FEAR MERCHANTS, THE - Mental (Sealed) (LP)

Limited Yellow Vinyl LP. Fascinating reissue of 1983 Homosexuals related rarity. Previously released as a cassette on the It's War Boys label. During their brief existence, The Fear Merchants effortlessly unleashed a true DIY classic onto unsuspecting ears. At the time of conception, barely released outside of the London DIY-Squat scene, but now proudly unearthed for your listening pleasure by those lovely people at Emotional Response. Confused thinking? Prolonged depression? Excessive fears? Strange thoughts? Everyone and their auntie has a down on being mental, but without severe mental illness the world would have had no religion, no music, no art. The holy books can trace their origins to the select ravings of psychopaths while the ear of Van Gogh, could it but speak, would holler out a litany of canvased insanity. The Fear Merchant's 'Mental' lies at the midway point between the Marat/Sade of Peter Weiss mixed in with a guided tour of London's notorious Bedlam asylum. At one point, members of the aristocracy enjoyed paid tours of said asylum, delighting in the antics of the inmates. Who's to say that the inmates did not derive greater pleasure from watching the rubbernecking antics of the upper classes? This, It's War Boys classic slice of operetta, features a nebula of usual suspects - Sara Hop-Hop, Amos, C.D. Greyt's bottle top drumming and Ron Dealo's caustic strings. Also along for the Electro Convulsive Therapy were cracked accordionist Ian Hill, nutty mandolin stroker Jerry Wiggins and bonkers anti-horn virtuoso Lucy 'Tuneless' Templeton. Mental, originally released on cassette (as IWB ?18), was produced in Anton Hayman's (Homosexual's guitarist) short-lived 8 track studio. Located right next door to a Camden Town doss house, at various points in the recordings you can hear the groups of destitutes shoehorned into provided screams and backing singing by the promise of a free can of Red Stripe lager. As the slain jass trumpeter Wes Morgan once said: 'You've got to play everything you know today because you won't get a chance tomorrow.