Just to reiterate, the two reviews here do an exceptional job of describing influences. Just also know that guitarist/songwriter/vocalist David Rhodes had a lot to do with the early Peter Gabriel albums and tours being as great as they were. This band is on a par with any of the era. There is evidence that Avalanche is not a comp but the LP vision of Rhodes.

There is evidence that Avalanche is not a comp but the LP vision of Rhodes and Ferguson. I can no longer find this information, so I'm not sure about its accuracy. I remember seeing it discussed on an online fansite by members of the band in the 90s.

best new wave fantastic compil

This wonderful double album contains the bands best material. If you're new to these guys, I recommend you start here. These songs were also spread out across the North American "Etceteraville" and UK "The View From Here" LP's, as well as the 1979 UK 5 song EP titled 'Random Hold'.Random Hold were unique for their time, as they managed to keep one foot firmly within the realms of 70's progressive rock, with the other dug into the late 70's/early 80's new wave/post punk thing, without sounding clumsy, awkward, or derivative. Very tight intense over the top playing here as well. The prog connection here is of course bassist Bill MacCormick, who had played with the Canterbury style prog bands Quiet Sun and Matching Mole, as well as with Phil Manzanera's (Roxy Music) 801 band. Bill's solid bass lines really give this band a great sound, and push them over the top.The overall style is sort of later 70s King Crimson meets early XTC meets Brian Eno circa 'Here Comes The Warm Jets', without sounding derivative of these bands. Though to my ears, the vocalist (Simon Ainley) does sound like a slightly more masculine Brian Eno.The sound quality on these recordings is outstanding, and the bulk of this material (if not all?) was produced by former Vander Graff Generator frontman Peter Hammill.I've always been a huge fan of this band, minus the material released later with Sue Raven on vocals (Burn The Buildings LP / 1982). The addition of Sue pushed this once fantastic band into a direction that was rather disappointing in my opinion.I've included my Random Hold ‎– Avalanche video featuring the song "Montgomery Clift" here on the Discogs release page. For this video I've used photos & scans sourced from my personal copy of this LP.

i agree with the prog-new wave connection -- i would only say for me not so much XTC as they had a brighter lighter tone especially early on whereas Random Hold give a darker wave feel -- i'd lean more toward the Wire 154 album or an early Factory Records sound meets King Crimson. great stuff!

I once had the first EP, mainly because Peter Hammill did produce it, but then it got lost when I was shifting more into singer-songwriter area during the early nineties... Now, a couple of weeks ago I discovered this double album at a local record store, and I did remember listening to those songs from the first EP which are also included here. Because it was cheap, I gave it a try, and then... oh boy, you're absolutely right with anything you describe in your comment. This is a gorgeous collection of songs that definitely matches the taste of all music lovers who were and who still are listening to King Crimson, Van der Graaf., Roxy Music, and at the time also to Wire, XTC, Ruts, Talking Heads. I was totally surprised, how good these songs truly are. A note on the back of the sleeve tells us that this collection (entirely recorded in 1979) originally was intended to be published as compiled here. Great stuff!