Richard Hell & The Voidoids- Destiny Street Repaired
7/10

Classic punk revived and re-illustrated for the modern age, Richard Hell has always been a prickly punk, exciting fans and inciting controversy. The pivotal and important ex-Television front man has reportedly been working on this project for decades. Destiny Street was his second and final album with The Voidoids, producing some stellar songs like ‘I Gotta Move’, ‘The Kid With The Replaceable Head’ and ‘Downtown at Dawn’. It also includes some lesser, slower numbers like ‘Going Going Gone’, but we’ll try to ignore that one. Hell found it necessary to re-jig this classic because, he says, “At the time of the original recording I was so debilitated by despair and drug-need that I was useless. The record ended up being a high-pitched sludge of guitar noise. It was a shame because the songs were clean, simple, and well-constructed, but those values were sabotaged by the inappropriate arrangements and production.” Hell, frustrated with commercial process, let the original go out of print for five years. Then two years ago he found the album’s original two track tapes and decided to remake the album as he thought it should be. With further recording done at John Kilgore Sounds And Recording in NYC, engineered by Patrick Ford and recorded in the last year, Destiny Street Repaired does these classic songs justice. While Destiny Street never had anything on The Voidoids’ debut Blank Generation, it still has some great tracks. Destiny Street Repaired however, is a little weird, like bringing back the dead, and many of the new additional guitar solos Hell enlisted from maestros Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Ivan Julian sound a little overblown and out of place. At times they serve to dish out a more classic blues pedigree for the original scummy punk vibe. It’s interesting, if not a little unsettling. Hell sounds a little off-kilter on some of the reworked vocals at times, but the man does turn 60 this October! And there are some nice new touches here and there; Sheelagh Bevan’s backing vocals on ‘Staring In Her Eyes’ and Patrick Ford’s in the opener, plus the re-working of the title track has surprisingly funky guitar – in a good way. It’s reassuring to see an artist of such importance finally happy with his work, and interesting to hear his reworking. Destiny Street Repaired is an intriguing listen and an insight into Hell’s modern thoughts on old opinions.
Sarah

Destiny Street Repaired is out on September 1. Pre-order the CD or vinyl at InSound.

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Album, Reviews
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