Richard H. Kirk

condition (cassette/cover): NM / NM
Richard H. Kirk’s debut album, Disposable Half-Truths, was released in 1980, at the height of Cabaret Voltaire’s seminal first, Chris Watson phase (for neophytes, after Watson left the band lurched towards dance music with fewer experimental or noise flourishes). Anyone questioning the Cabs’ right to be uttered under the same breath as Throbbing Gristle might want to note that Disposable Half-Truths, like many an early Cabs release, came out on TG’s Industrial Records, and much of it sounds somewhat indebted to both Kirk’s parent band and the ‘Wreckers of Civilisation’. Tracks like ‘Synesthesia’, ‘Amnesiac Disassociation’ or the lengthy ‘Outburst’ feature familiar snarls of warped guitar, disembodied, tortured vocal samples and synths driven solidly into the red, creating an overbearing atmosphere of dread, only partially lightened by hesitant drum machine shuffles. Ever a politically-minded individual, the angry industrial punk of Disposable Half-Truths is haunted by the spectre of the Cold War and unpredictable technological advances, and the results come close to the morose majesty of Cabaret Voltaire’s masterpiece Red Mecca, although it lacks that album’s focus. Still, the shuddering percussive lurch, distorted Alan Vega-esque vocals and abused clarinet of ‘Information Therapy’ will be a joy for any Cabs fan.