Reviews - few and far between but here's a few from the time...
Animals and Men 'Don't Misbehave in the New Age'
TW 'An incongruous but delightfully logical place to find more honking harp is in strategic areas of an austere, monochrome sort of grim warning from Animals And Men, when Susan Wells lectures the listener in a manner not unlike that of Pauline Murray. Ralph Mitchard, who operates guitar as well as the harp in question, isn't exactly the next Paul Butterfield (probably wouldn't want to be), but earns some sort of award for Unusual Use of a Standard Noise in an Unexpected Context (of the week).
Charles Shaar Murray NME 26th Jan 1980
Animals and Men 'Shell Shock' (Strange Days)
'Shell Shock' from Somerset group Animals and Men (really a B-side to the less striking 'Terraplane Fixation' is similarly hypnotic, dark and intense. Nearest comparison (intended as a rough guide, and not to confine/define) might be Velvet Underground. Features a very strange performance from singer Susan Wells.
NME singles 1980
Animals and Men: The Terraplane Fixation
A fascinating single. They have limitations, it's true - the lyrics are uncomfortably naive - but once you're accustomed to their aggressive and uncompromising music and the frenetic blend of instruments, they make marvellous listening. I'm sure the record won't sell. But I'd love to see them one day, because I think they'd frighten the life out of me and most of the audience. One to watch
Bath Chronicle
The Terraplanes 'It's Hip/Evil Going On'
(Strange Days) OK? This is it, my favourite of the month, without a doubt. Previously Animals and men, many line-ups and musical changes later we have a strangely effervescent punky beat with stylish harp playing, nifty drumming and high-pitched vocals. They deserve to be HUGE
Mick Mercer (Zigzag)
from Mick Mercer's Panache fanzine
Terraplanes demo
Some wildly swampy voodoo is being emitted from the Terraplanes who have changed considerably from their days as Animals and Men. Mow they comprise Dave Mackay (Bass) Andy Payne (drums) Susan Wells (vocals) and Ralph Mitchard (harmonica and guitar) and there are plans to add another drummer. They have recently recorded a new demo which features 'The Man with the Spiked toed Shoes', 'Shop Talk' 'Dreaming of Babylon' and 'treasure of the Damned', and its music filed with atmosphere, dislocation dance and imagination, a special highlight being Sue's vocal delivery
Terraplanes Live
Frome's very own swamp voodoo outfit The Terra planes kicked off the show and set about dislocating the link between Bo Diddle mad Siouxsie and the Banshees. Now expanded with the with the addition of the very lovely Brenda on joint lead vocals (with the impish Susan), and another stand-up drummer, the 'Planes pack far more of a rhythmic punch. The two drummers have all of their polyrhythms sussed out, fusing flexibly with the bass, and the strings are pulled by the somewhat atonal guitar of Ralph Mitchard. The sound and vision was a bit stiff at first, the girls struggling a bit to find their pitch, but with the strength of old favourites like 'Shop Talk' 'Dreaming of Babylon' and the 60s revivalist 'Man with the Spiked Toes Shoes' they were loose and lucid. The Terraplanes are great fun, full of innocence and promise and the sort of group that should steal John Peel's heart
Dave Massey Venue 29
In the City
At Dusk, the wild, god-forsaken country surrounding the town of Frome in Somerset seems even more desolate and forbidding than it does by day... Twilight lends to the area a strange sense of foreboding; a kind of watchful, sentient animosity... The town itself is not reassuring, either. It seems to exist under a permanent haze of restlessness and oppression; an air of the unreal and the grotesque. Sane people avoid entering Frome whenever possible, for it is known to be the lair of (dramatic pause)... Animals and Men!!!
Animals and Men are: Puddle, Drums; Nigel House, Bass; Susan Wells, Vocals; and Ralph Mitchard, Guitar, Vocals and occasional harmonics. Animals and Men are still a bit of an unknown commodity. Though they've been the subject of a few fanzine articles, very little is known about them. Ralph seems to act as their unofficial mouthpiece. "We started out eighteen months ago, under the name Psychotic Reaction," He explains. "We played sixties-style punk, but changed our style and music about three months later." They also changed their name to Animals and Men, the title of a then unrecorded Antsong. "We picked the name cos we liked the Ants," Ralph reminisces. "Adam was very encouraging at first, and dropped our name about quite a lot, which was nice."
