The Crack
Encyclopedia
The Crack is The Ruts
first album, released in 1979 and containing the UK
hit singles: "Babylon's Burning" (No. 7 in the UK chart in June 1979) and "Something That I Said" (No. 29 in September 1979). The white-reggae
-ish "Jah War" which was written in the aftermath of the Southall
unrest and the over-use of force by the Metropolitan Police Service
's Special Patrol Group
in 1979 was also released as a single but didn't make the UK chart.
The cover picture shows the members of the group (from left to right Malcolm Owen, Paul Fox, Dave Ruffy and Segs - who is perusing a copy of Exchange & Mart) seated on a large sofa, around them are some of their contemporaries such as Rat Scabies
and Captain Sensible
of The Damned (top right corner), Jimmy Pursey
of Sham 69
(bottom right), while Peter Cook
and Dudley Moore
are standing behind Malcolm, John Peel
appears to be doing something to a schoolgirl (in uniform) with a bar of chocolate on the left hand side, Jimi Hendrix
looks on from the right, the wives and girlfriends of the band members appear in various poses, as does the band's roadie Mannah (seen from the back) who assisted in writing the song "S.U.S" which deals with the vagrancy act
, widely used by London
's Metropolitan Police Service
in the late 1970s. The astronomer Patrick Moore
looks on somewhat disapprovingly from the left.
The album sleeve contains a dedication to Jimmy O'Neal, one of the organizers of the Deeply Vale Free Festival
, where the band had their beginnings.
The Ruts
The Ruts were a reggae-influenced British punk rock band, notable for the 1979 Top 10 hit "Babylon's Burning", and an earlier single "In a Rut", which was not a hit but was much played and highly regarded by the UK BBC Radio 1 disc jockey, John Peel.-Career:...
first album, released in 1979 and containing the UK
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...
hit singles: "Babylon's Burning" (No. 7 in the UK chart in June 1979) and "Something That I Said" (No. 29 in September 1979). The white-reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
-ish "Jah War" which was written in the aftermath of the Southall
Southall
Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
unrest and the over-use of force by the Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
's Special Patrol Group
Special Patrol Group
The Special Patrol Group was a unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for providing a centrally-based mobile capability for combating serious public disorder and crime that could not be dealt with by local divisions....
in 1979 was also released as a single but didn't make the UK chart.
The cover picture shows the members of the group (from left to right Malcolm Owen, Paul Fox, Dave Ruffy and Segs - who is perusing a copy of Exchange & Mart) seated on a large sofa, around them are some of their contemporaries such as Rat Scabies
Rat Scabies
Christopher Millar , better known by his stage name Rat Scabies, is a musician best known for his tenure as the drummer for The Damned....
and Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible
Captain Sensible is a singer, songwriter, guitarist who grew up in Croydon, England, and co-founded the punk rock band The Damned in 1976. After leaving the band, he reinvented himself as an alternative pop singer with a rebellious, self-conscious image...
of The Damned (top right corner), Jimmy Pursey
Jimmy Pursey
Jimmy Pursey is an English singer and record producer. He was the founder and frontman of the English punk rock band, Sham 69 from 1976 to 1980, and from 1986 to 2006.-Biography:...
of Sham 69
Sham 69
Sham 69 is an English punk band that formed in Hersham in 1976.Although not as commercially successful as many of their contemporaries, albeit with a greater number of chart entries, Sham 69 has been a huge musical and lyrical influence on the Oi! and streetpunk genres. The band allegedly derived...
(bottom right), while Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
and Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
are standing behind Malcolm, John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
appears to be doing something to a schoolgirl (in uniform) with a bar of chocolate on the left hand side, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
looks on from the right, the wives and girlfriends of the band members appear in various poses, as does the band's roadie Mannah (seen from the back) who assisted in writing the song "S.U.S" which deals with the vagrancy act
Sus law
In England and Wales, the sus law was the informal name for a stop and search law that permitted a police officer to stop, search and potentially arrest people on suspicion of them being in breach of section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824.-1824 legislation:The power to act on "sus" was found in part...
, widely used by London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
in the late 1970s. The astronomer Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
looks on somewhat disapprovingly from the left.
The album sleeve contains a dedication to Jimmy O'Neal, one of the organizers of the Deeply Vale Free Festival
Deeply Vale Festivals
The Deeply Vale Festivals were a unique free festival held in northwest England in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. It is regarded as the one of significant events that united punk music into the festival scene.-Deeply Vale Free Festival:...
, where the band had their beginnings.
Track listing
Personnel
- Malcolm Owen - vocals
- Paul FoxPaul Fox (musician)Paul Fox was a British musician and singer, best known from his work with the UK punk band, The Ruts. The Ruts' style combined punk with dub reggae, a sound that owed much to Fox's guitar skills and earned him respect and admiration...
- guitar, organ - John "Segs" Jennings - bass, piano on "Jah War"
- Dave Ruffy - drums
- Richard Mannah - backing vocals on "S.U.S" & "Criminal Mind"
- Mick Glossop - synthesizer on "It Was Cold"
- Gary BarnacleGary BarnacleGary Barnacle is a saxophonist/flautist, brass instrument arranger, composer and producer, primarily noted for session work, live work Gary Barnacle (born 1959, Dover, England) is a saxophonist/flautist, brass instrument arranger, composer and producer, primarily noted for session work, live work...
- saxophone - Luke Tunney - trumpet