It's always been fashionable to write off certain post-punk bands as Joy Division copycats. By rejecting a band in this fashion music critics get the opportunity to flex their muscles. They take a certain secret pleasure in the ability to make and break artist's careers. When a band receives a reputation like this it is difficult to throw off. The Wake is one such band that has been branded with this unfortunate mark and they are for this reason, I feel, under-appreciated.
True, they formed in 1981 Glasgow after the dissolution of Joy Division which helps critics make a case for them as JD wannabes but the music itself is still strong enough to merit a good listening.
But let us get the similarities out of the way, yes there are fantastic, galloping, post-punk, bass-lines throughout the "Harmony" but after 82 when Harmony was recorded it became a staple of the genre. For me that's the only thing that makes me scratch my chin and go, "Ah, Joy Division". Other than that the band is original as far as I'm concerned, they're just post-punk. They share a genre with JD so of course there are going to be similarities.
If anything, the vocals sound more like mid to late 80s Bernard Sumner vocals than Ian Curtis' and at this point in time New Order was still, to a degree, trying rip-off Ian Curtis' baritone voice on "Movement" and their first New Order BBC sessions.
"Judas" is a gem on the album with a palpable melancholy and vocals that sound like a Gothic Syd Barret. Of all the tracks on the album this one breaks with the JD method more than any other while still appealing to the same emotions. Another outstanding track is "Host" which includes actual backup vocals, some Vinny O Reilly type guitar-work, and dub bass. A nice snapshot in the evolution of post-punk.
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