Maximum Joy - Station M.X.J.Y.

There's been a few attempts at re-presenting the Maximum Joy catalogue down the years, namely that comp with the great artwork in the mid noughties and Silent Street's vinyl collection in 2017, but somewhat bizarrely this stands as the first ever reissue of their landmark debut from 1982. Deserving of canonical status, MJ grew out of Glaxo Babies and Pop Group, and were a prototypical example of what's now seen as a quintessentially Bristolian pan genre sensibility, a thrilling, near-unbeatable fusion (yes, fusion) of the DIY rattle of Essential Logic, Raincoats, Delta 5, the Disco Not Disco/No Wave strut of their New York bros and sisters on 99 (ESG, Y Pants, Liquid Liquid) and Adrian Sherwood's genius dub instincts. All elevated by Janine Rainforth's absolutely joyous vocal. Post-punk in that very Reynoldsian way, I suppose. And after all these years I'm still struggling to find a song from the era that I like more than 'Let It Take You There'. Actually, objectively PERFECT.