Track Listing

1. Suspect Device
2. State Of Emergency
3. Here We Are Nowhere
4. Wasted Life
5. No More Of That
6. Barbed Wire Love
7. White Noise
8. Breakout
9. Law And Order
10. Rough Trade
11. Johnny Was
12. Alternative Ulster
13. Closed Groove
14. Suspect Device
15. 78 Rpm
16. Jake Burns Interview

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6320 in Music
• Released on: 2001-10-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.co.uk Review
Originally released in 1979, this digitally remastered reissue of Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material comes complete with two bonus tracks, including the original single version of "Suspect Device", plus the first part of a Jake Burns interview. Taking their cue from the Clash's politicised attitude, SLF' self-penned (inflammable) material, articulated their frustrations with "the troubles" in Northern Ireland. Unlike many punk debuts, Inflammable Material manages to meld high-octane potency, with a varied musical palette. Thanks partly to the influence of Don Letts, the regular DJ at the Roxy, the punk fraternity had embraced reggae, identifying strongly with its spirit of protest and, like the Clash, SLF included a reggae cover on their debut LP. Their eight-minute-plus raggedy version of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was" transports Johnny to Northern Ireland, "A single shot rings out in a Belfast night and I said oh Johnny was a good man". Equally eclectic, though slightly less serious, is the doo-wop surf pastiche "Barbed Wire Love", a warped tale of love in Belfast's No Man's Land. Of course, as the rest of the tracks readily attest, SLF are principally purveyors of furious fusillades of guitar-snorting punk rock. And let's face it, any album that includes "Alternative Ulster" and "Suspect Device" has to be considered a bona fide classic. --Chris King

CD Description
Stiff Little Fingers came roaring out of Northern Ireland in 1979 with a ferocity and sense of black humor that could only have come from growing up in a war zone. While other contemporaries (such as the Undertones) tried their best to rise above the conflict in pop's embrace, Stiff Little Fingers chose to address the daily indignities and injustices head-on. Aggressive punk anthems such as "Wasted Life", which rejects violence as a solution, and the call-to-arms "Alternative Ulster", which envisions the creation of a new social order, are based in SLF's political awareness.
INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL is among the most powerful political albums in punk rock history. Besides the government and military, the band tackles record company shenanigans on "Rough Trade", and the difficulty in loving someone from the wrong side of the fence, as in "Barbed Wire Love". Either way, Stiff Little Fingers managed to make even the worst scenarios come alive with black humor and gleefully guttural vocals. An oft neglected punk classic and a must for all serious students of the genre.

Customer Reviews

Superb angry politicised punk.
Recorded in 1978 and released in 1979 Inflammable Material actually came in on the coat-tails of the punk movement , a relatively short lived entity anyway. You could legitimately call it post punk except for the fact that this album is pure punk in sound, attitude and thematically . It is classed as a classic punk album and quite right too.
Jake Burns, he of the rasping incandescent vocals and the searing starchy guitar, gives an impressively committed performance spitting out sagacious lyrics about the political situation in Northern Ireland( it would have been incredible if they hadn't) and by proxy alienation, ennui and just generally being extremely ticked off about the way things are/were. Guitarist Henry Cluney chips in with a couple of songs -"Here We Are Nowhere" and "No More Of That" and for the most part the album is an invigorating blast of short pacy angular punk songs .
The exceptions are the original closing track the jerky staccato "Closed Groove" and a rather superfluous cover of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was" which if nothing else further cemented the link between the anti-establishment mien of punk and reggae. Aided by no less than three producers -Geoff Travis( who also formed "Rough Trade " recordsin 1978) Mayo Thompson and Doug Bennett- the sound is a dense coagulation of bramble sharp guitars but with the lead riffs -especially on the memorable singles "Alternative Ulster" and "Suspect Device" as clear and crisp as Alpine air.
Inflammable Material is one of the great punk albums . It has all the prerequisite requirements for the genre. Palpable anger and frustration channelled through a seething on the surface discordant racket but not quite camouflaging tunes that could make a Golem pogo. It's right up there with Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, London Calling , Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables and if you want angry politicised rock Easterhouses brilliant Contenders . Recommendations do not come any higher as far as I'm concerned.

Angry young men
What can I say about this- erm, that its the most devastaing, politically charged debut ever. It still sounds as fresh and relevant today as it did all those years ago.
Definately the sort of album that makes you want to learn guitar and start a band with a few mates and polemicise against the world you live in.

Raw power from raw people
It was always inevitable, even back then, that after the Pistols and the Clash and the others had settled, a classic (if not THE classic) punk album was going to come out of Belfast.

And so it proved. The Fingers stance was vaguely controversial even then (read ambiguous) at a time when you were supposed to take the right (left) side and say too much rather than too little. And sure, the Fingers rapidly degenerated into a parody of themselves.

But this was their, and one of punk's finest hours. Sheer, raw, bleeding energy and committment (matched, I might add, on stage). Wanna know what punk was about...this album is the dictionary definition.