Produced by Nick Garvey (Never Properly Reissued)

FINGERPRINTZ - DISTINGUISHING MARKS (1980)

 

Formed by Scottish-born singer/guitarist Jimme O'Neill in 1978, Fingerprintz slowed down punk's careening guitar rock, adding clever, rhythmic twists and turns, and offering up deftly written stories about lust, angst, and urban desolation. It's difficult to categorize Fingerprintz, which may explain why the group never garnered a large following. Jimme O'Neill and Cha Burnz then found success as The Silencers.

 

The considerably slicker second album "Distinguishing Marks", is pure pop in extremis - musically, anyway. The songs hum like a finely tuned motor, with producer Nick Garvey removing any rough sonic edges. Only the relentlessly perverse lyrics betray a refusal to play by the book; O'Neill's disjointed visions are inspired by pulp fiction, police blotters and hospital charts. A catchy collection that all sounds like hit single material.

 

WU (262 mb)

 

The album has never been properly reissued, though 4 songs from it, can be found on the 2020 anthology "The Best of Fingerprintz: Bullet Proof Heart".

 

Finally, the album is available on streaming sites as a total mess - first song of the original side 1 has been replaced by song 1 of side 2. Worse, all files are lossy and the Dynamic Range is a 9 - here's an example of a lossy file available on those streaming sites.