VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Colossal Youth is the opposite of Anarchy In The UK or Clash City Rockers, [but] every bit as good.”
—Dave McCullough in Sounds (May 17, 1980)
Young Marble Giants’ (YMG)’s one and only album Colossal Youth celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the Cardiff trio are releasing a special edition reissue, due out November 27. Young Marble Giants—Colossal Youth 40th Anniversary Edition includes the titular album as well as songs from Salad Days, Is The War Over, the “Final Day” single, and their “Testcard” EP. It’ll also come with a live DVD of their last ever US show in 1980 at New York’s Hurrah club.
Comprised of guitarist-songwriter Stuart Moxham, brother and bassist Philip, and singer Alison Statton, YMG emerged from the punk and post-punk landscape with a sound like no one else. Recorded in five days, Colossal Youth went on to influence whole legions from Sheffield to Seattle, looking to de-grungify gangs of four or more. They found fans in the likes of Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Belle & Sebastian, David Byrne, Sonic Youth, and The Magnetic Fields.
Cited as one of the most definitive records of the post-punk era, there is something almost canonical about the album’s use of voice, muted instruments and space. Colossal Youth’s attention to sparse detail is now a modus operandi for haunted electronica auteurs and spectral singer-songwriters alike, but ultimately, only the Young Marble Giants sound like Young Marble Giants.
Young Marble Giants—Colossal Youth 40th Anniversary Edition is available on deluxe vinyl (2x transparent vinyl, DVD, 4-page booklet and exclusive 28-page booklet), standard vinyl (2x Black vinyl, DVD, 4-page booklet), CD (2x CD, DVD, 16-page booklet), and digitally.
