Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls [TWI 016]

September will bring a deluxe remastered edition of Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls, the debut album by post/punk icon Pauline Murray, produced by revered sonic architect Martin ‘Zero’ Hannett.

Recorded at the famous Strawberry Studios in July 1980, the album offered epic electronic pop written by Pauline and partner Robert Blamire and marked a radical departure from their shared past in pioneering punk band Penetration. “This is sophistication,” enthused Paul Morley in NME. “Lovely songs of anxiety, malaise and self-doubt.” According to Melody Maker the album was “unquestionably a musical highpoint of this year or any other.”

As well producer/arrangers Martin Hannett and Steve Hopkins (aka the Invisible Girls), the album features a stellar cast of guest musicians including John Maher (Buzzcocks) and Vini Reilly (Durutti Column), and came exquisitely sleeved by Peter Saville and Trevor Key. Stand-out tracks include the popular singles Dream Sequence and Mr X, with the newly remastered Hannett tracks now augmented on CD by a wealth of bonus material including non-album singles, live recordings (from tours in 1980 and 1981) and a John Peel session (1980). The vinyl format will also include a bonus CD of instrumental versions.

“It’s a bit of a missing link album,” says Pauline today. “Written and recorded after punk, but before Martin Rushent and the Human League made airy pop respectable again. We chose the other Martin in 1980 because we wanted the incredible sounds he achieved for Joy Division and Magazine. Thundertunes, basically.”