Freak Street
The opening track, ‘Freak Street’, sets the tone for Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith. The production is different from Roy’s first album. The addition of strings, unusual for that time, has a muted effect on the guitars, pushing them back in the mix. Laid-back snare drums create a jazzy feel that carries the track along. Although it makes for a muddy backing sound (much clearer on the remastered rerelease) I like the effect. The vocal is clear and melds well with the backing; Roy gives vent to the full range of his voice.
The poem/lyric is complex with much use of alliteration. It dictates the pace of the track which speeds up and slows down in keeping with the words. At times the words come thick and fast (making them difficult to decipher) and at others more slowly and thus easily understood.
The result is a beautiful song, teeming with poetic descriptions and expressively delivered.
Greek Street is in the centre of Soho, where the freaks and buskers hung out and Roy renamed it Freak Street. An area that was once grand had now become a place of dives, sex shows and cosmopolitan bohemia. A place where it all happens – dope, sex, cakey make-up, Newcastle brown, music, in a ‘neon desert storm of tin can shabbiness’.
A powerful start to the album.