You ever misplace a sandwich right in the middle of eating it? You know, like, “Oh, tasty! Mayonnaise!” and then all of a sudden it’s like, “Hey, what the heck, that sammy was just here!” Happens to the best of us, that’s for sure. Anyway, that sandwich thing is tangentially relevant because today we’re going to be talking about a new release on Blackest Ever Black from Officer! entitled Dead Unique. Dead Unique is a lot like that sandwich you just misplaced because way back in 1995 Mick Hobbs (the brains behind the Officer! operation) went to all that trouble to record an album but then he just up and never released it. What a goof! Also like that sandwich you just can’t find, the press release about it says it runs the gamut from “ragged-raw rock ‘n roll, sumptuous chamber music, pastoral folk, blowsy prog-jazz, and paranoid dub-space” and that it’s “a lost classic of English art-rock” even though I bet they say that to all the girls/sandwiches.
Anyhow, back in 2012 the folks at Blackest Ever Black were scoping the Officer! archive and they discovered Dead Unique and thought to themselves, “The lettuce may be a little wilted from sitting on the shelf for almost 20 years, but this is still one damn fine sandwich of an album!” so now they’re going to release the thing as a glorious double LP (also CD and digital), between which you can put any number of things, including ham, mustard, or corn to make your very own vinyl sandwich.
Mick Hobbs, of course, is not just a solo sandwich-losing joker. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Hobbs worked with all manner of UK-based experimental and post-punk groups, including initially The Work, and later groups such as Flaming Tunes and Family Fodder. He was also quite closely associated with This Heat’s Brixton-based Cold Storage studio, recording his 1984 LP Ossification there. In the early 90s he moved to the US to work alongside Jad Fair’s Half Japanese project. His Officer! project, though a solo endeavor, gave him the opportunity to collaborate with all his pals, including on Dead Unique everyone from Patrick Q of The Legendary Pink Dots, the animator and illustrator Marsha Colburn, and Jad Fair. The release, which Blackest Ever Black emphasizes is not a reissue, since, you know, as we’ve already established, the thing never came out in the first place, is out May 24, and you can pre-order it now, and listen to “V.I.M.” off the album below.
Dead Unique tracklisting:
01. Nest
02. Elephant Flowers
03. It Goes Up / Revenge
04. Go Back
05. Cows Hum in the Fields
06. Shrug / Good
07. Biteman
08. Nardis
09. Someone at the Door
10. Stewed Fruit
11. All I Got
12. V.I.M.
13. Bugs in Amber
14. Guess
15. The Pony Was Contented
16. Lilac and Orange
17. Clint
• Officer!: http://www.discogs.com/artist/722910-Officer!
• Blackest Ever Black: http://blackesteverblack.blogspot.com
More about: Officer!
