Last Man In Europe – ... A Certain Bridge [7''] (1981, Cocteau Records)

Last Man In Europe were a UK Post-Punk band from the early 1980's. They released one 7" single, 'A Certain Bridge' (1981) and then changed their name to The Last Man in Europe Corporation and released an album in 1982 ('Songs From The Ark').

 

 The raw rhythm box chug and the swooping synth fading up recalled nothing so much as the sound of 1981 on an indie budget. The rhythm loop was a close cousin to the one in The Nails “88 Lines About 44 Women.” Eventually guitar, synths, and drums came to an agreement and the groove percolated along for a few minutes without much change. The vocals on the “A Certain Bridge” had a whiff of Positive Noise in his declamatory insolence. Only two bars of a portentous descending guitar figure that marked the [brief] bridge provided any variance here. The inconclusive song lasted almost six minutes to little change in tension, though to its credit, it seemed only 4:30 long. 

 

“T.V Addict” had a similar reliance on a programmed rhythm but the guitar and bass were much more prominent here; resulting in a sound that felt a little closer to early Bauhaus without putting their boot in. The song was presumably the sequel to The Normal’s “T.V. OD.” The final track, “Complications” featured a lurching beat that was front and center; dominating the guitar and synths. But it was the perkiest song here. The berserk and tasteless synth solo at the song’s surprising coda felt like a conscious attempt at some Enoesque thrills ca. Roxy Music. But that outburst showed, finally, some signs of life with Last Man In Europe. Their reliance on canned rhythms lent their songs a sort of plodding dullness that this one finally rose above to put the boot in. 

 

On the whole, the band’s debut single was typical of its time, but with not much in the way of dynamics in their arrangement; synth freakout solo at the end of the record aside. [SOURCE: POST-PUNK MONK]

 

 

Label: Cocteau Records – COQ 2 

Format: Vinyl, 7"

Country: UK 

Released: 1981 

Style: Alternative Rock, Synth-pop, New Wave, Post-Punk, Minimal Wave

 

Tracklist:

A A Certain Bridge 

B1 T.V. Addict 

B2 Complications 

 

DOWNLOAD HERE