Relationship of Command is one of my all-time favourite records. I'm talking top-5 here, possibly even top-3 depending on how I'm feeling that day. From the second those pounding drums start at the beginning of Arcarsenal I know I'm going to spend the next 40 minutes smiling, foot-tapping and air-drumming away. I love it.
The first time the name At the Drive-In registered on my conscience was on a free cd on the cover of Kerrang! magazine - The Devil's Music Volume 2. The first volume in this series had been pretty influential for my friends and me (introducing us to Glassjaw, Pitchshifter, One Minute Silence and a whole load of other bands that we spent years listening to), and the second one had a couple of gems, albeit mostly songs by bands that we'd soon be embarrassed to say we liked. The two exceptions to this were Cosmonaut by At the Drive-In and Tension Head by Queens of the Stone Age (which remains to be my favourite QOTSA song). I got the cd just before a family holiday to France and spent many hours in the car with my sister's Walkman listening to those two in particular.
Somehow four whole years passed before I got a copy of Relationship of Command. I certainly heard the album more than once in that time, and even had tickets to see them on a tour that eventually never happened (they were due to play the Pyramids Center in Portsmouth on the evening of my last GCSE - IT, I think - but cancelled and broke up. Needless to say, I was pretty gutted but the show in London last summer pretty much made up for it). Anyway, Christmas 2004 my sister bought me the Fearless Records cd-reissue of Relationship (with the bonus track Extracurricular) and it quickly became a favourite of mine. I think I asked for a copy from her as a present having been reminded how much I liked them on the live Jools Holland dvd - my friend Matt had a copy and their performance of One Armed Scissor was incredible.
A year and a half later I moved to Australia for a year and my first task upon arriving in Canberra was to scope out the local record shops. Canberra had a couple - the national chain JB-Hifi and an independent (excellently) named Land Speed Records. In my first few weeks I bought a bunch of cds and one LP - this copy of Relationship of Command. The selection of vinyl in both shops was pretty impressive, but even still I was surprised to see a copy of Relationship given that the original cd had long gone out of print. At AU$18, it seemed a bit pricey, but it £'s it was a bargain (the exchange rate made things seem really expensive, which was good at stopping me from buying things unless I really wanted them). I didn't have a record player for the first few months, so it just looked pretty on my shelf while I listened to the mp3s.
So, what's to say about the album itself? It's incredible and I can't think of a post-hardcore album that comes anyway near close to it. All of the songs are great (One Armed Scissor, Invalid Letter Dept. and Cosmonaut being particular highlights) and the whole record is littered with these fantastic little moments, like the drums I mentioned on Arcarsenal, the handclaps on Enfilade or the raspy vocals on Quarantined. One of the things I always loved was that despite the huge songs along the way, I was always left with the closer Catacombs in my head and I'd be singing the huge chorus to myself for days. A lot of records don't end well, but this one saves a punch for last. The energy of the music is unstoppable and it still sounds to me as exciting as it did all those years ago, despite being nearly a teenager itself.
I got into At the Drive-in slowly over the years that followed that Christmas, picking up the other albums as and when I found them. The whole back-catalogue is being re-printed it seems, allowing me to get Vaya and In/Casino/Out on vinyl (a post on the latter in due course). Acrobatic Tenement and Relationship reissues are due out this spring apparently and I'll definitely be picking up a copy of the former. Musically, I enjoyed the other albums and they had some excellent songs but, for me at least, it's all about Relationship of Command.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £7.61 new
Bought: JB-Hifi, Canberra
When: 16/07/05
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
