WASTED YOUTH
WILD AND WANDERING
(Cherry Red)
One from the vaults of the proto-gothic trailblazers.
3/5
Denizens of Canning Town‘s fabled rock ’n’ roll hangout the Bridge House, Wasted Youth explored the darker reaches of rockin’ hedonism, matching their nihilistic shades-after-dark credo with an attendant lifestyle that’s done at least one of their former members no favours at all. As an artefact of those times, Wild and Wandering is a shadowy atmospheric affair replete with pre-gothic musical stylings and post-Joy Division self-introspective angst. The morose musings of vocalist Ken Scott (along with the band’s over-reliance on state-of-the-art eighties digi-pedals) might put Wasted Youth rather firmly in the ‘miserablist’ corner, but when the ’Youth hit their stride - as with the melodic Games or the driving I Wish I Was A Girl – they strike an adequate claim for a place on the post-punk map.
Hugh Gulland
