Inflammable Material

Artist Name
Stiff Little Fingers
Release Date

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL

FIVE-CD SET CONTAINING UNRELEASED DEMOS, LIVE PERFORMANCES, VIDEO, INTERVIEWS, BBC PERFORMANCES, RARE MEMORABILIA, PHOTOS AND NEW LINER NOTES

DOUBLE VINYL AND DOUBLE CD VERSIONS ALSO AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 21

Stiff Little Fingers' iconic debut, Inflammable Material, was one of the most important records of its era. Originally released in 1979 at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the album depicted volatile life in Belfast at the time and was met with critical acclaim.

These reissues can be pre-ordered now and will be available on November 21 in three formats:

The 5CD set contains full discs of the original album, unreleased demos, an unreleased live performance from Troon in 1979 and BBC performances. There is an unreleased Rough Trade promo video from 1979 and an unreleased version of the track “Alternative Ulster.” Plus an interview from October 1978 originally from the film Shellshock Rock, and a performance from The Old Grey Whistle Test from Friars in May 1979. Accompanying the music are rare memorabilia and photos, and new liner notes from legendary journalist Stuart Baillie.

The 2LP and 2CD sets include the original album and the unreleased Troon 1979 performance, with the latter containing rare images.

Formed in Belfast in 1977 at the height of The Troubles, Jake Burns, Henry Cluney, and Brian Faloon were originally in a rock covers band before the rise of punk began to have an influence on them. With a change of direction, Ali McMordie joined them, and they became Stiff Little Fingers and started to write their own material. Burns would later go on and credit The Clash as “... giving me the confidence, through its lyrical subject matter, to realise it was OK to write about my own life and experiences."

The band's first single, “Suspect Device,” was recorded in a radio jingles studio in early 1978. They initially released it on their own record label, Rigid Digits, and after support from John Peel on BBC Radio 1, they re-released it a month later with the support of Rough Trade and sold over 30,000 copies.

Inflammable Material was released in February 1979 through Rough Trade, and it reached number 14, becoming the first independently released album to chart in the UK. It was met with critical acclaim, with NME calling it “... the classic punk rock record” and Sounds saying it is "... a magnificent slice of vintage punk played fast and frantic, and loaded with powerful lyrics” and giving it 5/5. Rolling Stone and Q Magazine would also give it 4/5. 

In just two years, Stiff Little Fingers had become one of the most exciting bands in the UK and Ireland with an uncompromising reputation that riled some but ultimately found them legions of fans. Inflammable Material is now regarded as a seminal punk classic as important and influential as records such as The Clash’s and The Ramones self-titled debuts, Never Mind The Bollocks or Raw Power by Iggy And The Stooges.

4CD/DVD Tracklist

CD-1: Original Album

  1. Suspect Device
  2. State Of Emergency
  3. Here We Are Nowhere
  4. Wasted Life
  5. No More Of That
  6. Barbed Wire Love
  7. White Noise
  8. Breakout
  9. Law & Order
  10. Rough Trade
  11. Johnny Was
  12. Alternative Ulster
  13. Closed Groove
  14. (Bonus Tracks)
  15. Suspect Device (Single Version)
  16. Wasted Life (Single Version)
  17. ’78 RPM
  18. Gotta Gettaway (Single Version)
  19. Bloody Sunday

 

CD-2: BBC John Peel Sessions

(ALL TRACKS PREVIOUSLY RELEASED)

Tracks 1-4 Broadcast April 13, 1978. Tracks 5 & 6 were never broadcast

  1. Wasted Life
  2. Johnny Was
  3. Alternative Ulster
  4. State Of Emergency
  5. White Noise
  6. No More Of That

Tracks 1-4 Broadcast September 12, 1978

  1. Johnny Was
  2. Law & Order
  3. Barbed Wire Love
  4. Suspect Device

 

CD-3: 1978 Demos

(ALL TRACKS PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

Island Records Demos Recorded May 20 & 21, 1978

  1. ’78 RPM
  2. Johnny Was (Short Version)
  3. White Noise
  4. Alternative Ulster
  5. Law & Order (No Vocal)
  6. State Of Emergency

Outlet Studios, Belfast Demos September 1978

  1. Revenge
  2. Here We Are Nowhere
  3. Rough Trade
  4. No More Of That
  5. Breakout
  6. Barbed Wire Love

 

CD-4: Live Album, 1979 Troon May 1979

(ALL TRACKS PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED OFFICIALLY)

 

CD-5: DVD Footage

Shellshock Rock (Hollywood Films) (October 1978)

Alternative Ulster (UNRELEASED)

Old Grey Whistle Test (BBC)

Filmed at Friar Aylesbury, May 1979.) Broadcast July 25, 1980

Barbed Wire Love / Gotta Gettaway (UNRELEASED)

Rough Trade Video (Summer 1979)

Suspect Device / Barbed Wire Love / Gotta Gettaway / Alternative Ulster