Radio Rats: Music For Funerals

15 March 2002

Tracks

  1. The Day Is Connected To The Night for Linda Dawson of The Insisters, who died in 1993
  2. We’re Gathered Here Today To Bury Paul
  3. Let Love Roll
  4. Don’t Shoot The DJ
  5. You’re The One
  6. Fanny Magnet
  7. We’re Gathered Here Today To Bury Paul #2
  8. Motorland
  9. Trouble In Tombstone
  10. Your Heart
  11. My Angel Sweet
  12. Psychosister
  13. Slow To Anger
  14. Hall Of Dreams
  15. In The Minimum Amount Of Time I Want To Make You Mine
  16. Where Have All The Usherettes Gone?

All songs written by Jonathan Handley except ‘My Angel Sweet’ by Dave Allen.

Musicians

  • Jonathan Handley: bass
  • Dave Davies: vocals
  • Dave Allen: guitar
  • Riaan Esterhuizen: drums

Release information

CD-R: March 2002, Radium Wreckords, RADW 1/2000

Original working title was Radio Ketamine. Album was scheduled for release in 1999, eventually released in 2002.

Brian Currin

Review

A question that has often perplexed me is why does the word “funeral” begin with “fun”? The Radio Rats’ ‘Music for Funerals’ does nothing to answer this question as it is not fun, but neither is it an album of dirges. Chief Rat Jonathan Handley and his pack have crafted 16 tracks that are dedicated to the memory of all who might’ve died accidentally this last century.

Opening with a ‘wailing across the prairie’ harmonica, the album maintains a wild west feel to it, but it seems that the Rats had spent a fair bit of time listening to Bowie records circa his Ziggy Stardust period as there is more than a hint of that glam rock sound involved. Over and above this, room is made for some blues workouts, especially in ‘Don’t Shoot the DJ’. All this makes for an intriguing mix of sounds and a highly listenable to album.

The Wild West influence is strangely mixed in ‘Trouble in Tombstone’ which for me is the stand out track. The music is decidedly rock, while the lyrics tell the story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and friends who fought in that famous gun battle. The song is dedicated to the dying mining towns of the Wild West of Johannesburg and in particular the Rats’ native Klerksdorp. This song should possible have been subtitled ‘Gunfight at the OK Bazaars’.

Recently the Digest lamented the fact that the English musicians were not singing about local issues, but there are enough references to SA here for this to satisfy those craving for English songs with a domestic flavour.

Mention should be made of Paul (Botha), a friend of the band who died in 1997, who is buried in track 2 (‘We’re here today to bury Paul’) and then is exhumed for a reprise of the song at track 7 to be buried again, only faster (according to the sleeve notes).

‘Music for Funerals’ shows that there is much more to the Rats than ‘ZX Dan‘ (their Radio 5 #2 hit from 1979 which is on their album ‘Into The Night We Slide’). Those who enjoy the gem that ‘ZX Dan’ is, would do well to check out this album, it’s a musical journey I recommend you undertake.

— John Samson, May 2002, SA Rock Digest Issue #153