Boxset Review: Peter & The Test Tube Babies - The Albums 1990-1998
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
The third of Cherry Red Records collections of East Sussex streetpunks, Peter and the Test-Tube Babies, covers the band’s output over the final decade of the last millennium. Having previously addressed Peter et al’s first half a dozen albums from 1982 to 1987, and then the complete singles up to 2017, this third package compiles the Test-Tube Babies’ four studio and one live title through the nineties.
Very much a product of its time, 1990’s The $hit Factory is the band’s reaction to the late Eighties proliferation of producers Stock / Aitken / Wateman (or the Hit Factory, as they were dubbed) acts’ domination of the UK singles charts. In their inimitable style, Peter and the Test-Tube Babies take irreverent aim at Kylie, Rick Astley and Bananarama, among others. Fourteen songs that have a novelty value but probably won’t be on as regular a rotation as the other discs in this collection. That said, there’s plenty of drunken possibilities on this one.
A year later and Cringe was released and is disc two of the collection. Opening with the classical instrumental Theme from Cringe, the punk rock of the tile track and the name checking Shit British Tour show the band haven’t lost their sense of humour.
Elsewhere, Peter leads his Test Tube Babies through the punk rock of The Gardener, Reality Calling, There’s a Penis on My Shoulder and the heavy sound of Latent Psychosis, complete with horns. A checky Shit At It and the post punk of The Man Who Did Nothing are both distractions, but it is the Oi! of Launch ‘Em Now, Bare Necessities, Weekend Warrior and Goodbye Forever that are more in keeping with the general aesthetic of the band.
It wouldn’t be a Cherry Red release without a few bonus tracks here and there, so Cringe includes the chugging riffs of Riot and a fun run-through the Yakety Sax – otherwise known as the Benny Hill theme to those of us with countless aches who now make funny noise when getting out of chairs.
It would be four years before the band’s next album. Supermodels released in 1995 was preceded by the single of the same name, backed with other album tracks Shake My World and U Bore Me. These three tracks showed there had been a change in the Peter and the Test Tube Babies’ sound in the intervening years, with a fat bass running directly through the heart of all three songs.
Supermodels seems as though the band have matured during those years: song titles Giving Up Drinking, Mr Mortgage and Love is Dead seem to point to a different perspective when it comes to writing. The sound of this album feels more consistent with the likes of Temptation, Chasing Shadows and Let’s Do Lunch very much adhering to a punk rock vibe.
However, Peter and company can still throw a curveball into the mix every so often with the countrified Crying in the Snow, the wild rock excesses of Dog Society and the cover of Bing Crosby’s Busy Doing Nothing there to keep you on your toes.
Disc four is the live album, Schwein Lake Live recorded 12 December 1995 at Feierwork in Munich during the band’s regular Christmas tours of Germany. Featuring a set drawn from across the whole of the discography, from early classics like Banned from the Pubs and Run Like Hell to the contemporary numbers like the trio of the Supermodel single.
Vicars Wank Too and Transvestites push the boundaries, Student Wankers comes with a shout back and the realisation Elvis Presley had passed away leads to Peter making up a lyric on the spot for Elvis Is Dead.
As the reporting of an event, Schwein Lake Live sounds like it was a hot and sweaty night and a fine way to see out the year, and the set-list is essentially a Peter and the Test Tube Babies’ greatest hits performed in front of a crowd.
The final disc of the set is the 1998 album, Alien Pubduction which features the G.B.H.-assisted I’m Getting Pissed for Christmas, Fuck the Millenium and Still Love the Pub. As with Supermodels, this is a record dominated by a particular sound; on the last album it was punk rock, but here it’s a far more raucous assault. After a few bars of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik it’s headlong into the raging Sour Grapes, followed by Early Grave and 1.4.7.1.
The melee doesn’t really abate until the more punk rock Why Bother? Long Way From Home, All In Her Head and Legless; with the New Wave aesthetic of Meet You At the All Night Offy breaking up the second half of the album.
Of the five discs, I think this one is my favourite, probably due to the more aggressive sound and sharper production, through Supermodels comes a close second.
Included with this package is a full colour booklet with liner notes and reproductions of the relevant album artwork. As ever, Cherry Red have given this collection the treatment it deserves and is a fair document to one of the scene’s most enduring bands.
