Psychick Ajanta

Another obsessive round of Throbbing Gristle listening, and today it’s the turn of TG’s date at the Ajanta Cinema in Derby in April 1979. Illuminated Records put the entire concert out as Thee Psychick Sacrifice in 1982 and it was a good selection – not only were the group in fine form on the night but the Ajanta date is notable for the first public airing of Convincing People, and there are very early versions of Persuasion and What A Day (which the Industrial tape simply calls Day Song), all months away from being hammered out at the 20 Jazz Funk Greats sessions. If Ajanta looks ahead to the third album there’s some backward glances to D.o.A - Hamburger Lady ("An old favourite we hope you'll enjoy"), unfolds with incredible menace and on this particular night the sluggish air-raid siren sounds remarkably like Thomas Bangalter’s music for Irréversible. Elsewhere the squally noise of D.o.A.’s title track is heard spliced with what sounds like one of Chris Carter’s electro-pop confections, and the voice of the male prostitute on Valley of the Shadow of Death makes an appearance for the intro to What A Day. Flyers for the Ajanta show promised a screening of After Cease To Exist but the plan was nixed when the group discovered the theatre’s projector was being repaired. Incidentally, the Ajanta show features a nice little TG in-joke with the inclusion of some sampled dialogue belonging to pornographer John Lindsey, who directed Cosey Fanni Tutti in the 1976 hardcore short Sex Angle.