runs dry?". Fortunately the floods came before the river ran dry.

"(Sing a Song) of Children Gone" despite it's subject matter is a lively tune as is "Civil Servant" and "Mix it Up" which all borrow heavily from township sounds and will keep the Fadgets happy.

The album ends with "Round and Round" an achingly beautiful song which sums up the generally introspective tone of the album. Like "Rot", the energy and rawness of the debut album is gone but is replaced by a mature sound and the most politically astute lyrics to date.

Two weeks ago we celebrated seven years of Freedom in South Africa. In those seven years we have seen many exiles return to the country they love. Maybe it's time that the Windrich exiles made a return visit to the country that judging by the sounds and words on this album, they never stopped loving. However, if they don't ever have a comeback tour we at least will have the re-releases to keep us company.

Lastly by way of note, I don't know where you can lay your hands on a copy of this tape as I have never seen it anywhere else since that gig in 1993 so don't bombard me with emails asking, but as mentioned above, most of these tracks should be available with the re-release of "Here comes the Rot".
-- John Samson, May 2001

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