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"New acts could do worse than look to Haig’s current output for inspiration,
such is the man’s continuing streak of creativity".
BBC Review 2009-11-20
"Crammed full of pithy pop tunes, trademark dislocated funk and adroit covers,
it's uplifting proof that his recalcitrant muse is still with him".
50 Essential Tracks December 09 - 'Ambition' by Paul Haig "Delivers typically
pithy arrow to the heart of celebrity culture"
Q Magazine
"Trip Out The Rider is as good a single as Franz have ever managed
and reiterates Haig's ongoing influence"...
Uncut
"10 punchy pop songs are a return to the short, spiky guitar sounds he
pioneered on the Postcard imprint nearly 30 years ago"
Record Collector
'This combination of raw talent, diversity and hard work would appear to have paid off.
‘Relive,’ treads the tightrope between doom and funk and revives the spirit of Postcard'.
subba-cultcha
"it throbs with widescreen opulence and sounds hungry"..
theartsdesk.com
"ex-Josef K frontman’s latest LP, Relive, unfolds as a bone-rattling thrill that
could energise the darkened corners of any dancefloor"...
The Skinny
"New listeners may start here; old ones won’t want to miss it".
The Herald
‘Trip out the Rider’ is energised and unexpected: it proves there’s pop
fire in Haig’s belly yet.”
The List
Paul Haig,
King Tut's, Glasgow
In a chock-a-block bill at Tut's on Thursday, Audrey Redpath paid tribute to
the singular vocal stylings of Nico, in a short set that was high on ambition
but which may require a little more work before achieving its full potential.
That said, how can songs of the stature of These Days and I'll Be Your Mirror
ever fail to please?Laki Mera, whose debut album was released to some
acclaim earlier this year, seem to be building something of a head of steam
through regular gigging. With vocalist Laura Donnelly at the helm of a sure-
footed band having fun with some old-school electronica, they promise much.
After two decades Paul Haig, the former Josef K frontman, has been
shrugging off his reclusive tendencies with a number of live outings this year.
It's something of an odd experience to witness decades-old music still
sounding as fresh and of-the-moment as more recent material like Stay Mine.
But then Paul Haig is something of myth as well as an enduring inspiration.
And while he's probably too modest to admit to it, with hindsight it is clear
that he is responsible for creating a whole genre of angular guitar music that
remains prevalent to this day. Witness It's Kinda Funny and Chance Meeting
sounding as contemporary as they did all those years ago.In many respects
things have turned full circle for Haig. Gone are the sweeping electronics of
the mid to late 1980s, replaced instead with a tight guitar orientated backdrop.
However,it's a sign of a fine songsmith when a well crafted classic such as something
good, from 1989's neglected chain album, translates so well for the 21st century.
Dave Prater
frontman of Josef K, culled from the lyrics of Stay Mine, one of
the standout songs in a fine set from a chap who seems to have
thrown off his agoraphobic tendencies.
The 10th in a fairly low-key series of solo releases, the new album
follows swiftly on from last year's Electronic Audience and is as good
as any for new listeners to start. The various sounds of Haig are all
here: the spiky pop that has influenced Bloc party and Franz Ferdinand,
the edgy dancefloor grooves (Trouble Maker), and the sweeping cinematic
electronica of Fantasize. More to the point, he sounds like he's having fun.
Keith Bruce.
Scottish post-punk revolution of the Eighties as a
member of Josef K, but this 10th solo outing should
thrust him firmly back into the limelight.
Previous albums have been dominated by electronica,
but here he allows the guitar some time to breathe,
and the results are impressive, especially on Trouble
Maker, Stay Mine, closer Gone In A Moment and
belting single Hippy Dippy.
David Esson.
frontman of the legendary electro-punks Josef K, who
were one of those bands destined to be largely ignored
by all but the enlightened few, but who have subsequently
become retrospectively acknowledged as being years
ahead of their time. They’ve even got covered by Klaxons!
Buoyed by the success of lastyear’s excellent album
‘Electronic Audience’ Paul himself went into creative
overdrive franticly creating its follow-up ‘Go Out Tonight’.
The album explores the idea that simple actions can
have dire consequences and is laced with Big Brother
style irony (that’s 1984 not Channel 4!), dislocation and
shadowy underworlds.
Musically, it treads angular, jerky electronic
pathways that stand back and watch what happens when
slashing new wave guitars meet bubbling techno synths.
The result? A creative genre defining genius at his best.
REMASTERED and expanded version of the 1989 solo offering
by post-punk Scots band Josef K head boy Haig, eschewing the
guitars of his band life for sophisticated electronic pop, married
to soul and even disco. Class written all over it, from Audrey Hepburn
on the cover, to the majestic opening track Something Good, which
inexplicably failed to be a monster hit, through to Chained, provided by
tragic friend Billy Mackenzie. Five bonus tracks add to the pleasure.
David Esson.
Domino's recent Josef K compilation went some way towards reclaiming
Paul Haig's reputation as the inventor of the scratchy post-punk sound
later exploited by Franz Ferdinand. In the last 25 years since Postcard
Records' heyday, Haig has been embalmed in electronic froideur.
Here he indulges his pop instincts, adding an understated croon to pulsing
rhythms and Kraftwerk melodies. It's an old-fashioned futuristic album, and
though the sense of alienation remains, Haig sounds like he's having
fun-albiet as a wallflower at the space station disco.
ALASTAIR McKAY
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