Transmitters

  • Transmitters
  • And We Call That Leisure Time (UK Heartbeat) 1981 

One-time Glaxo Babies vocalist Rob Chapman leads the Transmitters, an interesting enigma of riveting lyrics and free-form minimalism on guitar, bass, drums and squawking sax. The Transmitters walk a very fine line between accessibility and weirdness — easy to appreciate but hard to like. Chapman’s a talented singer and writer, and the music might be really good if it weren’t so one-dimensional. File under “Eager-to-please-Pere Ubu-offspring.”

[Ira Robbins]