The Slits - Revenge of the Killer Slits

From a historical perspective, The Slits may have made more of an impact than all of the early British punk bands--save for The Clash and Sex Pistols, of course. As an early punk/dub hybrid and as forerunners to the riot grrrl movement, The Slits helped to pave the way for innumerable acts. Never a band to stay within the oft-accepted confines of the punk scene, The Slits were preoccupied with reggae, dub and other forms of music that weren't in tune with what the band's peers were doing, and eventually With only two proper albums, 1979's Cut 1981's Return of the Giant Slits. Ari Up and her crew made an enormous and lasting impression, and a quarter of a century later the band (or, actually, just Ari Up and Tessa Pollit) is attempting to stage some sort of a comeback. Revenge of the Killer Slits is as unbalanced as EPs come; its three songs form no cohesive unit, and over the ten-minute course of this disc, it's difficult to recognize the output as that one of band. Though only two actual Slits members appear here, the guests are culled from a Who's Who of early British punk rock--Sex Pistol Paul Cook and ex-Sioxsie and the Banshees/Adam and the Ants guitarist Marco Pirroni round fill in the instrumental duties, while backing vocals are provided by a younger generation of punkettes--Phoebe, Holly, and Lauren (daughters of Pollit, Cook, and Mick Jones, respectively), and UK television personality Miquita Oliver. "Slits Tradition" is droning, foreboding hip hop, with Ari Up laying down rhymes with both the flair of Cut and modern urban music, her trilling laid on a second vocal track as she warns that "it's a Slits tradition with a vision for a mission." As an unrecorded track from the band's early days, "Number One Enemy" sounds like a femme-Sex Pistols. Probably penned before the band found its niche, the track offers some singificance in the sake of understanding The Slits' progression, and doesn't come across as outdated. Closer "Kill Them With Love" rounds out the disc's diversity, sounding like a cross between dance, hip hop, and pop. The track showcases Up's unique and bizarre vocal talents, and she sounds more confident in actually singing than ever before, her trademark warbling at its most entrancing. Revenge of the Killer Slits doesn't do a whole lot for The Slits' legacy, but it contradicts any statement saying that everyone from those early days is a washed-up sellout. [www.safrecords.com]