Hope of Heaven + Singles

Personnel: Paul Trynka (vocals, guitar, piano); Trevor Simpson (guitar); Steve Jessop (drums, percussion).
Liner Note Authors: Trevor Simpson; Paul Trynka; Vaughan Oliver; Peter Hook.
Recording information: Cargo (07/21/1983-07/23/1983); Fairview Studios, Holl (07/21/1983-07/23/1983); Nova Studios, Hull (07/21/1983-07/23/1983); Palladium, Edinburgh (07/21/1983-07/23/1983); Strawberry 2, Stockport (07/21/1983-07/23/1983); Cargo (08/06/1981-12/11/1983); Fairview Studios, Holl (08/06/1981-12/11/1983); Nova Studios, Hull (08/06/1981-12/11/1983); Palladium, Edinburgh (08/06/1981-12/11/1983); Strawberry 2, Stockport (08/06/1981-12/11/1983); Cargo (08/20/2012); Fairview Studios, Holl (08/20/2012); Nova Studios, Hull (08/20/2012); Palladium, Edinburgh (08/20/2012); Strawberry 2, Stockport (08/20/2012); Cargo (10/18/1981-10/??/1982); Fairview Studios, Holl (10/18/1981-10/??/1982); Nova Studios, Hull (10/18/1981-10/??/1982); Palladium, Edinburgh (10/18/1981-10/??/1982); Strawberry 2, Stockport (10/18/1981-10/??/1982); Cargo (10/1984); Fairview Studios, Holl (10/1984); Nova Studios, Hull (10/1984); Palladium, Edinburgh (10/1984); Strawberry 2, Stockport (10/1984).
Illustrator: Liz Woolmington.
Photographer: Rob Deacon.
Nyam Nyam's recording career -- on hiatus rather than fully stopped thanks to the concluding "Doubt," recorded in 2012 shortly before this collection's release -- gets represented to the full with the overview Hope of Heaven + Singles, another typically exhaustive collection from the LTM label. Given the English group's associations with figures and labels like Peter Hook, Factory, Vaughn Oliver, and Situation 2, among others, it's little surprise that they had a quiet cult legacy among post-punk fanatics, but the advantage of the collection is to let everything stand out in its own right as a body of work. As such, it's actually surprising -- while there's an inevitable sense of the similar roots and sonic connections that they shared with erstwhile labelmates like New Order and Section 25, not less in an appreciation of dance approaches interpolated into grippingly energetic but still melancholy arrangements, if anything the group also calls to mind strong performers from Australia just as much. Songs like "The Illuminated Ones," "This Is the Place," and "When We Can't Make Laughter Stay" feel more than anything else like the kind of vivid epics-in-miniature one might hear from performers like Ed Kuepper, Crime & the City Solution, and, looking ahead in time, the Blackeyed Susans, thanks to Paul Trynka's dramatic, crisp speak-singing and the sense of scope and scale throughout. Such strength makes the more dance-focused entries -- the obvious nods toward Giorgio Moroder on both versions of "Fate," including the stellar Hook-produced 12" take -- equally compelling in turn, while the funk-rock stabs of "You Need More" and mournful piano-led songs like "The Meeting" and the beautiful '70s Band -- as in the Band -- styling of "The Architect" continue to show more facets of a restlessly creative outfit. A fine interview with the bandmembers and other associates like Hook and Oliver completes the overall release. ~ Ned Raggett