Name: Going Through the Motions
Brand: The Prefects

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

VOID003CD

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2019-11-29

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cargo

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

809236190314

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

VOID003LP

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Black

809236190321

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

The Prefects

Genre GB

New Wave / Post Punk

Label GB

Call Of The Void

Call Of The Void is a label that is related to or a sub-label of Fire Records (UK). With an impressive roster of talented artists, Call Of The Void brings you the best in music across various genres. From *indie rock* to *electronic* and everything in between, this label has something for everyone.

Founded with a passion for music and a commitment to supporting emerging talent, Call Of The Void has quickly established itself as a go-to destination for music lovers. With their finger on the pulse of the industry, they consistently discover and promote groundbreaking artists who push boundaries and challenge conventions.

Whether you're looking for catchy hooks or experimental sounds, Call Of The Void delivers. Their diverse catalog features releases from acclaimed acts such as *The Black Angels*, *Deerhoof*, and *Julia Holter*. Each release is carefully curated to ensure that listeners are treated to an exceptional musical experience.

The Prefects were a punk band from Birmingham. In 1976 singer Robert Lloyd, with guitarist/drummer brothers Alan and Paul Apperley formed after an advert was placed in the Birmingham Evening Mail. They were Birmingham's first punk group.

The band were part of The Clash's 'White Riot Tour', toured with Buzzcocks, played with The Slits, The Fall, The Damned and many others, before recording two sessions for the John Peel radio show.

The band acquired legendary status in the UK, partly because no records were released until the band had split up, and then, only one posthumous single on Rough Trade. However, (and following a semi-official retrospective, The Sound of Tomorrow on Rush Release) in November 2004 a retrospective compilation was released by NYC record label Acute Records which, twenty five years after the group's demise garnered praise all over from webzines to Rolling Stone. The interest was such that now a Live in 1978 CD was also released on British label Caroline True Records in 2005.

They are best remembered for their seven-second opus "I've Got V.D.". The Prefects' final line up transformed into The Nightingales after they split.

The Prefects were a tense art punk band from Birmingham and they released just one posthumous 7" on Vindaloo / Rough Trade and one John Peel session 12". Members went on to form the Nightingales but for just over 2 years (late 77 to early 79) the Prefects were the most important post punk band in Birmingham. Going Through The Motions is the first full-length vinyl collection of The Prefects studio recordings. Although a few tunes don’t stray from the general sounds of their time, there’s innovation and humour here. Escort Girls may be the first recorded forerunner of American hardcore. The Bristol Road Leads To Dachau hints at Joy Division’s later The Atrocity Exhibition. Taking it a step farther than Alternative TV’s How Much Longer with its deliberate dirge, Going Through The Motions, mocks punk expectation against an almost psychedelic haze. Total Luck bears the early evidence of Lloyd’s lone-man confessional style, and Barbarella’s is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to their most-played local venue.

Versions of The Modern Lovers’ She Cracked and the Prefects’ original 625 Lines were recorded live by Virgin on the final two nights of Manchester’s Electric Circus and later issued as a compilation with tracks by The Fall, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division and others. The Prefects refused release of their material, believing their first outing should be a studio recording, not a live track or two on a compilation. During the White Riot tour, members of Subway Sect, The Slits and The Prefects joined in on a live encore loosely based on Velvet Underground’s Sister Ray. Incredibly difficult to listen to, the song was bootlegged widely before eventually appearing on The Slits’ 1980 album of early demos in a 5’20” version called No More Rock And Roll For You. Twenty years later, Vic Godard of Subway Sect edited a minute from the recording and released it on his Twenty Odd Years compilation.

Two decades later, The Prefects have edited more than a minute from it and retitled it White Riot Tour. In another twenty years, it is hoped that the prolonged rite of ritual shortening of this song will leave no trace of it at all. For the record, it’s Robert Lloyd going “wooo-ooo” in the background, in what he says was an attempt to mimic the organ part from Sister Ray, which, listeners may note, is no longer being played. This is the opening salvo in the telling of Robert Lloyd’s career, which will include King Rocker: A film about Robert Lloyd and The Nightingales, by comedian and writer Stewart Lee, director Michael Cumming and Fire Films’ James Nicholls.

Going Through the Motions

Music GB

Buy The Prefects - Going Through the Motions (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.