Animals and Men play a stark spindly art-punk variant - "Gloom with enjoyment thrown in" to quote someone or other. To date, they have released two singles, 'Don't Misbehave in the New Age'/'Machines' on the TW label, and 'Shell Shock'/'Terraplane Fixation' on their own Strange Days label. I'm not about to pretend that these two records are the greatest thing since sliced bread, but they do have an undeniable charm and vitality. 'New Age' and 'Machines' are both lively, Enthusiastic, but basically amateurish songs. They sound gawky, and immature.
'Shell Shock' is a whole lot better. It bears a marked resemblance to the Banshees' 'Poppy Day' and conveys a similar impression of impending doom. 'Terraplane Fixation' (Inspired by Robert Johnson's ancient 'Terraplane Blues'?) Seems to owe something lyrically to J.C. Ballard's bizarre novel 'Crash!'. In a recent interview with the fanzine 'Vague', Ralph claimed that the song is intended to parody "The sexual implications of a car crashing," a statement I'd be interested to hear him clarify (There are no 'sexual implications' whatsoever to the average car crash; it is decidedly non-sexual an event). Though less compelling than 'Shell Shock', 'Terraplane' is still a decent number. It showcases Susan Wells' offbeat vocal technique to good effect, and proves beyond any doubt that Animals and Men have something to offer as a group.
To the best of my knowledge, they've only been through one change of line-up so far. This was when their original drummer, Geoffrey Norcott, left, to be replaced by the economically-named Puddle. "We knew Geoff from school" Says Ralph. "He was in the Navy when we started, and as we were only messing about it didn't matter. But then he got posted to Gibraltar - where he still is - and Puddle was drafted in from Warminster." Since Puddle joined, Animals and Men have continued as a fairly stable, settled unit.
Unfortunately, things haven't been going too well for then just lately. They've lost a certain amount of their original momentum. Both press and the major record companies have shown little interest in them, and at present, their career is in a virtual state of suspension. As Ralph tells it, "Our first single was brought out by a local businessman, and we received a lot of intrest. But this didn't continue when people heard our other stuff, and we decided we'd be better off on our own. We saved up, and our next single was financed by ourselves.... We've only done about five gigs so far, coz we're a pretty chicken hearted bunch, and as we've no manager and no transport, we're a bit stranded. But we're lazy anyway...."
Despite the setbacks they've suffered so far it'd be a shame if A&M were to give up and admit defeat, coz they're an intriguing group with a lively and entertaining approach to the business of making music. I don't think they'll ever make it into the tax exile bracket, but if they work hard and build on the foundations laid down by their first two singles, they could quite easily develope into a durable grade-B mainstream new wave outfit a la Penetration and Toyah.
Will they go on? Things are very much in the balance at present. Their morale is understandably at quite a low ebb, but i'm hoping that they'll persevere. According to Ralph, "It's pretty difficult to remain enthusiastic in the face of abject disinterest, but we've nothing else to do, so we will probably just carry on...." That's the spirit, Ralphie Never say die, eh? Just keep on toiling in those vinyl vineyards. (Etc, etc, etc.) Ladies and Gentlemen, the fate of these four fine young musicians is in your hands. Kind of gives you an awesome sense of responsibility don't it...?
PETER GRIMES
*Since this article was written, Nigel and Puddle, For different reasons, have both left. It was then we decided to change our name to THE TERRAPLANES, the reason for this was to give us a fresh start, and to avoid any critiscism that we might be trying to "cash in" on The Ants (Well Earned) success and popularity. Basically, our influences are the same but we feel that we have achieved a good, new sound we had / were aiming for, with a stylised version of the 50's Chicago blues - Which is, in a way, similar to the ideas behind our first single. We hope to release another record soonish...
By: RALPH AND SUSAN (EX ANIMALS AND MEN)
