The Slits 'Trapped Animal' (Sweet Nothing) Released 05/10/09

Thirty years ago The Slits released one of the most genuinely groundbreaking albums of the decade known as the seventies, if not all time. ‘Cut’, their first long player, fused punk rock spirit in its confrontational lyrical approach with a collage of musical influences such as dub and reggae, not to mention one of the most controversial outer sleeves ever pressed to boot. Up to that point they’d been cynically viewed as desperate hangers-on, girlfriends and associates of the genre’s more famous forerunners, yet ‘Cut’ in its infinite wisdom brought about a sea change both critically and aesthetically in the way females in bands were treated as equals rather than glorified commercially-placed objects of desire.

As with many artists who’ve deliberately set out their stall to change perceptions and ultimately pave the way for others to tread in the future, The Slits proved to be fairly short-lived, from a recording perspective at any rate and by 1982 it was all over. Since then, via a host of new wave influenced genres and scenes, most notably Riot Grrrl and the recent spate of girl-infused garage rockers spawned off the back of The Strokes and The White Stripes, the legacy of The Slits has reached a new audience, and in light of the reformations of many contemporaries from the same era, it was perhaps somewhat inevitable that Ari Up and co. would also succumb.

Although the 21st Century incarnation of The Slits only features two of the “classic” line-up, aforementioned vocalist Up and bass player Tessa Pollitt, their ranks are bolstered by the inclusion of former Sex Pistol Paul Cook’s daughter Hollie among others, ensuring the band’s pedigree remains as translucent as ever. What this means is that unlike a lot of their fellow peers who’ve embarked on the comeback trail, The Slits have seemingly set out on a mission to ensure the unfinished business of three decades ago doesn’t go to waste, and if 2006’s ‘Revenge Of The Killer Slits’ was something of an appetiser to get the creative palettes back in full working order again, ‘Trapped Animal’ is the culmination of three years hard work.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite live up to the sacred cow its creators name holds in rock history circles. Sure, there are moments when the girls-as-gang who seemed to make it up as they went along sound refreshingly organic such as the gutsy ‘Peer Pressure’ and incisive ‘Reject’. Remorseful ballad ‘Cry Baby’ and paean to child abuse victims ‘Issues’ also sound deeply thought out in an emotional if not necessarily musical kind of way, while ‘Pay Rent’ and its anyone-can-do-it mentality pretty much sums up The Slits epitaph should they ever need one when they finally decide to call time once and for all.

Elsewhere though, ‘Trapped Animal’ is a clumsy mish-mash of half-conceived ideas that sounds dated in places (‘Babylon’, ‘Lazy Slam’) or just plain dumb (‘Reggae Gypsy’) and at fifteen tracks in length, could have benefited if cut in half. Nevertheless, their status as true innovators remains in tact, due in no small part to the time and place of their initial foray into a male-dominated industry. Sometimes though, once a certain creative zenith has been achieved, as The Slits managed with ‘Cut’, maybe the old adage of quitting whilst ahead isn’t such a bad one after all.