release date: Sep. 1980
format: 2 lp vinyl (first issue - V 2174)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,96]
producer: Mick Glossop
label: Virgin Records - nationality: Scotland, UK
Track highlights: A) 1. "Circus Games" (4 / 5) - 2. "Out of Town" (4 / 5) - 3. "Goodbye Civilian" - 4. "The Children Saw the Shame" (4 / 5) - 5. "A Woman in Winter" (4,5 / 5) (live) - - B) 2. "Happy to Be With You"
[ Live at 'Rock Goes to College' on BBC, 1981 ]
3rd studio album by Skids following one year after Days in Europa is a mighty fine improvement, and then it was originally released as a double album; or more precisely, it was released as a standard album with a free bonus album titled Strength Through Joy. In early 1980 founding member William Simpson was replaced by Russell Webb on bass, and before recording the album, Mike Baillie on drums made the band a quartet again. However, after the album's release Bailie left, and soon after, also the band's musical composer Stuart Adamson left the band due to controversies with Richard Jobson, basically leaving the band reduced to a duo consisting of Jobson and Webb, who would continue to record one last album as Skids, Joy (1981), before finally dissolving in 1982.
For the first couple of years I thought this was a best of album. Despite, Jobson and Webb's '81 release, this is really the final album by on of the most interesting and influential bands of the punk rock era, and this is almost an accomplishment on level with the band's great debut.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Records Collector 4 / 5 stars ]
