The Contortions – ‘Buy’
It is often theorised that a band’s first record is their greatest, as it is the culmination of everything they have wanted to express in their lives as ordinary people outside the world of art and music. While no wave artist James Chance was never particularly at risk of being an ordinary person, you get the sense that Buy is the accumulation of all that he wished to express musically, which is perhaps why it became the only album the Contortions ever released.
A seminal release from the no-wave period in New York, Buy provides a jazz funk manifesto for the punk generation. As soon as the album kicks off, with the opening track ‘Design to Kill’, the audience is thrown in at the deep end of James Chance’s beautifully discordant saxophone-led sound. In many ways, ‘Design to Kill’ seems a strange place to start an album; its manic menagerie of free jazz, punk and new wave can be quite jarring upon first exposure to the album.
That feeling of organised chaos continues throughout much of the record, with the occasional jerking vocals from Chance the only guiding light through the sonic ghost train that makes up Buy. Although there are occasional moments of mellowness in tracks like ‘Anesthetic’, the gloomy driving bassline and frequent bursts of sax mean that the listener can never become fully comfortable, always anticipating the next jolting change in pace.
This is not to suggest that the album offers an unpleasant listening experience; though it may be the most accessible or comfortable sounding record, for the most part, the audience is willingly invited to accompany Chance on this chaotic sonic journey. It almost feels as though he plays the part of a screaming Willy Wonka during the psychedelic boat ride of the 1971 film; while it may seem frightening at points, you know that you are ultimately safe under the man’s guidance.
Chance’s magnum opus occurs at the end of the album’s first side, with the track ‘Contort Yourself’. A rallying cry of no-wave revolution, the song is also perhaps the most accessible on this album. Chance’s saxophone is undoubtedly the driving force behind Buy, but the invaluable influence of bassist David Hofstra becomes more and more evident as the album progresses into the second half.
With production, mastering, arrangement and writing duties all down to Chance, there is no mistaking that this is his album. However, the backing of the Contortions elevates his free jazz vision to something truly special. It seems as though drummer Don Christensen and guitarist Jody Harris, in particular, really understood Chance’s vision. You can almost hear the band bouncing off each other in the studio while listening to the album; it has a feeling of spontaneity and improvisation that creates a certain sense of excitement.
Every individual aspect of Buy, from the iconic cover art to Chance’s mastering, feels as though it was carried out with such deliberation, yet the music manages to maintain a sense of the unexpected – a sense of autoschediasm. Although it could be said that Buy lacks a particular variety in sound, many of the tracks take on similar atmospheres, and the music is so stunningly original that this never seems to become much of an issue. Ending with the manic dance party of ‘Bedroom Athlete’, the Contortions’ debut LP cements itself as one of the no-wave scenes’ finest exports.
