McCARTHY

The Enraged Will Inherit The Earth (reissue, 1989) OPTIC NERVE

7/10

“GOVERNING TAKES BRAINS”. “An Address To The Better Off”. “The Home Secretary Briefs The Forces of Law And Order”. The song titles alone tell you where McCarthy were coming from. Formed in east London in the mid-1980s by four schoolmates who included future Stereolab co-founder Tim Gane, McCarthy were the UK’s most overtly political band since Crass. But whereas Crass were direct action-espousing anarchists rooted in the aggression of punk,was the band’s second album, initially released in 1989 on Midnight Music and reissued here by Optic Nerve on coloured vinyl alongside a fab second LP of additional material – contemporary singles and B-sides – plus a seven-inch featuring two previously unreleased songs (and backing vocals from Lætitia Sadler).