Mark Stewart - 1983 - Learning To Cope With Cowardice

Mark Stewart 

1983

Learning To Cope With Cowardice

01. Learning To Cope With Cowardice

02. Liberty City

03. Blessed Are Those Who Struggle

04. None Dare Call It Conspiracy

05. Don't You Ever Lay Down Your Arms

06. The Paranoia Of Power

07. To Have The Vision

08. Jerusalem

09. The Wrong Name And The Wrong Number (Original Version)

10. High Ideals And Crazy Dreams

Tks.1-8 were originally released in 1982 on vinyl (ON-U LP24)

Tk.10 was available on 12" (ON-U DP5)

Another version of tk.9 was available on Sub Rosa (Belgium) and on "Pay It All Back Volume 2" [misprinted as "Pay It All Back Volume 1"] (ON-U CD42/CD1)

Mark Stewart – vocals, production, art direction

Desmond "Fatfingers" Coke – keyboards

Charles "Eskimo" Fox – drums

Evar Wellington – bass guitar

Additional musicians and production

Anna Hurl – art direction

George Oban – bass guitar on "Liberty City" and "Jerusalem"

Nick Plytas – keyboards on "Liberty City" and "None Dare Call It Conspiracy"

Dan Sheals – drums on "Blessed Are Those Who Struggle"

Adrian Sherwood – production

Antonio "Crucial Tony" Phillips – bass guitar on "Blessed Are Those Who Struggle"

For those that felt that Mark Stewart's work with The Pop Group just wasn't quite jarring enough, there is 'Learning to Cope with Cowardice'. Taking a leap further down the cumbersome paths of the like of The Red Krayola, the schizophrenic cacophony held herein treads a threadbare line between rhythm and total chaos. The sound is similar to the aforementioned Pop Group, essentially a strong dub foundation speckled with collages of arbitrary noise and a heavy emphasis on sharp staccato delay effects inducing a wobbly and uneasy feeling. Think less 'Rob a Bank' kind of Pop Group and more 'Don't Call me Pain' kind of Pop Group. I'd wager to say I like it even as much as their heralded classic 'Y'.

When post-punk agitators the Pop Group disbanded in 1980, Mark Stewart briefly collaborated with the New Age Steppers and, the following year, embarked on his first solo project with producer Adrian Sherwood and several Steppers personnel. While Learning to Cope with Cowardice was no less confrontational than some of the Pop Group's work, it left behind the harsh, frenetic avant-funk of the Bristol band to foray into more experimental, dub-oriented territory. The standout track is the cut-up version of "Jerusalem," the English hymn (using William Blake's visionary words) that has come to stand almost as an unofficial national anthem. Stewart's "Jerusalem" embodies the multiple sonic facets of this album, juxtaposing jarring electronics, hectoring vocals, and heavy beats with more expansive layers of melody. Here, Stewart mixes his own strident declamation of Blake's verses with samples of a traditional arrangement of the hymn and with echo-heavy dub textures in such a way as to craft a complex meditation on issues of race, class, and tradition in Thatcher-ite Britain. Ironically, although Stewart doesn't use his own words, this ranks among his most powerful political statements. Elsewhere, Stewart sees democracy eroded by the encroachment of the State in league with corporate forces. The soundtrack to that vision is rendered appropriately dissonant, fragmented, and menacing in the chaotic, scratched, cut-up sound of "Blessed Are Those Who Struggle" and the austere metallic distortion of "None Dare Call It Conspiracy." Stewart's less challenging side can be heard on the title track, with its basic hip-hop rhythms, as well as numbers like "The Paranoia of Power" and sections of "Liberty City," which are built on smooth reggae grooves with his tortured singing offset by melodic female vocals. 1985's follow-up, As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade, would further explore the more experimental dimension of Stewart's sound.