Stepping Out of Line: The Anthology is a 2006 compilation cd containing every available track recorded by the brief-lived 1980s British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 band Au Pairs

Au Pairs (band)

The Au Pairs were a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1979. Music historian Gillian G. Gaar noted in her history of women in rock that the band mingled male and female musicians in a revolutionary collaborative way, as part of its outspoken explorations of sexual...

, described by All Music

All Music

All Music was an Italian free-to-air television station which mainly broadcast music videos and music programs. Originally called Rete A, the name was changed to Rete A - All Music , and for a brief period was affiliated before with MTV Italy and after with VIVA.-History:In late 2004 the former...

's reviewer as "one of the smartest, sharpest bands of the post-punk era."

Themes

The Au Pairs were frequently jarring and dissonant, closely related musically and thematically to other post-punk bands like Mekons or the Gang of Four

Gang of Four (band)

Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...

, but the Au Pairs are unusual in the even division of the band between male and female members and their deep exploration of sexual politics. Sexual roles and conflicts are a recurrent theme through the album. Allegations of rape and torture of Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 women imprisoned in the city of Armagh

Armagh

Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...

 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 are the subject of the song "Armagh." "Diet" is a strident ode to the repetitive role of the housewife. Social pressures on men, too, are examined: "Come Again" refers to the polite requirement for equal orgasm in a modern, civilized couple.

Reception

The compilation, like the band, was not universally well-received. Though describing its dissonance as "coldly thrill friction," Blender Magazine reviewer Simon Reynolds found the anthology excessive and noted that the "power of dour wears thin," but other reviewers treated the album more generously. Stylus Magazine

Stylus Magazine

Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

's Mallory O'Donnell "[s]trongly recommended" the anthology "for all who seek to temper well-grounded ire with emotional fires," and All Music's Andy Kellman asserted that "[n]o one could possibly give this band's output too much attention."

Track listing

Unless otherwise noted, all songs composed by Paul Foad, Peter Hammond, Jane Munro and Lesley Woods.

1. "We're So Cool" – 3:28
2. "Love Song" – 2:59
3. "Set-Up" – 3:20
4. "Repetition
   Repetition (song)
   "Repetition" is a song written by David Bowie in 1979 for the album Lodger. In the song Bowie explores domestic violence from the abuser's point of view, sung in a deliberately unemotional tone that served to highlight the lyric and the unnatural slur of the bass guitar.Musicians on this song:*...
   
   " (David Bowie
   David Bowie
   David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
   
   ) – 3:48
5. "Headache for Michelle" – 6:54
6. "Come Again" – 3:54
7. "Armagh" – 3:37
8. "Unfinished Business" – 3:29
9. "Dear John" – 2:57
10. "It's Obvious" – 6:19
11. "Pretty Boys" – 4:00
12. "Monogamy" – 2:55
13. "Ideal Woman" – 3:55
14. "You" – 2:51
15. "Domestic Departure" – 2:21
16. "Kerb Crawler" – 2:46
17. "Diet" – 4:18
18. "It's Obvious (Single Version)" – 5:45
19. "Inconvenience (12" Version)" – 2:55
20. "Pretty Boys" (Alt) – 3:38
21. "Stepping Out of Line" – 6:02
22. "Sex Without Stress" – 4:31
23. "Instant Touch" – 3:00
24. "That's When It's Worth It" – 4:06
25. "Shakedown" – 4:22
26. "Tongue in Cheek" – 3:01
27. "Intact" – 3:16
28. "Don't Lie Back" – 4:49
29. "America" – 5:20
30. "Fiasco" – 3:51
31. "No More Secret Lives" (demo) – 5:16
32. "Runs with Honey" (demo) – 6:19
33. "Hokka He Ha" (demo) – 5:32
34. "Taking Care of Him" (demo) – 5:12
35. "What Kind of Girl" – 3:36
36. "Piece of My Heart
    Piece of My Heart
    "Piece of My Heart" is a song written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns and originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. The song came to greater mainstream attention when Big Brother and the Holding Company covered the song in 1968 and had a hit with it...
    
    " (live) (Jerry Ragovoy
    Jerry Ragovoy
    Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy was an American songwriter and record producer.His best-known composition "Time Is on My Side" was made famous by The Rolling Stones, although it had been recorded earlier by Kai Winding and Irma Thomas...
    
    , Bert Berns
    Bert Berns
    Bertrand Russell Berns , most commonly known as Bert Berns as well as Bert Russell and Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s...
    
    ) – 3:49
37. "Headache for Michelle (Remix)" – 6:38

Performance

• Jane Munro – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Lesley Woods – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
• Paul Foad – guitar, vocals
• Peter Hammond – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Nick O'Connor – keyboards on tracks 31, 32, 33, 34 and bass on 33 & 34
• Jayne Morris – percussion and backing vocals on tracks 31, 32, 33, 34
• Graeme Hamilton – trumpet

Production

• Anton Corbijn
  Anton Corbijn
  Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...
  
  – photography
• Steve Hammonds – project coordinator
• Will Nicol – project coordinator
• Becky Stewart – design
• Kieron Tyler – liner notes

External links

• Album details from Sanctuary Records