THE PROFESSIONALS - ‘SNAFU’

When the Sex Pistols broke up, Paul Cook and Steve Jones formed The Professionals who continued for three years before disbanding in 1982. Reforming in 2015, without Steve Jones and with Tom Spencer (ex-Lurkers, The Yo-Yo’s, The Loyalties and also currently The Men They Couldn't Hang) on vocals and guitars, they then released the critically acclaimed album ‘What in the World’ in 2017 featuring contributions from Billy Duffy, Duff McKagan, Mick Jones, Phil Collen and Steve Jones.  

The eagereness of these top-level musicians to play on that album shouldn’t have been surprising. While I still love much classic rock, some rock music in the ‘70’s was becoming self-indulgent, bloated and overblown. Did we really need 20-minute songs? Punk was needed to shake things up and shake it up it did. And without punk we wouldn’t have had the NWOBHM, sleaze, thrash, Brit Rock, pop/punk or skater punk and it continues to influence music and a whole new generation of bands over 40 years on. 

‘SNAFU’ (or ‘Situation Normal, All F**ked Up’ to give the album title it’s full meaning) represents a further step up away from the Sex Pistols sound in that Steve Jones does not feature on the album and Paul Cook is the sole remaining member of both the Pistols and the original The Professionals line-up playing on it.  

As an album ‘SNAFU’ picks up where ‘What in the World’ left off and betters it. Featuring 11 songs co-written by Paul Cook and Tom Spencer (with additional writing contributions on three of them from Chris McCormack and Jonny Weathers), SNAFU is glorious stuff. Edgy, raw and raucous, with lots of guitars – sing-along music to put a smile on your face and leave it there. 

‘Easily Lead’ provides the perfect album opener, setting the scene for what is about to follow, and driving the album along with a simple under-stated and memorable chorus providing a counter-balance to the increasingly raucous guitars. The menacing ‘Gold and Truthful’ continues the pace before the gloriously good and deeply infectious ‘Spike Me Baby’. If ever there was a song that is all about the chorus this is it - designed to be shouted aloud and once again with guitars all over the place. It is also memorable for including the line “Dali makes sense tonight” which can be explained by the story behind the song – Paul Cook unwittingly eating some of his daughter Holly’s (who provides background vocals on the song) "herbal"-based baking.  

‘Punk and a Hard Place’ delivers a punkier song, but with scorching guitars and, as in a number of places throughout the album, Tom Spencer’s vocal delivery reminded me of Paul Weller and also of despite how tribal music was in the early ‘80’s, how, to my ear, early The Jam owed as much to punk as they did mod.  

M’Ashes raises the bar even higher, as the quality on ‘SNAFU’ increases further. Introduced during their gig at King Tut’s in Glasgow earlier this week as a song written about Steve Jones’ mother’s death and Paul Cook flying over the Atlantic to take her ashes to Steve, this could have dampened the atmosphere. Not a subject which you would be expect to be feel good, but bizarrely this could turn out to be one of the most uplifting songs of the year with it’s gang vocal chorus - “See You Later – when all’s said and done, See You Later – but your still Mary’s son, See You Later – look what you’ve become, See You Later – them ashes have come”. Taking the experience of an Irish funeral wake to the next level, this is fantastic stuff in the studio and live, complete with Smashmouth-style ska-punk breaks and great guitar work throughout. 

‘Heartburn’ presents the mid-point of the album and again reminded me of punked-up early-era The Jam but complete with a Pogues-style folk/punk bridge which maybe shouldn’t be surprising given Tom’s stint in folk/punkers The Men They Couldn’t Hang.  

‘Never Say Never’ provides another memorable chorus, as does ‘So No Go’ which sounds like it came straight out of ’77, but still somehow sounds fresh and current. And while more brooding and atmospheric, ‘The Elegant Art (of Falling Apart) wouldn’t be complete without yet another memorable chorus.  

Approaching the end of the album, the rowdy and raucous ‘Only Human’ lifts the tempo again before the more brooding ‘The Consuminator’ brings ‘SNAFU’ to a close, but not without a final melodic chorus. 

And a little bit more about those guitars - on top of Tom Spencer playing guitar, there are guitars all over ‘SNAFU’ with no fewer than another seven guitarists contributing at different points throughout the album – Chris McCormack, Billy Duffy, Phil Collen, Chris Catalyst, Jonny Weathers, Neil Ivison and Dave Draper. With so many guitarists contributing this could have been too much if it had simply been an exercise in fretboard acrobatics. Fortunately it’s not and the guitar contributions add to rather than detract from the songs. 

Dave Draper has also done another great job on production – controlling the guitars on display and ensuring Paul Cook’s crisp drum sound and Toshi JC Ogawa’s punchy bass drive the songs along and are not overshadowed by the big guitars and anthemic choruses (no mean feat). Given how many bands he appears to be working with, it does make we wonder if there is a more in-demand producer in the UK than Dave Draper at this time – and it’s easy to see why. 

Fans of The Professionals will not be disappointed. This is great stuff, hits the sweet spot between punk and rock, and having heard four of the tracks live this week they are every bit as good on the road. And if you haven’t listened to them before, and like guitar-based sing out loud music and any bands or musicians who have been influenced by punk do yourself a favour and get a copy of ‘SNAFU’.  

Finally, while Paul Cook is rightly recognised for his place in one of the most iconic bands ever, The Professionals have more than stepped out of the Sex Pistols’ shadow and deserve their own recognition.  

Highly recommended. 

GMcA