Icicle Works – Record-facts…

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The Icicle Works are an English alternative rock band and were named after the 1960 short story “The Day the Icicle Works Closed” by science fiction author Frederik Pohl. They had a top 20 UK hit with “Love Is a Wonderful Colour” (1983).

The Icicles bring a fresh urgency to the psychedelic-pop formula, interrupting their cranium-bending reality detours (“Culling time…/In the camp of unused dreams”) with double-time choruses, Antmusic-style snare-drum rolls and minor-key melodies that hit like the first blast of autumn’s chill.

The band seems fixated on elemental, outdoors things – trees, seasons, birds, deserts, dragonflies – seeing in the natural world a paradigm for the matter of living. Within a song, Icicle Works build, by addition, from mantralike calm to gale-force climax. The thrilling choruses and rollicking psych-pop punch of “A Factory in the Desert,” “Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)” and “Chop the Tree,” to name but a few, will shake you into a state not unlike ecstasy.

The Icicle Works is the eponymous debut album by The Icicle Works. The album was released in 1984 and charted at number 24 in the UK and number 40 in the US.

The Icicle Works‘ self-titled debut as a whole is an excellent example of post-punk power and beauty. “Chop the Tree” alone is something of a lost classic, with Hugh Jones‘ note-perfect production, Sharrock‘s pounding, complex rhythm attack, and McNabb‘s exquisite singing providing one heck of a start. Indeed, McNabb here sounds like a clear precursor to singers like Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy and the equal of the precise diction and passion of Edwyn Collins. When it comes to the hits, “Love Is a Wonderful Colour” is another prime vocal showcase, with a sparkling guitar/keyboard lead arrangement and a constantly shifting but never pointlessly show-off bass/drums pace. Frankly, the members of U2 must have wished they could be so emotional and so soaring at this point in their careers.

As for “Birds Fly,” the song stands as a joyous rave-up of quick drums and shimmering guitars with an inspiring, frenetic chorus tempered by a gentle, half-whispered conclusion. Further examples of the group’s abilities crop up song for song: the amazing guitar break and serene conclusion of “Reaping the Rich Harvest,” the clean crisp flow of “As the Dragonfly Flies” interrupted by a down and dirty guitar line, the soft pipe start to “Lovers’ Day,” and more. Concluding with the slow burn fire of “Nirvana,” The Icicle Works is early-’80s U.K. rock at its considerable best.

Track listing US Edition